PVNS in the knee, pain in the hip

 I have learned that I overcompensate for my PVNS knee as a habit.  This causes me to put extra effort on my left hip so that I don't put too much weight or effort on my right knee.  This causes extra wear on the left hip and I sure feel it if I do not use a cane when walking long distances or hiking.  I usually stay away from exercising with any kind of impact.  Riding a bicycle or swimming is my comfort zone.  Extensive walking can be done with a cane but I will get into a mobility scooter if I need to.  Even when people assume I'm able bodied because I'm in shape.  Or at least I was before covid hit and my gym shut down.  I regressed back to not getting the exercise I need on a daily basis and eating my feelings about it.  I've gained about 15 pounds.  I'm 5'8" and my ideal weight is 145lbs.  I'm ok at 155lbs even.  Last week I was at 163lbs and that was too much for me.  I can't fit into my clothes any longer and I'm not about to buy a new wardrobe.  I just have to find something that works to start moving this knee again or my hip is going to pay for it later along with my waistline.  

The pain in my hip was excruciating after going on a "walk" with a friend recently.  She led me to believe we would be walking a loop that I assumed would be a mile or so and take us about an hour.   She suddenly announced that we could head back any time.  I was not excited about her lack of telling me she changed her mind about the route and ended up taking a 3 hour hike rather than a simple walk around a few blocks or so.  I could barely walk the rest of the day or the next day for that matter.  I took a bath in Epsom salts in order to extract the pain in my hip.  It worked and I'm back to being pain free.

I also know that if I keep walking past the hip pain, eventually I develop foot pain in my right foot to compensate for the left hip pain.  It's a chain reaction of uncomfortable movement.  And I know that as I get older it will become more prevalent in my daily movements.  Already I feel like it's hard to get up out of a seating position.  And that is purely because of my lack of exercise for the past 8 months.