Just want to run again - 4/9 with Dr. Su

[Arrojo]

That's great, Arrojo - I may try that, maybe I could benefit from some scar tissue abuse. The stretching is great, remember that your  muscles are still mending, you want a good balance between good ROM and strengthening.

hernanu, look up activerelease.org and you can find a practitioner near you.  Amazing stuff.

And yeah, only doing the PT excercises every other day for now.

[hernanu]

Thanks, Arrojo... time to really release those muscles.

[Arrojo]

I had my 3 month checkup today.  Dr. Su went through his checklist and said I had 100%.  He tsetd my ROM and said it was terrific. I told him about my accidental running and he thought it was great.  :)

I can ride my bike outside, lift up to 50 lbs, hike up mountains (all of which I intend to do ASAP).   Because I had extra time to kill, I walked all the back to Penn Station (with my heavy backpack of stuff) from his office on the upper east side of NY.  I stopped in Central Park for a snack.

[hernanu]

Sounds great, keep it up.

[Arrojo]

Here is some detailed info for me at 3 1/2 months.  It'll be good for posterity.   :)

Last weekend, I hiked up Wachusett Mountain with a friend.  It was a 3-hour hike.  I've run up that mountain 3 times (a challenging trail/road race), skied it many times, but first time I've hiked it in about 25 years.

Things are going famously.  As noted above, I saw Dr. Su 2 weeks, and he said my Range of Motion (ROM) was all the way back to normal and my strength was great too.  Dr. Su. is very aggressive with stretching and ROM.  He has no 90 degree rule and on the day after the operation he had me bending over in a chair trying to touch the floor.  I did my stretches religiously, and at the one month mark he gave me more advanced stretches.  The hardest was for the periformis.  But by 6 weeks I could put on my own socks and shoes without a problem.

ROM: I have religiously done my stretches 2-3 times a day.  In addition to the periformis, my PT's (who kicked me out after 6 weeks because I had blown through everything they could give me) gave me some good hip flexor stretches, and other stretches.  No doubt all this aggressive stretching has given me the ROM back., but I still do them every day as the periformis is still tight.  I have also had Active Release Technique (ART) done twice to break up all the scar tissue there.

Hip strength: My PTs gave me some great exercises to do.  At one point I was doing them every day, but it was making me very sore, so I cut back to every other day.  In addition to the hip strengthening PT given exercises, they also focused on my core.  So, I do crunches and planks, and a few others core exercises that they gave me.  Around 2 months I started back in doing my situps, pushups and pullups every day.  Dr. Su said I can lift 50 lbs, so I have started doing some easy 50 lb dead lifts as I have free weights in the basement.

Endurance: I try and walk 3 miles every day (the dog loves me).  I was using my bike on a bike trainer for 30 minutes every day, thankfully Dr. Su finally allowed me to ride the bike outside, so I now ride the bike down to the lake and do 30 minutes of aquajogging every other day.  He also said breaststroke (frogkick) is great for recovery so I've been doing that too.

I am eagerly awaiting the 6 month mark when I can start running again.  I will start slowly and take it easy for months 6-12, running only every other day with some easy track workouts.  I plan to start doing plyometrics at the one year mark and I do hope to be competitive again in Masters sprinting next summer, but we'll see.  I told Dr. Su I wanted to get my picture on his wall sprinting (he currently has a skier). :-)

I do need to lose 10-15 lbs as well; that is certainly my goal over the next 3-9 months.

Anyway, I encourage everyone to do your prescribed exercises, and stretches and you will get there.  Hip resurfacing is awesome.

[hernanu]

Arrojo, that sounds really good. I was also early on the stretches (always overseen by PT at first), and had no 90 degree restriction. The ROM improvement is great, since you won't have your tight muscles working against you for the more complex activities. The walks sound great (the dogs are probably ecstatic).

One exercise that's been great for me, promoted by my outpatient PT at about 2 months in was to do reverse planks on a pilates ball - where you rest on your back, heels on the top of the ball in front of you then lift up on your shoulders, hold for 5 seconds and down (30 times). Later, at about three months they (me really) upped it to doing the plank and then rolling the ball towards the buttocks while suspended, then back still suspended and down. Very good for the core and stabilizers.

Sounds like you're on your way, take it easy, brother.

[Rob6297]

I also do the last excercise Hernanu described...it's very hard but it does strengthen the core something fierce! Pulling that ball back and forth is miserable!  Also, roll as much as you can on the foam roller...that hurts too but it helps after you're done!  Glad you're doing great Arrojo!  Dr. Su is aggressive with the therapy but it pays dividends! Good luck with the running...I'm waiting until the 1 year mark before I attempt any, I like the cycling too much anyway!  :)
Joe

[Arrojo]

Hiked up Mt. Wachusett last Saturday with a friend.  A 3-hour hike, not exactly sure how far, but pretty steep especially near the top.  I've run up it 3 times (a very challenging trail race), skied it countless times, but first hike of it in a long, long time.

[Arrojo]

So, I started running around 5 1/2 months.  Dr. Su said I could run a couple of months ago, but I waited.  Sticking to the track for now.  I actually started on week 8 of the resurfacing to 5K program - 4 sets of 6 minutes running, 1 minute walking.  Except for being out of shape, I felt terrific.  I even ran each interval faster than the previous one. 

:)

[stephen1254]

I love to read this! I'm going to wait a full 6 months, so first run is a week from Friday. I have concerns about the right leg....functioning properly, so I really appreciate hearing about runners with no issue. I can't wait!!!

[hernanu]

Sounds great, Arrojo!

[Arrojo]

I love to read this! I'm going to wait a full 6 months, so first run is a week from Friday. I have concerns about the right leg....functioning properly, so I really appreciate hearing about runners with no issue. I can't wait!!!

Good luck, Stephen! I'm sure you'll be fine, hippy wise. It'll take a few months for conditioning to come back I'm sure.

[David]

Glad you are back in the game Arrojo...

[Woodstock Hippy]

Arrojo, congratulations on your return to the track.  I know you're loving it.  You'll be back at the races before you know it.

[Arrojo]

My six month anniversary is today!  I can now lift > 50 lbs, start basic plyometrics and most important, run on the roads. I celebrated by doing 2 x 12 minutes, with 2 minutes rest (week 11 of the resurfacing to 5K program).  I'm sure I could run longer, but I am sticking to that conservative plan, targeting a Turkey Day 5K.

I was nervous at first, but after a while didnt even think about the hip.  I've missed the roads, but will not forsake trails and the track of course.  I'm not a great distance runner - strictly middle of the pack,  (although I like challenging races), but need to regain my aerobic fitness and plyo srength before I even think about sprinting - hopefully next spring.

Anyway, my return to running, both distance running and sprinting, is still in its infancy, but I am oozing with optimism.  Thank you Dr. Su and my fellow hippies and Pat for this website!

[Dannywayoflife]

I'm glad your back to what you love. :)
Danny

[hernanu]

Congrats, Arrojo! good to hear you're cranking along.

[Arrojo]

A couple of small milestones today:

1. I started running up stairs two at a time, something I always used to do.  I probably could have done this before today, but I was too nervous to.  It took competetion to do it - dr's office visit (not resurfacing related) was on the 2nd floor and I got to the bottom of the stairs at the same time as a young lady, and wanted to get ahead of her for the appt, so I raced up the stairs.  :)

2. I also ran up my favorite hill for the first time since surgery:

[phillwad]

This looks like it was a great run - keep it up.

Phill

[Arrojo]

It has now been 8 months (+ 2 days).  I am now running 3-4 miles every other day, and have done one track workout so far.  I hope to do 1-2 track workouts a week.  I have run two 5K races and have started doing P90X workouts.  Many days I have double workouts (run + P90X), although I do not run and do a leg or plyo workout on the same day.

My distance running 5K times (28+) are nowhere near where I feel they should/can be (24-25 range), but I think that is just conditioning, and not any limitation due to the surgery.

I have not yet done any sprinting, still just getting back into distance running shape.  The P90X workouts are terrific for getting my strength back all over, and I feel like things are heading in the right direction.  I don't have a timetable for trying to sprint other then targeting some May/June track meets next year.  But I need to be patient, stay focused and keep doing what I am doing before progressing to the next level of training.

All that said, I will reiterate what I said in my very first post.  If it turns out I can't return to where I was, I have made my peace with it and am delighted to just be back to running.  But I am far from raising the white flag, I will just keep doing what I am doing and see what happens.

Thank you Pat, Vicky, Dr. Su, and my fellow hippies for all you have returned to me.  Happy Holidays to all!