La médica me dijo que caminara despacio si volvía a molestarme la cadera.

La médica is the feminine form of el médico, meaning the doctor / the physician.

In Spain, médico / médica is very common for a medical doctor. Doctora also exists, but it can sound a bit more like doctor as a title, while médica clearly means a female physician.

So this sentence simply tells you the doctor is a woman.

Here, me means to me.

Spanish uses decir algo a alguien = to say/tell something to someone.

So:

• La médica me dijo... = The doctor told me...
• literally: The doctor said to me...

This me is an indirect object pronoun.

Because dijo que caminara is reporting advice or an instruction, not a simple fact.

After a past verb like dijo, Spanish often uses que + imperfect subjunctive when what follows is something the person wanted, advised, ordered, or recommended.

So:

• La médica me dijo que caminara despacio = the doctor told me to walk slowly

Compare:

• Me dijo que caminaba despacio = she told me that I was walking slowly
  
  • this reports information
• Me dijo que caminara despacio = she told me to walk slowly
  
  • this reports advice/instruction

That is why the subjunctive appears here.

Not exactly.

Even though caminara is the imperfect subjunctive, here it does not simply mean I walked or I was walking. It is linked to dijo and expresses what the doctor wanted me to do.

So the idea is not:

• I walked slowly

but rather:

• she told me to walk slowly

In other words, caminara is part of reported advice, not a straightforward past action.

Because after si for a normal, real possible condition, Spanish uses the indicative, not the subjunctive.

Here, si volvía a molestarme la cadera means something like:

• if my hip started bothering me again
• if my hip bothered me again

This is presented as a real possibility from that past point of view, so volvía is natural.

If you used si volviera, it would sound more hypothetical or less likely, and it would normally go with a different kind of main clause, for example:

• Si volviera a molestarme la cadera, caminaría despacio.
  = If my hip bothered me again, I would walk slowly.

So in your sentence, si volvía fits the reported instruction better.

Volver a + infinitive means to do something again.

So:

• volver a molestar = to bother again
• volvía a molestarme = was bothering me again / started bothering me again

A few more examples:

• Volvió a llamar. = He/She called again.
• Voy a volver a intentarlo. = I’m going to try again.

So the sentence suggests the hip had already been a problem before, and the doctor was talking about it happening again.

That me means me as the person affected by the hip.

The structure is:

• la cadera = the hip
• molestar = to bother / trouble / hurt
• me = me

So:

• molestarme la cadera literally works like for the hip to bother me

A very natural finite version would be:

• me molestaba la cadera = my hip was bothering me

Because molestar is in the infinitive here, the pronoun attaches to the end:

• molestar + me = molestarme

Spanish often uses the definite article with body parts when it is already clear whose body part it is.

Since the sentence already has me, Spanish does not need mi:

• me molestaba la cadera = literally the hip was bothering me, but naturally my hip was bothering me

This is very common in Spanish:

• Me duele la cabeza. = My head hurts.
• Se lavó las manos. = He/She washed his/her hands.

You could say mi cadera, but it would usually add emphasis or contrast.

Because Spanish word order is more flexible than English.

In si volvía a molestarme la cadera, the subject la cadera comes after the verb. That is very natural in Spanish, especially with verbs like molestar, doler, gustar, and similar patterns.

So this order is normal:

• me molestaba la cadera
• me duele la rodilla
• me gustan los libros

You could also say:

• si la cadera volvía a molestarme

but the original version sounds very natural and idiomatic.

Yes, you could say lentamente, but despacio is more everyday and more natural here.

• caminar despacio = very common, natural
• caminar lentamente = correct, but a bit more formal or descriptive

In advice like this, a Spanish speaker would very often choose despacio.

Often yes.

• caminar despacio
• andar despacio

Both can work. But caminar is a very clear, neutral choice for to walk.

Andar is also common in Spain, but it can be a bit broader depending on context, sometimes closer to to go around, to be moving about, or simply to walk. In this sentence, caminar sounds precise and straightforward.

A likely direct version would be:

La médica me dijo: Camina despacio si vuelve a molestarte la cadera.

Then, in reported speech, it becomes:

La médica me dijo que caminara despacio si volvía a molestarme la cadera.

Notice the changes:

• camina → caminara
• vuelve → volvía
• molestarte → molestarme

That last change happens because the point of view shifts. In direct speech, the doctor says you. In reported speech, the speaker says me.