Maks R.

I met Matt over a year ago.  As the typical FAI-Hip Impingement story goes, I was diagnosed via MRI, and like everyone else reading this, I was contemplating surgery to shave off a part of my femur. Upright Health was the first source of information that would potentially change the way I viewed not only my hip pain, but my body’s health in general.

I had Skype sessions with Matt a few times and he sent me some great workouts to follow. However, since I am nearly 3,000 miles away from the Upright Health office, I had to put it on myself to re-teach myself proper body mechanics.

As Matt says, “This diagnosis is not a bone problem, it’s a movement problem.”  In fact, it’s much more than that even. Hip pain is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong but it does not mean that there is something terribly wrong at the location of the pain. This is what orthopedists will have you think, but performing surgery on this part of your body is just putting a Band-Aid on the real issue.  Everyone’s body is different and therefore every body will have a different solution.

A year down the line, my hip feels much better.  As you can see, I even dunked at the park the other day! However, the journey is not an easy one. My hip will still be stiff or painful from time to time but I now understand how my body works and I can foresee when the stiffness or pain will show its ugly head. My goal is to eventually be 100% pain free and I believe I will get there. For now, I use the discomfort and pain as a diagnostic tool for improvement. The worst thing you can do is get discouraged (which I’ve done plenty of times) – sometimes you have to take few steps back to go forward. The best advice I can give is to continue to learn and improve your body. Don’t dwell on the setbacks and instead, celebrate the improvements.

Matt and his team pointed me in the right direction and helped me avoid one of the worst decisions of my life – surgery.  I owe them my…HIP! That being said, use them as the amazing tool they are but don’t forget that the only way to get better is to educate yourself and get off your butt!