“As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal somebody else.” ― Maya Angelou
Christine Koth, PT is doing just that. Christine is a Hip Healer and she has a passion for a holistic approach to the hip. She also has been there and done that as far as recovery from a hip scope. She gets it.
Christine also was a yoga enthusiast who focused on the physical act of yoga like many of us and her practice gave her incidental byproducts of breath and movement. What do I mean by that? She had lost sight of the foundation of her practice which was the “why” of yoga. The why of yoga, in its ancient wisdom, is to connect breath to movement. She feels that her practice was not as focused as it should have been on the breath and movement and she believes this contributed to her labral tear. She was always careful and conscientious when doing yoga, but it happened.
Pop. Pain. Fear.
Christine was fortunate in the grand schemes of things. She had a background as a medical professional, and she had colleagues that could evaluate her. She knew from a physiological standpoint and a heart standpoint that something was wrong with her body -specifically her hip!
August 2015 – She could not bend over. Arthrogram. Labral tear. Confirmation.
Six months.
February 2016 - Surgery.
During Christine’s recovery, she actually experienced her Zen by being non-weightbearing and having forced downtime, which was similar to my experience until, of course, the newness wore off.
One of her greatest lessons learned was understanding the “why” of her injury. She was safe. She had practiced a hand to toe pose many times. But her “ah ha” moment was that she was overstretching her hips and using them in ways that they were not designed for. Hips are meant to be stable and strong (which I know from my favorite yoga teacher, Olivia). Christine also had a history of iliacus and psoas tightness. Most of us hippies know what the psoas is, but what the heck is an iliacus? Essentially, it is a hip flexor which is very close to the psoas. According to Christine, the iliacus is “the neighbor” to the psoas. It is responsible for flexion of the thigh and hip joint.
Christine realized that her history and the type of asanas (poses/postures) that she was practicing were setting the stage for a labral tear. And this “ah ha” moment is the why behind her passion of being a Holistic Hopeful Hip Healer. How is that for an alliteration?
Her experience as a hip patient and a PT of 20 years also led her to write a book called, Tight Hip, Twisted Core. Her understanding of the interconnectedness of the human body (ie. the hip bone is connected to the thigh bone) was also a very important “why” behind her book.
In her book, she talks about how the iliacus was one of the first muscles in the hip region that she felt comfortable addressing due to its ease of getting to (as compared to the iliopsoas which is much deeper in the abdomen). Also, in 20 years of practice as a PT, she never had a patient who had their iliacus issues addressed, making it an overwhelming desire to share her wisdom about the iliacus with others. Its impact is profound. Her book (and the soon to come iliacus muscle release tool called the Hip Hook) was also an effort to support her clients from Wisconsin that she could no longer help with her magic fingers (she now is in California). Her book is now a best-seller and is achieving that as evidenced by the 5-star reviews that are rolling in.
Although I just ordered her book and have not yet read it, I’m very excited to see her take on yoga and hip flexor issues (ie. iliacus) and how that may help me with my own current flexor tendinitis needs. The book focuses on the anatomy and physiology of the hips and related muscles, the different types of exercises that may be helpful for the hips as well as the importance of strength over flexibility (which I committed to over a year ago).
Thank you, Christine. This is the “shot” of hope that I needed to move forward with hopeful hips again! Thank you for going out and “healing others”!
Check out her book, Tight Hip, Twisted Core: The Key To Unresolved Pain.
Go peruse her website!