Vitamins & Supplements

[hipberto]

It has been four weeks since my left hip-resurfacing. I see my doctor again at the six week mark. I did in-home therapy twice a week for four weeks. My doctor did not prescribe out patient therapy so I am going to continue what I was doing for the past four weeks but with more sets and reps. I am currently not using a cane anymore. There is still tightness in my hip, groin, and mainly hamstrings. My main question is what supplements can I take to aid in the recovery process and which should I avoid if any? I used to take a multi-vitamin, fish oil, magnesium, and glucosamine with chondroitin. My multi-vitamin has chromium in it. Should this be avoided? Furthermore, I am a little anemic since the operation (RBC count at 2.97Mill/mcl and Hemoglobin at 8.8 Mill/mcl). Should I take iron supplements? Sorry for all the questions. Any answers or suggestions would be deeply appreciated.

[dfox]

Congratulations on your new hip!!! Glad to hear your doing so well at only 4 weeks. Be patient, healing takes a certain amount of time (especially the bones). Good nutrition, physical therapy and good rest will help but it still takes time.

I am 9 weeks post op and not a nutrition specialist. I have continued to take the same supplements and vitamins that I took previously. They include a multi-vitamin, fish oil, and glucoasmine with chrondroitin. I have added a calcium supplement and have been drinking more milk to help the bones grow. I also use whey protein powder to aid in muscle repair. Not sure if you should take an iron supplement but sounds like you may need to. You could also try to increase your iron intake with your diet. (red meat, dark leafy greens, beans, ect.)

I started riding a stationary bike during the second week and have done simple physical therapy streatching and excercises nearly every day. Since getting off crutches at 6 weeks I've been walking as much as possible and slowly increasing the distance and difficulty (hills). I also use a foam roller for deep tissue massage of the muscles effected by the operation.

Hope this helps, keep up the good work and positive attitude!

[oldsoccerplayer]

Dr. Gross' staff recommended calcium supplements. With most of the ones on the market you are basically swallowing chalk and that can cause other unwanted side-effects. They recommended algaecal (www.algaecal.com) as a better option. I bought a couple of bottles of that and used them until they ran out. Of course you can't really measure what impact it had but I hope it helped.
The  tightness in the hip, groin, and  hamstrings doesn't sound unusual for four weeks out, overall it sounds like you're doing pretty well!

[Tin Soldier]

I don't think there would be a need to worry about additional Chromium intake affecting anything in the hip.  I have heard that Cr supplements will be detectable in a blood test if you were getting an analysis with regards to possible signs of metallosis.  I would recommend asking the doc about all the supplements just to be sure you check that off.