Is PT a dead end? Still can't bend over

[xeyeofnewt]

Greetings and Salutations,

I started going to PT at 4 weeks post-op, and now I am 4 months post-op and the therapist believes that I have hit the wall, so to speak.

In the beginning PT was really light.  Then I got restrictions lifted from my surgeon at the eight-week follow up and the exercises and stretching got more intense.

His concern is my lack of flexibility in the muscles in the revised hip.   He believes the problem is scar tissue not from the surgery but from the previous years of decline.

I am ready to bolt PT, but the real problem is that I can't bend enough to tie my shoes, wash the feets (summer is coming fast), or clip my toenails, which hurts my wife much more than it hurts me.   


How does one deal with the scar tissue issue??

Saludos,
xeyeofnewt

p.s. This is a great website.   It really the only place I can go for advice and comfort.  Thanks

[papadop]

  My personal suggestion is to find a (preferably warmed swimming pool) and do whatever movements seem to help your legs to loosen up.

I'm now six weeks post surgery [BFH] still have a limp 9 but have got rid of crutches, walker, and walk mostly without a cane; I still can't reach to tie shoes, cut toenails, and surgeon Boyd did not prescribe PT.

I attribute progress to swimming -- doing a bicycle movement with both legs while floating was easy from the first, but loosened my leg movement in forward/back direction.
In the fifth week I found that frog kick had become painless, and I was able to use full strength kicks to stretch whatever needs stretching; that means I can do normal 'breast stroke' to get around for longer and longer stretches.

[Pat Walter]

Hi

Some people take much longer to recover than others.  Sometimes it take people a year or more to accomplish what others do in a few months.

There is some good info on this page from people having problems and what they did to solve them   http://www.surfacehippy.info/groinpain.php

I agree that water therapy really helps.  I did mine at about 6 weeks post op and it solved all my stiffness problems.  Doesn't mean it will for you - but it might help you.  Here is what the PT designed for me  http://www.surfacehippy.info/poolexercises.php   I also did a lot of just water walking forward, backwards and to each side.

Are you also doing a lot of just walking?  That helps a lot.

Meanwhile, probably patience will be your best friend.  Maybe you want to stop the PT for now - increase your walking and maybe some water therapy.  Then in a few months, you might want to do some regular PT again.  Maybe you need to try PT with someone else since they might have other ideas of what could help.

Pat

[takilasunrise]

I am just at 5 months post-surgery and I can just get to my foot to put on a sock, tie my shoe, etc., IF I'm sitting in my low couch.  If I try it from a chair that's higher than my couch, I still can't reach comfortably.  I think you're average and where you're supposed to be right now.  I just came back from a 3,000+ mile motorcycle trip and got on and off the bike ok and was able to walk long distances to sightsee.  You'll get there.  Give it time.  I only did like 3 weeks of PT immediately after my surgery.  I've been on my own since and slowly but surely am getting better! 

[cgraves]

Hear your pain.

I am 4 weeks post operation.
My hip no longer has pain.
I can walk with out a cane.
Cannot climb stairs, put socks or shoes on. I cannot not even get close to 90 degrees.
80 degrees with a struggle at best.
The ROM is very , very limited. The PT has remarked on this to me.
The walking gait is difficult to keep straight.
The PT exercises are being followed religiously.
The walks consist of two or three walks each day at about 1/2 mile

Due to the pain in my hip I had compensated by "hiking" up my injured hip.
This went on for many years. 
Before the surgery both the pain and lack of mobility were debilitating.

My doctor appears very conservative about PT activity that would put the hip at risk.
The the current state of progress is very depressing.