I do not live a very active life! However, hip pain stole most of the life I had away!
At 54-years-old I could no longer walk without the aid of a walker. Additionally, I couldn’t sleep because of my hip pain. It was also affecting my job and I was embarrassing by my quality of life! Then BOOM the pandemic also hit!
I'm an active duty police lieutenant, firearms instructor and former Marine. It's hard to teach on the shooting range on crutches and barely able to walk 25 yards. My officers were begging me to stop hurting myself for them and retire.
I’ve spent many years doing a lot of physical activity. For the past 12 years I’ve been a personal trainer and have taught fitness classes. I love exercising and teaching classes, so I think my hip pain resulted from not having a balance between exercising and letting my body rest.
I had a long history of bi-lateral hip pain, and my condition got so bad that I started experiencing pain in both hips walking, climbing stairs, and putting on my shoes and socks. In addition, the pain would occasionally keep me from sleeping.
As a former dancer, I knew my body had taken a lot of abuse over the years. I had countless injuries to my feet, ankles, and knees. But when I turned 45, it became my left hip. At first, it just was a dull pain that bothered me occasionally. By the time I turned 50, I could barely get out of bed.
My story begins in my early 50's when I began to have left hip pain. I sought conservative treatment that included physical therapy and injections. It did not take me long to realize the injections only helped for a short period of time. After receiving my last injection, with absolutely no pain relief, I knew I had to seek a permanent solution.
My family and I moved to Birmingham about 25 years ago from Brooklyn, New York. We love the Alabama culture and all the people here.
Jane Cameron is a 46-year-old athlete with Down syndrome. I adopted Jane when she was 15 years old after my son, who also had Down syndrome, passed away.
Jane has been competing in Special Olympics ever since she was 6 years old. She started off just competing in swimming, where she became quite the little tadpole.
Through two hip replacement surgeries in a year, from beginning to end, I could not have dreamed of a better outcome.
I delayed my surgery for a year because I was fearful of a long drawn out recovery or dependence on anyone during the recovery period. After consulting with Dr. Jeffrey Davis, his clarity and sensitivity, prompted me to move forward.
But during my preoperative procedures I knew everything was going to be fine when Dr. Davis initiated prayer. Following the surgery he prayed again. His bedside manner was phenomenal!
Dr. David Moore is great orthopedic surgeon. I highly recommend him to anyone I knew who needs a hip replacement. I followed Dr. Moore from UAB to Andrews Sports Medicine.
I am now walking 3.8 to 4 miles per day, three days per week.