Eva R.

I had pain in my right hip for a long time, but I must confess that I really never paid attention to it. Usually after a few days, the pain disappeared and I went on with my life. But in the summer of 2016 I started to feel a strange pain in my quad. In the beginning it felt like my leg was exhausted all the time, and eventually I felt pain while I was running. Around October, the pain started to feel more intense and limiting. All day long I felt pain in my quad, glute, and groin. At night I couldn’t sleep because I wasn’t able to find a posture where I didn’t feel pain in my leg. In the days out with my family (at the zoo, or just simply a walk) I was limping and I could barely keep up with with my children (they were 4 and 7 years old). Whenever they asked me to play soccer with them, I had to say no. I couldn’t stand on my feet for long periods of time nor could I sit comfortably, which was a huge problem since I had to use my computer a lot at work. I stopped going to the gym because I wasn’t able to do most of the exercises and generally I ended up in a lot of pain at the end of my sessions.

But the worst thing of all was that that constant pain was changing my mood. Although I am usually a very positive and joyful person, at that time I was upset most of the time, which was affecting my family relationships. I was aware of that and I tried to cheer myself up, or at least pretended to, but it was really tough.

I went to the doctor. The orthopedic checked me, and at first she suggested I do some stretching, which helped me a little bit but never achieved real progress. Then I got a MRI for the hip. She didn’t give me a specific diagnosis, but she said I didn’t have FAI. The report said: “Degenerative changes in the right coxofemoral joint with articular space pinching and subchondral geodes in the acetabular roof. Showing thickening of the labrum (…) causing a posterior focal over coverage”. The physiatrist called it “a complicated hip” and told me that an easier way to explain my condition to others was to call it “arthrosis”. An osteopath called it “a labrum sickness”. Everyone said that the pain would never disappear completely but that it would lessen with proper treatment.

At first, I followed the protocol established by my medical insurance. The physiatrist prescribed me 10 sessions of rehab, which I did religiously. But these sessions weren’t personalized (there were 5 to 9 patients per physiotherapist!!) and only focused on strengthening the muscles around the hip. There were only a couple of sessions where the therapist would perform some manipulations to try to relieve the pain because I walked in with more pain than usual. I felt pain in my leg when doing some of the exercises, and after most of the sessions I ended up with more pain than before the session. Nobody paid attention to my quad cramps, which was my biggest pain. For that reason, I started to do my own research on the Internet, and I found the FAI Fix. I also found an osteopath who focused on relaxing the tightest muscles.

My main hesitation was that my diagnosis wasn’t FAI, and the price of the FAI Fix Program was a little high for just an ebook and a few videos. I considered buying the Healthy Hips Program, but I identified a lot with the symptoms described by people with FAI. I also figured that if the FAI Fix turned out to be too complex to me, then I could just create a “simplified” version of it, but I couldn’t create an “advanced” version of the Healthy Hips program. In the end, I used the FAI Fix without simplifying it.

Also, Matt and Shane gave very specific advice in their videos, which built my confidence in them. I liked the “muscular” focus of Matt and Shane because I felt that my problem was in the muscles – that’s what was truly hurting. I hoped that for the price of three sessions with the osteopath, I could find a definitive solution. Also I was attracted by the fact that I could do the FAI Fix on my own, without relying on attending physiotherapist sessions that didn’t seem to work anyway. So I bought the FAI Fix on January 7, 2017.

From the first day I started the program, I realized it was exactly what my body needed. I spent about one hour a day on it almost every day, and I always ended the session feeling much better, as opposed to what I felt after the unhelpful rehab sessions prescribed by the doctor. I can’t tell you when I initially noted a huge improvement in my daily life, but I believe it was approximately after the first month. Now it’s the end of March 2017 and my pain is thing of the past. I only feel a bit of discomfort in the quads on the occasional days where I don’t do the FAI Fix exercises, but I also am barely reminded of my hips and quads throughout the day. When I do feel some discomfort, I perform some of the exercises (the strengthening ones are very important!) and I quickly feel good again. Now I can walk as much as I like and play with my children, and I’m considering returning to doing “normal” exercises at the gym.

I would like to add that the combination of the FAI Fix program and the sessions with the osteopath focused on relaxing my tightest muscles. In January I attended three osteopath sessions, every other week. In February I attended two sessions. And now I only go once every month, to treat other issues. I know for sure that the massages from the osteopath have helped me, but I think most of the improvement came from following the FAI Fix every day. When I stop doing the exercises from the FAI Fix, I immediately notice a regression, but once I start doing them again, my improvement returns quickly.