osteoarthritis in hips

[weaselwords]

I've recently had a hip xray and the results came back as advanced osteoarthritis in both hips. I've got to go to see a specialist and have an mri too to see what is going on in there. I'm 47, so rather young for this. I'm also very overweight.

It hurts a lot and I can't walk very far, so I'm keen to improve my mobility. I've joined weightwatchers to help me lose weight, but I wondered what else can I do to reduce the pain and get me moving again? I can access physio through work.

Hip X-rays do not correlate with symptoms. Bad OA can cause minimal pain and mild OA can cause severe pain.

The biggest thing you can do is lose weight. Down to a < 25 BMI.

Physio can help.

Sometimes injections into the joint can offer temporary symptomatic relief.

Regular pain killers - paracetamol to begin with are a useful addition.

But absolutely nothing is going to work unless it is accompanied with significant weight loss

Can I suggest swimming as a good way to exercise with minimal weight bearing? Lots of pools offer aquarobics which can be fun as well as being both hard work enough to be fat burning but will be increasing your mobility and flexibility. There are always plenty of overweight women attending the classes at my pool.

Also walking is fantastic exercise. Start small and increase gradually. Even of ot hurts keep trying. With weight loss and regular gentle exercise you can improve your situation plenty.

Thanks, that's really helpful