So I'll really be able to play again?

[krpedm]

Had the surgery about three weeks ago on my right hip and recovery has been slow to moderate.  Have played hockey for almost 50 years on and off and look forward to playing again as my goal is to skate by January and play by March.  Best part of my game was skating until about 6 to 7 years ago when the arthritis was too much to take.  In the past 3 years i have had 3 leg related surgeries that have limited my playing time.  Consequently I am pretty rusty.  Anyone have a workout plan or schedule I could adopt so I can meet my goal!?

[Dan L]

There are a number of incredibly driven and athletic folks here than can help, their amazing recoveries and return to the stuff they love are great to read about and absorb.  Hernanu, Woodstock Hippy, Dannywayoflife to name a few have much wisdom and experience to share.

Dan

[hernanu]

I think the best thing to remember is to be patient. It's not the most appealing thing for type A's, but you'll notice even some of our most athletic posters had to hew to a schedule that was more long term in recovery.

To me (not being a medical person or PT), you have several things to consider as you recover. You've already run into some of these, but at 16 days (I believe), you're still early on. In the order of importance (again to me):

• Ensure that the hip implants (hip and femur) are protected as the bone grows into the matrix that is meant to hold them in place. They are in pretty good shape from the start, but need your care, so any workout that may compromise them early is not a good idea.
• Need to get the legs moving early. It helps with healing, your mood, pain, etc.
• Once the walking is conquered, I would begin doing exercises to begin on strengthening the smaller muscles. I started on this about the fourth week, with a PT, but there are exercises listed here that are safe and help you with that.
• At about the fourth week I started on stationary bike training with no resistance, just to get the hips moving and feeling good.
• By the 8th week, I was doing upper body weights, a good amount of stationary bike and started some light leg presses. Any exercise I did, if it felt like pain at all, I stopped immediately and picked it up in a couple of days. Even if it was just one rep.
• At 12 weeks, I had gone through PT, I hired a personal trainer at my gym for a month so she could help me integrate my core / PT training into my routine. I worked out a lot before, but had neglected core stuff badly for the more flashy stuff (I'm talking to YOU, Mr. Bench Press!). We went over the exercises from PT, she came up with a good set of exercises from Pilates, weights and all to improve my balance and strength.
• At six months, I started doing some LIGHT martial arts kicks, just to get the motion at very low height and with no real strength, definitely no impact. I also bought a slide board (my only exercise that approximates hockey), and use that religiously now. I planned on getting back to soccer, thought that would help.

Since that, as the months go by, I intensified the workouts, but always kept #1 above in mind. All of this is not worth much if you don't support the implant. I planned to get back to my activities later, since they are high impact and my surgeon wanted no impact for a year. I'm back to soccer at about 17/14 months, have been back to good movement in Martial Arts for about four months, not full impact, but getting there. I'll be happy with holding off for 2 years for my particular activities, which is when most surgeons seem to think the bone is fully grown in.

Hope that helps. Others have gotten back to their main activities earlier, this is just my own approach for the things I do.

[DirkV]

I was and am a goalie - so different breed of cat, as the saying goes. But I did get back on the ice, playing out, sometime around 6 mo post surgery. Problem was, I had played in net for the previous 40 yrs, so it wasn't much fun starting over. I kept active in other athletic activities, mainly cycling, and eventually got back in net at close to 2 yrs post op. Until that time, I really thought I was done with hockey, but I made good progress be/ years 1 and 2 post op. Skating is not a jarring activity, so I think it's a more easily achievable sport to recover than running distances or basketball or similar sports (actually my surgeon mentioned that off the cuff). Yeah, you'll get the occasional bump and fall, but after 6 mo to a yr, that shouldn't matter - wait till you feel ready.
Good luck. Healing takes time - they had to cut and traumatize a lot of muscles, but they heal.
-Dirk