Post by ben on Jul 3, 2008 20:29:01 GMT -5
What a great site!
My story: After limping around for awhile I was eventually diagnosed with growing pains (in my knee - 'referred pain'). Being 10 years old nobody thought much of it... until it didn't go away and eventually moved into my hip. I think most of my femoral head went bad, and fractured. I was on crutches for years and was subjected to numerous x-rays, and the dreaded arthrogram. My mum steadfastly refused surgery. I particularly remember sickening bouts of pain that would wake me up in the middle of the night.
The pain eventually went. I did a lot of rockclimbing between the ages of 14 and 18 that, according to my physio, helped shape a perfectly rounded joint with full (perhaps even better than normal) mobility. I also played rugby union (what was I thinking?). I'm now 29, and after a slightly drunken game of volleyball have had an ache in my hip for a few days. This rekindled my interest in perthes disease. I'm particularly interested in peoples opinions on lifelong strategies to avoid arthritis - diet, exercise, keeping weight off, etc. Suggestions on how to get drunk and play volleyball without hurting your hip would also be well received (okay, I'm joking. Clearly a stupid thing to do).
After reading some of the other stories on this thread I see I'm one of the lucky ones. But truth be told, many of the ex-perthes people I meet (few and far between) have no lasting health problems. I hope my experience can help others, and hope parents with perthes-afflicted children will find my comments motivating.
My story: After limping around for awhile I was eventually diagnosed with growing pains (in my knee - 'referred pain'). Being 10 years old nobody thought much of it... until it didn't go away and eventually moved into my hip. I think most of my femoral head went bad, and fractured. I was on crutches for years and was subjected to numerous x-rays, and the dreaded arthrogram. My mum steadfastly refused surgery. I particularly remember sickening bouts of pain that would wake me up in the middle of the night.
The pain eventually went. I did a lot of rockclimbing between the ages of 14 and 18 that, according to my physio, helped shape a perfectly rounded joint with full (perhaps even better than normal) mobility. I also played rugby union (what was I thinking?). I'm now 29, and after a slightly drunken game of volleyball have had an ache in my hip for a few days. This rekindled my interest in perthes disease. I'm particularly interested in peoples opinions on lifelong strategies to avoid arthritis - diet, exercise, keeping weight off, etc. Suggestions on how to get drunk and play volleyball without hurting your hip would also be well received (okay, I'm joking. Clearly a stupid thing to do).
After reading some of the other stories on this thread I see I'm one of the lucky ones. But truth be told, many of the ex-perthes people I meet (few and far between) have no lasting health problems. I hope my experience can help others, and hope parents with perthes-afflicted children will find my comments motivating.
