Tendinitis in hip

[scoop]

Big sigh: I've had a pain in my right hip for several months and figured it was just from trying to increase my turnout. But in class today, doing grand jetes across the floor (right leg to the back), I felt this awful pop in my hip and a sharp pain. Sat out rest of class, limped to my car and luckily had some ice left in my water bottle so I stuck that on my hip as I drove home. I called my HMO's answering service (do these things always happen on weekends?!) when I got home and they told me to go to this urgent-care place and get an xray. Ugh -- doctor said I had tendinitis (from "abuse of hips'' as he called it) and xray showed calcium deposits. He referred me to a physical therapist who specializes in sports injuries and recommended ibuprofen, more ice and no class for a while.

 

Anyway, I'm going to talk to my doctor on Monday and figure things out. In the meantime, I have to obsess of course. I did search -- both here and Google -- and it sounds like something you have to rest and rehab. But then what -- how do you prevent recurrence? What causes this -- ie, bad alignment, bad karma, bad old aging??

[Mel Johnson]

This is rather odd, and I apologize for not getting back to you sooner on this one, scoop, but I can't figure out what's going on here. The doctor diagnoses tendinitis, which doesn't show on an x-ray, but there are calcium deposits, which could be there for lots of reasons. You need a doc who's familiar with dancers - "abuse of the hip" is about as nebulous a diagnosis as "the Japanese fiddlydinks", which is what we called any bug in Vietnam that made us feel ill, but little or nothing showed on routine tests for any of the usual culprits.

[scoop]

Oh no need to apologize for "slow" response -- one hour and change -- which is certainly much faster than the medical profession these days! I agree that tendinitis might have been the doctor's generic diagnosis from what I told him of having taken ballet classes for 20 some years, rather than from the xray. I spoke with my mom today (a doctor in addition to being a mom!) and she had some suggestions for further tests -- ie, calcium deposits might be sign of osteoporosis. Anyway, for a change, I'm anxious for Monday to arrive so I can start making some phone calls. Thanks for the response, I'm just obsessing for lack of anything else to do ....

[pointehill]

I worked in an orthopedic office as a medical assistant for 6 years, and most of the common diagnosis sent to us from urgent care doctors contained an "itis" attached to some body part or another (most common treatment: ibuprofen). The added referral to the physical therapist is a good idea. I'm glad to hear you will be talking to your doctor as well. From experience... make sure you have a copy of the xrays that were taken in urgent care. That way the views don't have to be repeated (HMO insurances don't like that to well) and your regular doctor will then have an idea of what the urgent care doctor was seeing. Our local urgent care department seemed to have a mysterious black hole in which xrays taken in urgent care could disappear into and never be seen again... even when requested by the primary care physician. Good luck... wishes for a quick recovery.

[scoop]

Thanks very much pointehill -- I'm kicking myself (with my good hip ) for not getting copies of my xrays on the spot. When I talked to my regular doctor, she hadn't received them yet so she could only go by what I told her. My current task is to find a physical therapist or other medical professional with experience treating dancers -- although I wonder if the lack of much professional dance around here means a corresponding lack of specialized medical treatment. I've been enviously reading other posts about the Harkness clinic in New York. Thanks for your good wishes!

[Sanna Koulu]

scoop -- I don't have anything useful to add, but wanted to wish you a speedy recovery. Hope you find lots of fun stuff to do while rehabbing

[koshka]

scoop--

You don't say where you are in MD, but if you are in the DC area, I'd bet some people on this board could recommend a good sports dr and/or PT.

[scoop]

Saana, it really is amazing how much TIME I suddenly seem to have! I'm getting sort of antsy though just waiting not to be sore -- I may try my usual Pilates class tomorrow since it's largely not weight-bearing.

 

Koshka, I'm actually in Baltimore but wouldn't have a problem going down to DC area. I have a couple of leads up here including an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in dancers, although his main area appears to be foot and ankle.

 

And one of my teachers recommended someone in town who is a certified Feldenkrais trainer AND a dancer herself. What does anyone know/think about Feldenkrais method?