Would a walking stick be any use?

I have recently started using a stick to help with my arthritic hip. I feel it helps my balance and stops me over compensating and affecting the good side.
It does help as I get cars stopping to let me across roads and people offering to help. Also can use the disabled loo rather than dragging up stairs.
Off to the physio on Monday.
Take care goose........arthritis is horrible.

by not 'buy'

I have bone issues and was having terrible trouble walking until one day after I hadn't been supermarket I decided to go with my husband. I leaned on the shopping trolley slightly and it was so easy to walk around.

I came home and ordered a 3 wheeled Rollator from Amazon. It has an integrated zip bag to carry handbag or a small amount of things. It will fold in half easily, so will sit beside you in hospitals or doctors, cafes etc. I have to say that I have had much more exercise than before. At the hospital last week a doctor walked buy and said 'slow down madam I can't get passed you'.

I hope you find a remedy that will give you some freedom.

I use a stick and have reason to be grateful for it. Mine has a seat built in and so when I need to I can open it out and rest. There are not so many seats around nowadays and of course there is never one in the exact place when exhaustion strikes and you need one.

goose Make sure that it is actually your hip joint causing the problem as it could be your back or even a bursitis in your hip. The latter can be very painful and affect your walking ability but can be dealt with by the physiotherapist and exercise thankfully.

I had an arthritic 'flare-up'a couple of months ago, and the physio suggested that a stick might help and certainly was very clear that you use it on the opposite side to the problem hip

Using a stick has saved me from a few falls, mainly because the pavements are so uneven.

Yes - avoiding falls is not to be sneezed at!

goose

I would say yes a walking stick is well worth a try. I would advise if you are in pain you don't give up before trying 2 sticks if 1 does not suit. Why? Because , a personal view, it depends whether it is the right or left side of your hip that gives you problems and the weight bearing a walking stick takes is dependant on that issue. Also it is easier to use 2 sticks or a 'walker' if say you are left or right handed as using 1 stick can be very awkward as dependant on which side is uncomfortable you need to use the stick on that side. Hope that makes sense.

Just to be a misery guts there is a possibility in the future if the arthritis develops you 'might'. and I stress 'might' have a fall so using a stick/sticks can be functional for that reason too. All the best.

I just have to enlist one of his friends when I want anything done!
Or have a wry little to myself when he comes home and says 'so and so thinks that ..... is a good idea' and I think 'I've been asking for 2 years to have that done'!

Oh dear Jalima - it sounds a bit like "but my Teacher said...."

I am sure you have!
He usually ignores my advice until one of his friends says the same thing then he thinks it is the right thing to do

Oh dear Jalima send him to me, he would soon learn! I think that I have more professional knowledge than your husband's friend if that was the advice given!

If you do buy a walking stick are you aware that if it is eg your right hip which is painful, you hold the stick in your left hand?
I tried to tell DH that when his knee was very painful but he refused to believe me because his friend had told him to use it on the same side as the bad knee.
You can lead a horse to water .....

It is worth looking at flexi-foot walking sticks as the rather clever foot is non-slip, shock-absorbing (it is like a rubber concertina) and it bends so that whatever the gradient of the terrain the base is flat to the ground. Or you can get an ordinary stick and buy a flexi-foot.

This is not an advert - I have no connections with them. I have just found it really useful.

I use my stick both for balance and to take the weight off my fractured foot (failed to mend) and my still painful hip replacement - one is on the right, the other on the left - so I swap the stick around depending on which is the most painful at that moment!

Try this link which is about getting the height right - www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFMEmG6YKDI

If you do buy a walking stick are you aware that if it is eg your right hip which is painful, you hold the stick in your left hand? The stick ideally should be measured, not any old stick you fancy! I use mine for balance but also to take weight off my pinned and plated left ankle.

I really like my walking pole which you can make shorter or longer and it takes the weight of my poor knee beautifully. Physio's et all do warn against walking sticks if you really need something for balance and like you to have an assessment.