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Living and walking with hip-dysplasia - differently-abled.

So picture this… I come back from a walk only to find that my FitBit has categorised half of it as ‘outdoor cycling’ and half of it as ‘sport’. This happens to me quite often, because where walking is concerned, I’m differently-abled. I was born with severe Developmental Dysplasia of the Hips (DDH for short). In plain English that means that my hip joints didn’t form properly before I was born. I can walk but it’s not something I do with ease or speed and definitely not with grace!

I’m writing this blog to share my own journey with my funny walk – in an open, vulnerable way. Being ‘different’ has been a positive and a negative in my life. It has definitely shaped who I am. My unusual hips are not ‘who’ I am - but they are part of my story. Where I go, they go and so does their impact. In 2019 I chose to walk 100 miles of the South Downs Way – to see how far I could take my different walk – and my blog. In 2021 due to covid lockdowns I turned my daily walks into a virtual Pennine Way to see if I can get to 268 miles in a year.

I hope you enjoy reading about it. You can also follow this blog on Facebook or Twitter by following @WalkingJill

Taking Steps by talking DDH

By Jill Pringle October 6, 2021 In hip dysplasia, Personal, surgery 0 AdultDDH, DDH 0

Steps Charity recently asked me to do a podcast interview as part of their new series which tells the stories of people like me born with all sorts of lower leg conditions.

Hips, Knee and boomps a daisy!

By Jill Pringle August 30, 2021 In hip dysplasia, surgery 0 No tags 0

You may have noticed that I haven’t been posting many walks recently. That’s because I’ve been finding it harder to walk any distance. I can walk, say to the swimming pool,

Paddling with my hands: pain and hip dysplasia

By Jill Pringle February 17, 2019August 4, 2019 In Personal, surgery, Uncategorised 0 hip displaysia, hip pain 0

People often ask me if it hurts to walk. The answer is ‘sometimes’. Funnily enough, since I had my hip
replacement, the one part of my body I rarely feel pain is in that left
hip.

These hips weren’t made for walking

By Jill Pringle November 25, 2018August 4, 2019 In hip dysplasia, Personal, South Downs Way, surgery 0 AdultDDH, Buriton 0

JillPringle Hips Xray DDH hip displaysia

Yet here I am having just completed two more days and 12.5 miles walking my hips along the South Downs Way. I’m very grateful that I have the mobility, time and support to do so.