I Hate PT.

[katekosar]

I have been through at least a dozen physical therapists, some better than others, over the course of the last ten years.  It's almost a de rigeur rite of passage from boo-boo to serious treatment.  "Go to PT first, then we'll consider x, y, or z," says the doc.  IMHO, there is nothing more boring than doing a bunch of redundant and repetitive exercises under the watchful eye of somebody who, although perhaps well qualified, doesn't understand how my body works nearly as well as I do.  And for that I'd pay a $20 copay per visit, 3x per week, or about $240 per month.  Sheesh.  I could get a lot of mani-pedis for that ...

So I'm not going to do PT unless something weird happens.  I'd much rather engage in what I call "functional therapy."  Today, for example, I took the walker outside for stability in the grass and mowed half of the back lawn (under my husband's watchful eye and with his assistance as needed).  It was a good workout for a month post-op, I was very careful and attentive to what I was doing, and we actually got something done around the house.  No getting in the car, driving to the PT, doing something or another for a half-hour, shelling out a ton of money, and going home.

Anyone else forego formal PT for a self-designed program of functionality?

Kate

[Lopsided]

Can you not find out what PT you should be doing, and do it on your own so you do not have to pay, even if it is a bit boring?

[hernanu]

Hey Kate, many people here seem to have taken different paths - some did a lot of walking, some went to PT, so I can only tell you my experience with PT.

It really helped me, since it let me do things that I was a bit leery of doing (stretches come to mind) without feeling like my over aggressive nature would overcome me and I would tweak something in my leg, hip, etc. Both the home and outpatient PT were very good for me.

Having said that, the outpatient PT folks had me do the following (typically):

• About 10-15 mins on a spinning bike
• Exercises - always at 30 reps / 10 reps cycles.
• Core exercises - dead bugs, clamshell with increasing resistance bands
• Leg lifts in four directions, with increasing weight on ankles (0-5 lbs)
• Squats with a large ball on the back first, then leg presses with low weight later
• Balancing, initially with shoes on, then off, then on an unstable foam pad, then with a ball in hands, doing figure 8's
• Step up, down on an exercise step, both front and sideways (start with a cane if needed)
• Stretch leg up straight, lie on back, bend one knee up and rest the ankle of the second on the knee
• Stretch leg sideways laying flat
• Bridges (feet flat, lift your torso up) first, then on a large pilates ball and hold, then do the ball but roll feet towards you while elevated
• Reverse clamshells (lie sideways, ankle weights, knees together and bent, raise one ankle up
• Ten minutes of cooling down walking

These were the exercises that helped me, for me the hardest part was holding back if I wanted to do more. Some of the exercises are described in this exercise link:

http://www.hipresurfacingsite.com/Pre-Op/20101022594/Pre-Op/Pre-Op-Excercises-/menu-id-70.html.

Good luck...

[katekosar]

Hi, Hernanu.

Thanks for the responses, all.   I didn't mean to imply that I wasn't going to work out, just that I'm tiiiiiiired of working out in a formal manner right now. 

Phillwad and I had the same surgeon, and he doesn't give any specific scrip for PT other than a handout with some basic ROM stuff.  His protocol is NO resistance stuff immediately post-op.  Whether that changes after the 6-week x-ray and follow-up, I dunno, but right now it's all range of motion anyway.  Checked out the hip resurfacing website you provided the link to ... almost none of that would work for me, with the ankle weights and resistance bands, all no-nos right now.  Also, no lying leg lifts up into the air.  FWIW.

I'm walking as I am able with the great Vertigo Monster following me around, and doing as I can, so I guess that'll have to do, cuz it's all I CAN do.  C'est la vie, for now, anyway.

kate

[FlbrkMike]

I actually look forward to my PT two days a week.

;D ;D ;D

The stuff I do is pretty similar to hernanu's routine, except I warm up with 15 minutes walking briskly on the treadmill.  Plus, the therapist does some extra stretching of my quads, flexors and hammies, which are very very tight from years of decreased ROM, and she can stretch them a lot better than I can by myself.  

They also have me do:

Monster Walk - walking sideways three times across the room and back, knees flexed, with an elastic band around my ankles.
Spider Walk - three laps with the band around my ankles using a rollerblading motion, forward and backward.
"Stool Scoot" - three laps sitting on a low stool with wheels, propelling myself with my feet - really works the hamstrings.

I'm really tired these days when I get home from work and find it hard to make the time or effort to exercise there.  I get to take off early (about 3:00) on Tuesdays and Thursdays to go to my PT, which is 5 minutes from the office, and get 60 to 90 minutes of good structured and supervised work, followed by icing, that's very hard to accomplish at home.

I'll have to admit, I got pretty tired of the home PT I was doing early on, but the more structrued strengthenting and ROM work they have me doing now reallly seems to be helping, not just to heal from the surgery but to regain what I lost during my years of OA.

[halfdone]

 ;D
Hi Kate. It looks as though you have recruited a PT team - and a good, hard core team at that! (Maybe I'll call them Hippy Team Six)
I remember being very, very tired first time around and didn't begin any serious PT until after the restrictions ended, but my son was a patient walking buddy, even though we had to leave 15minutes early to get to school on time at my slow shuffle.
In the meantime, I recommend hot tub, with some worthy leg movements so you can log it as PT  :)
Keep well all.

[katekosar]

That hot tub actually sounds fantastic.  My gym membership is at Cleveland State University, and while it includes use of an olympic pool, there's no hot tub.  I'll have to scout one out in the area.  Question, though:  at 4 weeks post-op, is the surgical incision well enough healed to take a chance with the little buggies that swim about in the hot tub?  Already went through a root canal and still on antibiotics; nevertheless, would prefer not to invite any more disaster into my life.   :)

kate

[Lori Cee]

I got told that I could get in the water when all the scabs were gone.  I'm not quite sure when that happened but I'm pretty sure that by four weeks I was well and truly ok (Apparently a combination of my surgeons skill and my own healing - I had a lot of comments about how well I was healing - guess all that pre-op healthy eating did help:)). 

Some other surgeons start hydro a lot earlier with waterproof dressings, so I guess its one of those 'it depends' questions.  I can understand you want to be cautious - if it were me, I'd wait till the scabs were gone but I'm paranoid!!

[hipnhop]

I started swimming at 4 weeks post op.  I wouldn't get in the hot tub though. As long as your doc says its ok and your wound is completely healed. I had no scabs at the four week mark.

[nekko]

12 days post op. Got PT session at home this morning. It took about 45 minutes but I got really tired after that and I slept for 2 hours and a half this afternoon.
I got a young therapist that knows very well the subtle differences between PT for THP and PT for resurfacing, which is not very common in France.
So, I do not really hate PT but It seems that all available energy in my body is "stolen" by the healing process. Does anybody got tired after a very moderate PT session ?

[hernanu]

Oh yeah, nekko - no matter what, sleep when your body tells you. Remember that due to how your muscles were manipulated, even a moderate PT session is challenging. Let your body heal, everything improves as time passes.

[nekko]

Thanks Hernan for the advice. BTW, did you remember when did you started the following:

• About 10-15 mins on a spinning bike
• Exercises - always at 30 reps / 10 reps cycles.
• Core exercises - dead bugs, clamshell with increasing resistance bands
• Leg lifts in four directions, with increasing weight on ankles (0-5 lbs)
• Squats with a large ball on the back first, then leg presses with low weight later
• Balancing, initially with shoes on, then off, then on an unstable foam pad, then with a ball in hands, doing figure 8's
• Step up, down on an exercise step, both front and sideways (start with a cane if needed)
• Stretch leg up straight, lie on back, bend one knee up and rest the ankle of the second on the knee
• Stretch leg sideways laying flat
• Bridges (feet flat, lift your torso up) first, then on a large pilates ball and hold, then do the ball but roll feet towards you while elevated
• Reverse clamshells (lie sideways, ankle weights, knees together and bent, raise one ankle up
• Ten minutes of cooling down walking

[hernanu]

I started it about 4-5 weeks after the surgery. I also started simply for each exercise. If I mention weeks in the following, it is weeks AFTER the initial 4 weeks of in home Physical therapy.

For example, the leg lifts we started without any weights for the first couple of weeks, 3 sets of 10 repetitions (or until I got tired). Then the weights went up 1 or 2 lbs per week.

The squats with the ball were first, for about two or three weeks, the last few weeks the leg presses with light weights (again, 3 sets of 10 or until tired).

Balancing .. first week on the floor, with shoes on. The second week, with shoes off, third week on the foam pad, fourth week + on the foam pad, with a ball doing figure 8's. All for 30 sec at the same time. (One foot on the floor, the other raised off).

Bridges ... First just feet flat, raise your torso up and down. At about two weeks, same, but put heels on the pilates ball, forcing balancing. At four weeks, do the same, but bend your knees and roll the ball towards you and back out.

The only thing that really stayed the same was the bike. I think I started at 10 - 15, whatever I felt was good, it was really just for warming up.

Steps - started on a low step, frontwards for 30 times. Added the side step (with a cane) at four weeks, finished with both front and side step at 5-6 weeks.

Both the therapist and I were also making sure no strain happened, so if I felt anything at all, I either stepped down the weight/repetitions/?? , the last thing you want to do is suffer a setback due to impatience.

[FlbrkMike]

The squats with the ball were first, for about two or three weeks, the last few weeks the leg presses with light weights (again, 3 sets of 10 or until tired).

The "ball on the wall" squats are what really get me.  They started me out with three sets of ten squats.  Then they started having me hold each 10th one for ten seconds.  I'm now up to 25 seconds and am almost ready to fall over by the last one.  I swear that 25 seconds on their stopwatch is really at least 40 seconds.   :'(

[nekko]

Thanks Hernan. Thank you very much. You did a very clear and accurate answer, thus helping me looking forward about PT for the 3 coming weeks.