Freaking out a bit post op.

[Slinkycarrot]

Karlos & Larry,

Do you think at this stage one should be doing light stretches so they get into their new position? or wait for the muscles to completely settle down? And do you think its better to try and walk more or to hold off?
I have conflicting advice from the physio and biokineticist. I've been staying on the conservative side of activity given that is felt like i had torn or strained the muscles, so was giving it 6-8 weeks to heal before I do anything much more. 

I hear you Larry on the dysfunction side of things, Im preparing myself for at least a year of dedicated physio to try and get my muscles balanced. I hope you keep making progress.  Prior to the op I bought myself a simple EMG monitor to try and work on switching off my overactive psoas on my left.  Really hard to get it to switch off.  I was just googling the machine I have and came across these which look pretty cool, although I think they only measures glute, quad and hamstring activity (and a much fancier EMG machine than mine!).

http://www.myontec.com/products/muscle_monitor/


Thanks, Roz.

[catfriend]

I suggest working on strengthening before stretching. If you don't have any strength there's not much to work with for stretching. The more walking you can do, the better. If you can only manage short walks, do them frequently. Walking builds strength. As your strength increases you will be able to walk longer distances. Then you will be able to stretch more. I can now reach around my pack, grab my ankle, pull it up, and stretch my quad on my surgical side. While I used to do that all the time before surgery it was many months before I could do this on my own (my pt would do it for me on a table). Even when you sprain an ankle (speaking from experience) the early emphasis in pt is on strengthening, so if you're comparing your surgery to that (and I've compared my recovery to those I've had coming back from injuries) then developing strength is the primary task.

[karlos.bell]

 :) 8) Yo Roz nice to hear from you. Do what your body tells you. If you feel like your legs want a bit a walking do it.... Blood circulation is what you want for tissue repair. Not too much not to little. Sounds good though your thinking about it so that is cool. If you have torn or strained  one would not even be able to use crutches.
Example torn Achilles tendon WOW!!. The iliopsoas is the strongest muscle - tendon in the body so it is massively hard to tear.  Don't worry you may really get ahead of Larry and me you are a lot younger and your issue has been identified early on. An overactive iliopsoas can be, can be I say ( I am not a doc) due to weak Gluts due to pain in the hip joint. If there is pain in the joint the gluts (the butt muscles)  give up first. The iliopsoas is normally the last one standing so it takes all the load of what is not been working correctly. Pain is a disabling factor and switches of muscle actions due to the pain. Until the gluts get ahead - pain resides in the the joint and then strengthening occurs then the groin pain should go because now you are using your gluts to walk with and not the iliopsoas. Don't worry it will happen. Be positive. It takes time. Concentrate on the gluts if anything. Many a hippy here will tell you that. Once the butt is firm she's all go!!!!
Remember if you do some exercise wait at least 48 hours for the tissue to rebuild before the next session.
It will switch off (iliopsoas) if the gluts are working as they should believe me I have experienced this.
Take it easy.
Cheers K

[Slinkycarrot]

Thanks Larry & Karlos!


I think there are just some of us that get these muscle issues to deal with and some that dont.  It seems like my hips are in totally new positions and I have to stretch and retrain all my muscles to accommodate them. Its just going to take time but I hadn't really prepared myself for this rehab projection prior to surgery.


Since my last post Ive really upped my walking and it's definitely helped, so I'm walking with crutches about 2 lots of 600 metres a day and increasing. I went to a party on the weekend and was up dancing (or more swaying!) for a good few hours, man was I sore and stiff at the end but it was so good to let some steam off!  Around the house I can waddle a few metres without the crutches, not really good for my gait but useful if I need to carry something. Im 6 weeks as of wednesday and think i have another 2 weeks till i can get off the crutches.

I start physio tomorrow which I think will help.


Sleeping is still a pain. When were you able to sleep on your side? Ive tried to on my better side but its not comfy and I think it's making my scar worse. Cant wait till the day I can sleep on my side and spring in and out of bed!

[Slinkycarrot]

Larry - I just saw your post on my bilat story bit....  yup 5 scopes. Dont ask - had issues with scar tissue x2 and then 2 crap jobs. Apparently Dr De Smet said my cartilage in one spot was sewed to the wrong place!


Excuse my ignorance - when they do the resurfacing do they get rid of the capsule? or just replace the joint inside and patch it up? [size=78%]Would this be a reason for my slower recovery?[/size]

[Ljpviper]

No great question, the capsule is divided and sewn back to keep the integrity. Yes everyone is different recovering, and you having scopes in the past throws another curve ball.

I think you should stick to walking for now and keep upping the distance as you feel better. Once your hip feels stronger then start working the specific hip and core muscles.

good luck,

larry

[karlos.bell]

 :) Hi your doing well Slinky. You have improved as I am now as well. At the gym and making very good progress with the trainer after what 19 months. I can jump a bit down 2 ft example and are getting the structure back in my left leg. Yes it will take time but remember you need to have a life in between. The capsule is complete and not removed so look after it until it heals properly. 2 issues to deal with. Muscular from the joint deformation and the joint itself and then rehabilitation once the new joint back is back in place. Then  getting the muscles to regenerate again.
I have still along way to go  but I ran another half marathon last weekend. It was a hard one but I did it. My next challenge is 26km but I need to get it totally together and get my nutrition right just due I am not 26 years old anymore. But hell I love it.... I hit the wall around the 1hr.45m mark so I doing ok for an old fella who was  told he would never walk again.......... :o 8) Yo laters........ K

[Slinkycarrot]

Karlos, that's amazing you did another half!  Congrats :)


So I'm now 8 weeks post op and finally off the crutches. I waddle a tiny bit as I'm so stiff and my hip flexors get so tight.  I've started swimming a bit now with a pool buoy which is fine.


In general my recovery is ok, still slow and so much muscle and hip capsule tightness/stretching to do but each week my range of motion slightly improves. It's a marathon not a sprint!

[catfriend]

It's great to hear you're finally doing a bit better. I was worried about you. Everybody's recovery is different. What matters most is the long term results, not the first few weeks. I don't know why your recovery (or any other individual's) has been slower than others, but you're not the first or only. You will get there.

[dsmcamelot]

Hi Slink
I am a fresh bilateral now 10 days out. I am also a PT. I too have clunking, catching and residual pain with lots of stiffness. I agree w many of the prior posts re no "aggressive" stretching . I'm doing my own self stretching and I see small gains. I'm staying away from any painful motions vs appropriate stretch discomfort. Your pain should not be worse after stretching ... It should settle to baseline. Remember our OA hips usually have lots of limited mobility going into HR which are not effected with the procedure. I can see how this recovery will be very gradual. Lots of things need work in the long run.. Mobility... Smooth walking with improved function and eventually strategic strength and conditioning.
My biggest problem now is that I cannot sleep at night...any suggestions?


Dr Su : Bilateral 1/13/17

[vonhouser]

I really just walked for the first month. If I did too much strengthening everything would get flared up. Then I started doing strengthening, but only stretching if it felt good. I would stretch for functional things, like to reach my foot to put on socks, but mostly just that.


I think I sort of had a sense of if something felt like a good idea. And if it didn't feel good, I wouldn't worry about it, I would just try again in a couple of weeks. I'm at 7 weeks out now, and ROM is slowly getting better, strength too.