This week marks six months since my left hip resurfacing with Dr. Pritchett.
All in all, I feel really good. Range of motion continues to improve. In some planes of movement, it is now significantly better than it was before surgery. I am still sore in my glute and outer flank of my quad. Wouldn't call it pain, but sore, like after a solid leg workout. Keep in mind though (for those who've followed my story), I was in excruciating muscle pain in the weeks after surgery. I believe I am just one of those people for whom it may be 18-months before I feel "normal"
I've just begun some very light impact sport. The first test was at the Oregon Coast on vacation with family and friends. I did some light jogging while playing frisbee and catch with a football on the beach. Afterward, I felt remarkably better than I had anticipated. My only additional soreness was in some of the lateral stabilizer muscles that hadn't seen much action in quite awhile.
At the gym, I'm sticking with a lower weight cross-fit routine. I get a great pump, work-up a good lather and keep my heart rate up. I'm just now starting to add some light jogging/walking on the treadmill. It feels a little awkward, but great at the same time.
As I mentioned in my 2-month post, my short external rotators continue to be the slowest to recover. They get stronger with exercise each week, but it's a slow go. I have a couple times gotten an horrible cramp in the muscles while stretching. You know the kind of cramp that almost causes you to hit the reset button on the gut? Yeah, that kind.
But as I stated at the beginning, overall I feel good. My last PT session was last week and I'm continuing on my own at home. Best part? I don't get woken up at night by osteoarthritis pain in my left hip!
To those of you who are in your 30s like me and considering surgery... I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. And my recovery has not been the sunshine, rainbows, and flowers that some folks on here report. In the early days, mine was more like puking rainbows and as impacted as a desert flowerbed!
I look forward to the months and years ahead.
That's great BB, I still can feel the difference between my left hip and my right (the last done) as far as strength sideways and just in general balancing.
One thing I've done since early on to try to at least get some movement in those is to juggle. I learned how to do it during my college breaks, while working at an amusement part, so I'm comfortable with it.
It's both fun to do and puts an amazing amount of low stress workout on those little hip muscles, since they are always shifting to handle the juggling. I'm doing it now while balancing on one leg (both sequentially) to make sure I get those stabilizers at least warmed up on a daily basis.
Not elegant, but not a bad way to start the morning.
Balancin' Jugglin' Hippy fool...
Nice to learn of your progress! Happy Half Anniversary!
Bruce
Great report. I'm glad that you're doing well and looking forward. I'm at 8 months and the difference from months is huge.
Way To Go BB! Good to hear your progress!
Great news Barista! Thanks for the update. Love your descriptive writing too!