Hips

Published on Locomotor system.

The hip is the main articulation of the lower limbs. It connects the iliac bone of the pelvis with the upper femur. It is the yin axis, the feminine axis, axis of femininity, symbolized by the mother. This is where a person’s verticality starts. It is where you go from being tetrapod to being biped. It shows the relationship with autonomy, the capacity for internal and external mobility. “I accept to make a personal project for life.” From old times, we read that the hip is the place of struggle between Jacob and the Angel. A person with large hips is a more feminine person, a person with more feminine hormones. Today, with the higher degree of masculinity in women, women have much narrower hips.

Hip problems show lack of flexibility, when the person’s (man or a woman) deepest beliefs regarding his or her roots are shaken. This lack of flexibility must be understood in the sense that the person believes that the other people are wrong, that it is the others fault.

Hip problems also reflect undervaluation.

The keywords in this articulation are inflexibility and undervaluation. A hip problem may result from a movement while playing a sport, i.e., from the undervaluation that a person feels in the lack of agility for that movement. It may happen during a tough sport or any other. It can happen during a rugby match, while dancing or walking. It may also be in a figurative sense, in a simple and routine movement at work or at home when the person felt undervalued.

The person with hip problems must ask himself why he feels so undervalued. He must also ask whose influence he felt to the point of developing such an inflexible attitude.

Generally speaking the right hip is yang (masculine) and the left hip is yin (feminine). This is true for both left-handed and right-handed people. Let us not forget, however, that this is the more feminine part of the body and that polarity in the locomotor system is not always obvious. Problems in the yang hip reflect inflexibility and undervaluation due to the influence of a third party (a man, perhaps) or obsessive beliefs on the part of the patient. The person does not want to listen to his body. And the body feels incapable of doing what he is asked. He feels inept to perform some predominantly masculine task related to work or a job. And the person demands of it with persistence. This situation causes wear in the hip area. The person does not feel confident but prefers to ignore that feeling and strains the body. Here lie the tensions of the roots relative to the relationship with a professional project or even with a man, the Father and/or the Authority. Also see Body polarity.

Problems in the yin hip reflect inflexibility and undervaluation due to the influence of a third party (a woman, perhaps) or obsessive beliefs on the part of the patient. The person violates his sensibility and does not understand that he does not feel confidence in himself regarding a problem with the house, home, or money and the family budget.

Here lie the tensions of the roots relative to the relationship with the house, home, Mother, emotional life and dangers, fear and money.

When a person suffers from hip arthrosis, this condition follows a devaluation of the person regarding any action, following an inflammation of the articulation (what is known as arthritis). The body is healing following undervaluation. The tension is gone.

The bones in the joints are held in proper position by ligaments and tendons that allow only normal movements. In healthy joints, all the bones are covered by a layer of off-white matter called cartilage. The cartilage allows the smooth movement of the bones and acts as a cushion that absorbs the shock of bone movement and weight.

Arthrosis results from the progressive wear and tear of the joint tissue, particularly of the cartilage, that leads to increasing pain, deformity, and difficulty of movements. The onset of hip arthrosis starts with the deterioration of the cartilage which loses its elasticity and becomes less effective. In the absence of part, or all, of this cushioning effect of the cartilage, the bones rub one another and cause friction, inflammation, pain, and difficulty in moving. In very advanced stages of this condition, pieces of cartilage and bone may get loose and lodge themselves in the joint, seriously limiting or blocking movement altogether.

The hips, knees, shoulders, feet, and fingers are the body parts most frequently affected by this condition.

As we saw, the cartilage is located in the centre of the joints, where the bones come together. The hip is where the iliac and the upper femur meet. The muscles are also crucial in the maintenance of joint stability. The joint is enclosed in a fibre capsule (synovia) with a thin layer that produces a small amount of fluid (synovium fluid) which acts as cartilage lubricant and nutrient. When strain on a joint is coupled with a leakage of fluid, the problem is more severe.

The bone marrow is very important at the hip level because it is primarily in the large bones, and in the sternum, that the maturation of red cells, white cells, and platelets takes place.

© Copyright by Luís Martins Simões, developed by RUPEAL