ART for surface hippies??

23109VC · May 13, 2015, 11:14:49 PM

I started a new topic because this has come up in the body of some other threads, but i couldnt' find a topic devoted to it.

I have posted in other threads about my hip pain when running. I am 100% pain free during virtually everythign I now do. I have ridden my bicycle and done 25 mile bike rides, played basketball with my teenage son, gone swimming, played racquetball... now keep in mind that in many of these activities, there is starting and stopping..small rest periods built into the activity.

The ONE thing that always seems to trigger some pain is running. if I run about a mile, i start to get an ache in my hip. it's in the area of my incision...it doesn't not feel like the bone on bone pain i had berfore the surgery.. it feels like a muscle ache setting in.. it slowly builds up then gets so bad it's like I can't keep going. As soon as I start walking..the pain almost immediately subsides and within 30-60 seconds.. it's gone. now if I start running again, I can run again..but the pain comes on sooner.. i end up doing run/walk/run/walk...

it's not the end of the world but i'd like to be able to run a 5k or 10k. i don't have to.. i just want to. right now I feel like my cardio/muscle/body can easily do it..it's just my new hip that gives out.

I was recommended to try ART. active release techique. I don't fully understand what it is.. but it's done by chiropractors..it looks like a deep massage / stretching that is meant to break up scar tissue. or loosen tight muscles.

i emailed Lee Webb about it and she cautioned me to avoid anythign that would "break up scar tissue".

what are all your experiences with ART or thigns like it?

i emailed her back for an explnation as to WHY it would be bad...and I am waiting for her response.

i just thought i"d ask here and see what you all had to say.

thanks.

Sean

MattJersey · May 14, 2015, 03:06:23 AM

Sean, I can't recall exactly where, but somewhere here or on another site I read an article or two by Corey Foulk where he gives a credible explanation of this and how to overcome. It isn't any clinical proof, of course, but if you've not seen it I would search it out and have a read.

There might be a copy of, or link to, it here:
http://www.hipresurfacingsite.com/Ironman/20081207219/Ironman/Cory-Foulk-Bose-Hippy-Runs-Marathon-Ironman-Triathlon/menu-id-34.html

23109VC · May 18, 2015, 03:01:31 AM

Had an ART session Friday. I go for another tomorrow. It's basically deep massaging of the hip while you move your leg. The actual session lasted 5 min or so and did not hurt. At most it felt uncomfortable at points but I can't see how this would hurt our implant. It was far less stressful than running it jumping which I do.

Later in the day my ass muscles felt slightly sore as if I had worked them .. But no discomfort in the hip joint or surrounding area... It felt more like maybe I had done a set of squats or lunges and had some muscle soreness...

It will be interesting to see hi my ROM does after another session or two.

23109VC · May 19, 2015, 02:43:25 AM

ok... here is a brief follow up. First let me say this - I had no clue what the heck ART was until someone on this site told me about it. I honestly was skeptical it would do squat to help me, but I figured I'd give it a try.

so far I have been to see the Chiropractor TWICE. Once last week and once this AM.

this AM, during the session, I literally could feel my range of motion increase. i was able to flex/rotate my hip noticeably more after only a few minutes of ART.. i went to work, sat on some ice a couple times as instructed... later that day when i was walking, i had this sensation that my leg was extending more as i walked.. it was weird.

before doing ART, and since my HR surgery, I never felt that my left leg was really limited...but I ddi notice that my ROM was NOT the same in my operated hip vs my natural one. in my operated hip i could NEVER touch my knee to my nose. never. If I stretched and stretched .. i could eventually just barely get it to touch but i always felt like it was being forced...

well today.. tonight actually.. i was easily able to touch my knee to my nose!!! WOW! i've never had this ROM motion.. ever. not in the 4 years since my operation.

i also was at the gym today. i was doing leg lifts. the kind where you step up off the ground and rest on your elbows..your hands gripping the handels and your legs are dangling under you..and you use your abs to raise up your legs out to a 90 degree angle.... those. when i do those, I ALWaYS notice that my left leg never wants to go up quite as high as my non-operated side... it goes close, but i always noticed a very slight weakness or inability to extend it all the way out. today at the gym i felt like that was gone.. weird. i figured it was the ART.

tonight is when I was telling my wife how I felt like i had more ROM.. i said.. I wonder if i can touch my nose to my knee.. i leaned over and presto.. I did it.

I'm sold! this ART stuff is the real deal. I go back THUR for my next session.

i haven't tried any running so it will be interesting to see if my ability to run longer is affected at all... it could very well be that my running limitation has nothing to do with this ROM issue..and maybe it does.. all i do know is that this ART stuff absolutely has helped my ROM in just TWO sessions. wow.

more updates to follow

23109VC · May 25, 2015, 12:31:25 PM

here is another update.

I have now been to the chiro for ART a total of 3 times. I go tomorrow for another session, again on Thursday.

After my 2nd session I was blown away at how my range of motion increased. it was not in my head, it was a big difference.

I went back for session #3 and told the chiro I was really excited... he did some of the same movements, and some new ones. he did not do all the same ones he did last time.

once I went home I did not notice the big increase in my ROM like I did last time.

also, I will say this - the improvements I noticed after session #2 lasted aboput a day. to a day and a half. maybe two days tops. after two days my hip regressed back to where it was before ART. so the initial fix is NOT permanent...

the chiro said if you stick with ART it can increase how long it stays good... he also said I am 4 years post op... he said if I had started doing ART BEFORE my hip went bad, or much sooner after surgery, he felt the result might have been even better. he said he has had some peop[el with bad hips avoid the need for surgery.

my situation was so messed up... maybe if I had started seeing him ten years ago... :) but by the time I was considering surgery.. the damage had been done and I don't think much of anything was going to fix it.. not unless there is a way to rebuilt cartilage... ;)

anyway.. I will post another update later this week.

I am going to ask him to redo the stuff hje did visit #2. he did one move on the front of my hip... which must have been what did it. I don't know why a muscle in the FRONT Of my hip would impact bending forward..but I think it did. when I bend overf forward I can feel it pinch in my groin... after he worked on it that sensation was gone. he called it the psoas.... i'll see if he cdan hit that one again next time to see if that was what did it.

i'm not convinced yet that this stuff is a permanent fix..but I am definitely convinced that there is something credible to this ART stuff in that I noticed a big difference in just a couple sessions..although the benefits seemed short lived. time will tell if the fix can become more permanent.

I have NOT tried running on my hip latelyl. last time I ran wa over a month ago at a mini triathalon where I only did a 1.5 mile run... after a 400m ocean swim and a 6 mile bike ride.

I have been cycling 10-15 miles every other day or so with zero pain.

23109VC · June 08, 2015, 02:19:24 AM

Ok.. here is another update.

I have now been to the Chiropractor for ART sessions about 6 times... 2x per week - so it's been three weeks. The results have been amazing!

Thursday night I went for a jog. I ran TWO full miles, non stop. I only stopped once at the jungle gym to knock out 10 pullups..and kept running. all total i think I ran 2.1 miles. the whole thing was run at about a 10:30 second mile pace... no land speed record for sure.. :) but the fact that I was able to run TWO miles without stopping..AND with ZERO pain.. amazing!!

Up until this point the FARTHEST I could run was about 3/4 of a mile... and by that point my hip would start to really hurt. by the 1 mile mark I had serious pain and had to stop...I would then alternate between walking and running.. and as I went further, I woudl have to do mostly walking with very little running.. for example, I did a 5k a few months ago.. I was able to run most of the first mile..but the last two miles I walked then ran.. but mostly walked.

This ART stuff is amazing.

Here are my observations and what my dr is telling me. He is working on muscles on the rear and front of the hip... but the one that seemed to give me the GREATEST increase in range of motiona nd the most benefit in runing is the FRONT muscle, the psoas.

I don't know what kind of ROM most of you had post op but for me, i could never realy bend all the way over and touch my knee to my nose. after an ART session where he really works on the psoas, I am able to really bend over and get my nose to my knee. it is a big difference.. my ROM really improves
i also notice that when I walk, I feel like my leg will move more to the rear.. like that front msucle is not as tight, so I am able to flex more and extend my leg backward more easily. my walking feels more fliud.

he gave me some stretches to do at home that help stretch the psoas..I do those before I go for a run.

it was amzing to go for a run and knock out 2 miles and not have that horrible pain in my hip.

every time i would go for a run before ART, but after my HR operation, I got that pain and I just started to accept it as a limitation of my surgery. It frustrated me because I know there are people Dr. Gross worked on who can run marathons..and I wanted to be able to at least run 5-10 miles... and the fact that I could only do 1 mile and it caused a lot of pain.. was no fun.

now I think I am going to have no problem reaching my next goal of doing a 5k pain free..then doing 5 MILES and ultimatley doing maybe a 15k. we will see.. one step at a time..but this first step was a huge.

any of you with this same pain that I described!?!? go try ART!!!

JHippy · June 08, 2015, 03:58:44 PM

That is very cool. Thanks!

nbb · June 11, 2015, 05:18:02 PM

Thanks for posting a whole timeline. ART is very effective. I just had BHR two weeks ago so I'm very fresh but prior to that had 4 scopes in 5 years, desperately trying to preserve the joint. In that time ART was very helpful and I have already asked about getting on it again.

One other treatment that is as effective if not more so is called dry needling. Ask around about that. As a soft tissue treatment I have not found anything better, even than ART.

I hope to be like you soon and living without restrictions!

Arrojo · June 23, 2015, 09:50:13 AM

Yes, I have been doing ART long before I needed surgery on my hip and of course after it. There is no question in my mind that it was instrumental in helping me run the Boston Marathon 2 years after surgery. I still go religiously once a month for maintenenace - after all your soreness is gone, you should still go once a month.