That new hip will cost how much? How to keep your hip joints healthy so they last as long as you do. An article in the NY Times yesterday discussed the problem with a lack of transparency in the cost of a hip replacement, something that seems common when we speak with people middle age and older (Read the article here ). While it seems that hips and even knees will just wear out and that we have the technology to replace them, of course at a cost, the NY Times discovered as they called hospital to hospital, the cost could vary from $10,000 to over $100,000 depending on the hospital. Imagine if you have the money and are uninsured, and you need to shop for this service. Whom do you trust and why. There are also possibilities that there will be problems afterward as well as a long rehabilitation process. Often, people with hip replacements walk differently than they did before, which is not always a good thing. In one example, a patient of ours had the procedure done and the doctor did not measure correctly, leaving her with an almost 1/2 inch difference in height from one side to the other. Preventing a hip or a knee from going bad is the best option, however, in our health care system of pain and treating the pain rather than understanding the problem and why it exists and then treating the cause, the end result is many people with bad joints. Many of you have likely seen commecials for pain relievers telling us to nupe it as if the pain is what is preventing you from doing what you wanted to do. True, in some cases, pain may be the problem but in the larger majority of cases, it has to do with body mechanics, that are inherited. If you have other family members that have bad joints that required replacement, you may also be in line to experience that as well unless you do something different. As stated in the book Cheating Mother Nature, what you need to know to beat chronic pain, foot problems are largely responsible for knee and hip problems. The reason is asymmetry and the way it affects the core muscles. If the core works improperly, and distorts, you will experience knee, hip, lower back, neck and other types of painful episodes as well as plantar fasciitis and heel pain. While most people will have the area of pain looked at and perhaps treated, it is the mechanism behind this that is at fault and the holistic doctor will look at you, not just the symptoms that you visited with. Dr. Charschan says, the way to change the outcome is to do things differently. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. In the case of issues with symmetry, you need to treat the mechanism, balance it with shoe inserts like orthotics (like it or not, this works and by the way, they do the same for race horses so they do not come up lame). This changes the way the body is balanced from the ground up. Then, using methods such as gait retraining and core stability training and fascial release, we can train the body to work as if it is built more efficiently, greatly reducing the probability of these joints going bad and reducing the misery people experience because of their structure. For those that are older and already have degenerated hips, all is not lost. Protocols geared toward enhancing the mobility of hips and their capsules has allowed many with arthritic hips to walk better, postpone or even eliminate the need for hip replacement and lead better lives. It is unfortunate but many people are never told this, yet, in our offices, we help many older folks with compromised hip joints walk better and function better. We help most of them, but unfortunately, some have waited too long for us to help. The only way to find out if you can be helped is to call and make and appointment and allow us to help. Many people are surprised that our protocols work, as they walk better, experience less pain and do not have to endure the risk, costs and pain associated with replacing a joint in the body. Cheating Mother Nature is available through Amazon.com.