The Strong Hips, Strong Life Program

You've always been the athletic one. The first to plan the hike, already laced up while everyone else was still finding their gear, saying yes to marathons that most people only dream they could do. 

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Then, somewhere in your early fifties, it started.

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You stand up from your desk and there's a half-second where you brace before your back lets you straighten.

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You used to run 10k without thinking. Now a walk around the park is "being sensible." You take the flat route. You say no to the hike. You didn't get on the horse because you knew what tomorrow would cost.

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And you've gotten good at the small no's. Not today. Maybe next week. I'll sit this one out. You say them like they don't bother you.

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Then it's 2am, and you're awake again, your hip refusing to settle no matter which way you roll, and in the dark, the real thought comes:

What if this is it? What if the woman who did all those things is already gone and she's not coming back?

 

What if my best years are behind me?

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The reason this is happening isn’t just age or wear and tear.

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It’s two things happening at the same time.

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The deep stabilising muscles around your hip aren’t consistently kicking in to support you when you move.

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And as oestrogen drops with age, the tissues around the joint change too, there’s less natural lubrication, and your muscles, tendons, and connective tissue become stiffer and more sensitive.

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So your hip is getting less support from both the muscles and the tissues around the joint.

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Which is why things feel tight, painful, and like your body just isn’t responding the way it used to / which is why you don't feel like yourself and are constantly feeling hip pain 

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So here’s what’s actually been happening.

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​Your strength training is training the wrong muscles.

You lift heavy weights, but squats, lunges and weights work the big, obvious muscles like quads, hamstrings, glutes, and skip right past the deep stabilisers that hold the hip in the socket. So you can be genuinely getting stronger in the gym and still ache when walking the dogs, which is why even going for a walk.

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You're stretching a problem that needs strengthening. You stretch and foam roll your hips every morning because tight is the only thing they feel but stretching only changes how a muscle feels for an hour or two, it never builds the support the joint is actually missing. Which is why your hips feel loose and easy at 9am and you're stiff again by 2pm. 

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You rest when it flares, but that is making it worse because rest lets those stabilising muscles switch off even further.

So every flare-and-rest cycle leaves you a little weaker than before, which is why you are sitting out the rides, choosing the flat route and watching documentaries on hiking when you should be doing it.