When this client came to see me his pain was severely affecting the quality of his life. In his own words:

“After 4 years of suffering from worsening hip pain that had stopped me from running, and was frequently impacting my ability to walk pain free, I thought this was something I would just have to accept.”

He’d seen many doctors and specialists, but found no relief. 

When I examined his posture, I saw so many misalignments!

Can you spot them?

Look closely at his feet, knees, hands, shoulders, upper body and head. They’re all out of alignment.

These imbalances alone could have caused his pain. But the misalignments from the side view were even worse!

His hip is leaning forward from his ankle, his upper back is too hunched, and his shoulders and head push forward.

I showed him his photos and explained that we should work on two key areas. One, balance the hips. Two, improve the position of his upper back, shoulders, and head, even though he felt no pain there!

Working on the upper back when someone has hip pain may seem strange. But, in my experience, to tackle the root cause you have to look at how the whole body works.

This is so important. One part of your body could be hurting because it’s compensating for another part that’s out of place.

To get him pain-free, generic exercises would not be good enough. Instead, I chose 4 exercises specifically for him, to start aligning his hips and upper body.

I picked ones that matched his strength levels, and that he could do at home without any equipment. I also made them short enough so he could fit them into his daily life.

We saw each other about 10 times in total. At first, we met weekly, but later we spaced out our sessions. During these follow-up sessions, I made sure he did the exercises correctly. I also gave him more advanced exercises as we progressed.

Over time, his posture improved and the pain decreased. Within a few months, it completely disappeared!

I took the photos below after only 2 months. Look closely from the feet all the way to the head and you can see improvements in every position.

This improvement is not because he is trying to stand taller. That’s not what having good posture is about. Instead, his muscles keep his body aligned because of the exercises he did to correct his posture.

As well as becoming pain-free, he also now looks much better, and is less likely to get hurt as he gets older.

In his own words:

“I have now started running again which is something I thought I’d never really be able to do again!”

I’m so proud of his transformation. It’s impressive how much he changed his posture and got rid of years of pain.

His example shows that no matter how long you’ve been in pain or how it affects your life, you can improve it. Even if you think you’ve tried everything, there is still hope!