hip arthritis linked to a huge percentage of american deaths

A recent CDC study found that 1 in 4 people may develop symptomatic hip osteoarthritis by age 85. This report, published in the November 2010 issue of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, is the first to present lifetime risk estimates for symptomatic hip osteoarthritis.  Hip osteoarthritis is a disabling condition and can limit a person’s ability to do basic activities such as walking a few blocks or going up stairs. Symptoms of hip osteoarthritis include pain, aching and stiffness in the thigh, buttocks, or groin.  From the CDC website, filed under Arthritis: Lifetime Risk of Hip Osteoarthritis.

Last month’s issue of Arthritis and Rheumatology published a study (Hip Osteoarthritis and the Risk of All-Cause and Disease-Specific Mortality in Older Women: A Population-Based Cohort Study) showing just how big a deal hip arthritis really is.  The study followed nearly 10,000 over-65 women from the late 1980’s.    After factoring out confounders like OBESITY, SMOKING, DIABETES, and several others, they calculated that physical inactivity related to hip arthritis helped explain 43% of all deaths, when compared to women without hip arthritis.  Furthermore, drugs (chiefly NSAIDS) had no affect on limiting mortality rates.  In the abstract, the authors concluded that, “Dissemination of evidence-based physical activity and self-management interventions for hip OA in community and clinical settings can improve physical function and might also contribute to lower mortality.“

While it’s certainly true that physical activity is a big deal, it is not the only self management intervention that needs to be addressed concerning this issue.   For one, the diet will almost always need to be tweaked, if not completely changed.  I would suggest that you take a look at the online pictures of Dr. Weston Price’s seminal Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.  Although the mechanisms are different, living the HIGH CARB LIFESTYLE will rot your bones just as surely as it will rot your teeth.

Recently, even Osteoarthritis (Degenerative Arthritis often referred to as DEGENERATIVE JOINT DISEASE) is being hailed as one of the numerous “CHRONIC INFLAMMATORY DEGENERATIVE DISEASES” (see The Role of Inflammation in the Pathogenesis of Osteoarthritis from the April 2013 issue of Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease).  According to this study, “Osteoarthritis has traditionally been classified as a noninflammatory arthritis.”  But in the words of Bob Dylan, the times, they are a changin’.  There are few health problems left that inflammation is not considered part of — particularly with the advances made in understanding the “GENETIC FACTORS” of most disease processes

If you are one of those folks who has chronic Hip Flexor problems (HERE), PIRIFORMIS ISSUES, gait abnormalities, or any number of other situations, you need to deal with these.  Beyond this, my best advice for solving a problem such as this (hopefully before it really gets started) would be to take a look at the post I did last week on knee pain, as the solutions for the hip will be similar to the knee. (HERE).