Wow, Mike, one year! Cool stuff. Don't sweat the small stuff, you'll have plenty of  cramps, muscle spasms, etc. It means you're reaching the time when you can just work out.

Most hippies are much more fit (according to the reports) in the first ten years than the general population. Good luck and congrats, Mike, awfully nice to see you doing well.

Woody,
I did my first real workout in the pool yesterday.  I have an Endless and have been doing just a little easy swim here and there prior.
Did 3000m with 1000 of it with fins on.  They kicked my ass literally, am very sore today around the hip pointer/incision area.  Zero to 3000m was probably not a good idea.  I am leaving the fins at home next time, or maybe my brain...
David

I'm glad it's not just me.  I'm going to the Hofstra pool again this afternoon, but the fins are going into the closet.

I never use fins except for scuba diving.  I suppose that would be a good workout for the legs.  I find that just for kicks using a kickboard and kicking kicks my butt enough.   ;)

I finally feel like a swimmer again.  My legs feel like they are strong enough to do whole workouts again.  I did 3000 the other day without using the pull buoy at all.

Dan

Sounds cool for you swimmers.  Makes me want to swim again.   

BTW - kicking's a waste time, for short guys like me who don't have frog feet.   

Keeping in line with this thread.......I had my wife give me a really hard time today.  I asked her to be my watchdog, and to keep me from overdoing it and risking injury or setbacks. 

I am two weeks out from surgery today.  I can easily walk 2 miles.  I haven't, but I've been walking about 1.25 miles in the morning with a cane, and about the same in the late afternoon.  Dr. Gross' instructions were to work up to a mile in 5 to 6 weeks. 

So, I have promised my wife that, until I hear from Dr. Gross' office on the subject (I emailed them today), I will keep it under a mile.  BUT......if I am listening to my body, not swelling, not feeling any pain, not having soreness, etc...is there any actual risk to walking longer distances?  I am NOT trying to prove anything - which I told my wife - but sitting in a recliner for 16 hours a day is no fun.  So, if there is no harm in walking more, i want to do it.  If there is risk, I will not.

Thoughts?

No risk as far as I'm concerned, you'll know if it is too much.  Right now my body is telling me I am in the too much stage.  My Grand Canyon trek felt fine, many miles easy.  When I came back I thought I was good to go.  Did a 8 mile trail hike/jog (mostly jog) and am as sore as a whore for lack of better terms.  Need to cut it back.
I feel like I am pushing the envelope, but that is and always has been my personality, trying to change.  :-\
David

Hey Andy,

If you are going to increase your mileage, I would do it very incrementally.  As you know, I did too much at seven weeks and it set me back.  I was feeling great early on, thought I was superwoman, and then paid the price.  I am slowly getting better.  Trust me, it ain't worth it in the long run.

Mindi

Andy-

Can't see any downside.  It would take a tremendous amount of force to do anything to the implant.  The muscles will heal even if you stress them a bit.  I can't recall exactly but I think I was doing several miles pretty early on.  Check out my blog listed below.

I have been increasing everything incrementally and it has worked well.  When I get to a breakthrough point my body tells me and I back off a bit.  Fortunately I haven't had any big setbacks.  Listen to your body, it will tell you.

Best wishes.

Dan

Got the reply from Lee Webb at Dr. Gross' office.

She's always busy, so short specific answers.  On the walking, she said, "Don't go past 1.5 miles until 6 weeks post op."

Ugh.....I'm one of those guys who wants to know the details behind the answers.  The "why" beind the "don't". 

Oh, well.  I'm sure they know best.....sigh.

Recliner, here I come.

Ooooh, I know, maybe I'll work on getting to "Full Member" status!

Patience.  That's coming from me who was just out trying to sprint up a hill today in the middle of a 2 mile run with a little tenderness in the freshest hip.  Who also drove at 1.5 weeks when I was told not to. 

I think you could probably do a touch more, but I think I'd still take easy at 2 weeks, that's really early.

Play some video games, maybe that help with the recliner action.

Quote from: imgetinold on January 26, 2012, 11:24:51 AM
Got the reply from Lee Webb at Dr. Gross' office.

She's always busy, so short specific answers.  On the walking, she said, "Don't go past 1.5 miles until 6 weeks post op."

Ugh.....I'm one of those guys who wants to know the details behind the answers.  The "why" beind the "don't". 

Oh, well.  I'm sure they know best.....sigh.

Recliner, here I come.

Ooooh, I know, maybe I'll work on getting to "Full Member" status!

I probably did more than I should with walking distances.  I was doing 2.5 miles by my six week appointment.  Not sure why the distance is so limited.  I definitely didn't increase distance until I had little soreness or pain. 

My guess, Aerial, is that by doing more walking than their limit is counter productive to healing.  My pain management doctor, Dr. Feelgood, said that in my case I was like "someone walking around with a gut shot and feels fine, until they bleed out that night"!  Wow.  That image will stay with me.  Dr. Good was not mincing words and said emphatically for me to pull back and only do what my surgeon allowed and no more!

This is one bright doctor and the only one who said I had a mechanical problem in my hips when everyone else, and I mean a lot of everyone elses, said my films and hips were completely normal.  When he talks, I listen.  Plainly, my pain is so masked that it only shows up after the inflammation has gone too far to respond to medication.  That's not good and could potentially seriously harm my healing process.

In your case, I haven't been reading you reporting latent pain, just the opposite really.  As unappealing as it sounds, I do think we have to change our tune so to speak, so let's go ahead and cheekily put it to music, something like "Just because it feels good, doesn't mean it's good for you." That could be a blues lyric, if you like.

Aerial, I'm sorry for you, and also for myself, that your surgeon has clipped your wings a little for now, but if we follow our surgeons' protocol and not add in anything, in a year we will be completely free and unrestricted.  I can see it, taste it, feel it; it's coming our way, right toward us, and you and I will be both be writing our One Year Anniversary State of The Hips Address!

Sleep Well,
2fer

On the ninth, tenth and eleventh day after surgery with McMinn, I walked about two miles a day each of those days.  I think that on the tenth day, I actually went three miles on a treadmill.

I was elated by how well I felt.  After the third day, I emailed McMinn's office to make sure that I was in OK territory.  Chandra, from McMinn's office, called me upon receipt of the email.  He said (roughly), "shut it down!  This is a long healing process." I shut it down on the spot.

I spent fifteen years messing my hip up, lots of time and money fixing it, and I do not want to fix it again...

This is a journey, not a race.  Resist the temptation to crank it up too fast...

For what it's worth, my hip feels awesome and my mobility is better by the day!! Yeah, baby! The race can wait for me...

I hadn't thought about interfering with healing when it all feels just fine, but I suppose that's possible.  Good perspective. 

Quote from: Two4One on January 26, 2012, 10:55:43 PM
My guess, Aerial, is that by doing more walking than their limit is counter productive to healing.  My pain management doctor, Dr. Feelgood, said that in my case I was like "someone walking around with a gut shot and feels fine, until they bleed out that night"!  Wow.  That image will stay with me.  Dr. Good was not mincing words and said emphatically for me to pull back and only do what my surgeon allowed and no more!

This is one bright doctor and the only one who said I had a mechanical problem in my hips when everyone else, and I mean a lot of everyone elses, said my films and hips were completely normal.  When he talks, I listen.  Plainly, my pain is so masked that it only shows up after the inflammation has gone too far to respond to medication.  That's not good and could potentially seriously harm my healing process.

In your case, I haven't been reading you reporting latent pain, just the opposite really.  As unappealing as it sounds, I do think we have to change our tune so to speak, so let's go ahead and cheekily put it to music, something like "Just because it feels good, doesn't mean it's good for you." That could be a blues lyric, if you like.

Aerial, I'm sorry for you, and also for myself, that your surgeon has clipped your wings a little for now, but if we follow our surgeons' protocol and not add in anything, in a year we will be completely free and unrestricted.  I can see it, taste it, feel it; it's coming our way, right toward us, and you and I will be both be writing our One Year Anniversary State of The Hips Address!

Sleep Well,
2fer

Actually I am well past the six week mark now so there are no restrictions on walking (basically walk within the comfort range right now).  I have been doing walks up to five miles after the 6 week mark. I did go about a mile over the limit in the pre-six week period though.  All other cautions I am following like no impact activities.  It will be tough to wait another 4 months to ride my road bike outside though. I started back to yoga this week after my private lesson with a yoga therapist and a handful of ways to modify poses that directly work the hip/pelvis.  It is only a basic level yoga class but it is definitely in the range of nothing "extreme" which is the restriction right now.  I have only gone to two classes so far but it feels good to really get the range of motion working.  I know I still need use modifications to slowly encourage ROM in hip opener poses. Also, getting back to yoga is great for core strength and not all classes of poses work on the hip/pelvis. Yoga is also tremendously good for my holistic health.  I don't want people to think I have gone rogue and am doing all sorts of crazy things.   :). For example, when I am walking I am so tempted to run a couple steps, so tempted......but I have not.

PS to Tin- the unicycle is also calling me but I know not just yet!

I have had a pretty rough time these last two weeks.  I had started at the gym just shy of eight weeks and did some easy elliptical work three times in one week.  The next week the only thing I did was walk on a treadmill slowly one time, and my hip totally rebelled a few days later and I was in the worst pain.  I couldn't take pain meds and I suffered quite a bit.  I just couldn't believe that four days of exercise could hurt me so much...I thought I was in great shape and I was walking without a cane before four weeks.  Yup, I was bulletproof. 

I was getting very scared about my leg, and had an xray last Tuesday and over nighted it to Dr. Gross just to make sure my leg was okay.  The good news is the implant is "perfect" per Dr. Gross, but I have to go back to a cane for two weeks and restrict my activities to just about nothing.

I am beating myself up over this in a way, as I did this to myself, although I just may be one of those folks that are not ready for anything more than walking and easy stretching in the early weeks.

So, it may be okay for you to do more early in the game, but I would certainly follow your doctor's protocol...they know what they are doing, and none of us are getting paid for being physical, so easy does it in my book.

So here I sit, in front of my computer for the next two weeks,

Mindi

Mindi - sorry you hit that rough patch, but it does pass and is not chronic if you let it go back to normal. Don't beat yourself up - we all did it (and are probably still going to until the hip is fully healed).

Thanks, Hernan...pain has a way of doing weird things to the mind.  Will keep positive thoughts as I ice!

Good luck Mindi.....hope things settle down a bit for you in your hip.  Did Dr. Gross indicate what might be causing the pain if the implant looks good.  Is it inflammation?

I will say that I have an elliptical at home and have been using it about every other day.  Initially, I used a resistance that was really too high.  I have very gradually added resistance (but am still not using a resistance near where I was pre-op).  My elliptical has an automatic stride adjustment and I also find that when the stride is close and higher (more like walking up a small step) I still require lighter resistance than when the stride is lower and closer to a sprinting stride.  I do think you need to be careful with elliptical.  I see people just grinding away on ellipticals all the time.  I'm not saying you did that (mindi) but I would use caution if starting to use an elliptical post-op.  I can now see why the elliptical was not allowed in my protocol after six weeks.