Over Did It

[Tin Soldier]

I bet there are a few more posts on here titled the same.

I just got back from Salt Lake City from a training and my coworker and I decided to utilize public transportation to save some money for our agency.  We also thought Salt Lake had normal sized blocks, I knew the streets were wide, but we did not realize the blocks are Las Vegas-sized blocks.  "downtown is only 14 blocks", my coworker said to me as we exited the hotel by the airport and looked out over the desert.  We ended up walking about 7 miles the first day and about 3 miles each day after that.  Mostly because the local transit authority was all buggered up due to construction and we had a hard time finding out bus schedules and stops. I'm at 4 weeks and I left me cane at home so that I would have less incumberences.  I felt great at the beginning of the week and thought walking is good.  Not that much walking.  In summary, I overdid it.

I have inflammation in the anterior area of the hip.  The lifters are fine and riding the recumbent is great, but walking is painful.  I am now lightly hobbling around the house with one crutch trying to take the weight off.  Icing every so often.  Hopefully it's just temporary inflammation of soft tissue.  My PT thinks it will subside with rest and ice. 

Not to self - don't walk too much at the beginning.

[Lopsided]

Soldier on.

[Aerial]

Dang I was in Salt Lake not long ago and that explains the distances!!  I to did a lot of walking.  Anyway, I think you are doing the right thing to back way off and get back onto crutches for a while.  It also seems like elevation and ice would be good.  If you walked 7 miles at four weeks, wow, that is encouraging to those of us awaiting surgery!  I am hoping to be walking on my own at four weeks enough to navigate campus when I return to work.  I recently saw fold up canes, that would be a way to minimize what is carried.

[Anniee]

Tin, seven miles at 4 weeks is a little on the optimistic side, so I'm not surprised you have some pain!  Sounds like you're doing the right things to take care of it though, so I'm sure you will not have too much of a set-back.

If I remember correctly, Dr. Gross wants you to "work up to" one mile twice a day at 6 weeks.  Other than crutching around Walmart for about 1 hour the day after I got home from the hospital (this resulted in pain too), I followed the directions from my doctor, and had no problems.  However, I will say that this was sometimes difficult, because I felt like I could do a whole lot more!

[newdog]

Soldier on.

Tin,

Lop said it all. You'll be alright. Just keep icing and take it easy.

[obxpelican]

Ice is good, ice and ibuprophen is better IMHO.

Oh and lay off of it a bit the next few days, you should be fine.  Walking too much for too long after a hippie surgery is one of the most common ways to come up lame.

Chuck

[Luanna]

Wow Tin Soldier! That seems like an amazing feat and a ton of walking at 4 weeks. I'm a week behind you at 3 weeks and a wimp by comparison.
I hope you do well and are out of pain soon. Ice and rest seem to work best for me when I overdo!

Best wishes,
Luanna

[ScubaDuck]

Remember Tin is already bionic on the other side.  ;-)

I thought I was the only one that overdid it.  I am sure that as long as we don't damage the bone the muscles will heal.  Every time I push it I ice like crazy.  No ibuprofen for me though.

Tin, I am taking my cane with me on my trip to STL tomorrow.  I figure it can't hurt to have it along.

Dan

[Lopsided]

I thought I was the only one that overdid it.

No you're not. I walked one kilometer (in four stages) on day two.

Recovery is not an even process. You have to push it a bit to know your limits.

T Flippy, you had a more intrusive operation so your recovery will be slower. Level walking is not too bad, but stairs takes a lot more out of you.

D.

[hernanu]

Guys how do I fix or solve my issue of the same, but I didn't walk so many miles Tin not such a good idea, but yet I understand the situation. But I went up and down my stairs to look at the basement that my husband finished and now the pain is so uncontrollable and if I totally relax I feel as tho someone shocked me right in my pelvic area. My calf hurts, my ankle wtf do I do now?
Oh! and my body swallowed my stitch they left hanging out on purpose but it was bothering me so I trimmed it and apparently to much and now that pokes at me from the inside ... UGH!!!!! I soooooo screwed up I just know it!
 

T Flippy Hippy

Like lop said, you've got more to handle, but others have also had longer rehabs, it will go fast, overdoing it is a relative term - for Tin it might be walking bookoo miles, for you now it might be pushing those stairs a bit early. It'll come in time, patience, T Flippy...

As to the stitches, just talk to your surgeon's office, tell them what happened, let them soothe your worries, I doubt you're the first to have that happen to...

[Tin Soldier]

Hey Trochanter - Welcome to hippiedom.  Sucks sometimes, but in the long run, it will work out.  Like others said, I think the procedure you had comes with a little more recovery.  Take it real easy.

Actually when it comes to the anterior pain I got from walking all over the desert like week, it's not a whole heckuva lot different than the pain I had with every step prior to surgery.  Like Dan said, my left hip is rock solid or bionic.  I'm so glad evolution gave us 2 legs.  I'm concerned wirth ibuprofen, but then again, to reduce inflammation, it seems like it would be the best.  Doc says no NSAIDs, so I'm going with it, only ice and I'm staying away from acetominophen because I don't want to fake myself into walking another 7 miles.  There's no pain when I sit down, or ride the recumbent, or do butt squeazers. 

Where's my recliner?

[Anniee]

Flippy Hippy, recovery really is a pain at times, but you do get better!  It seems that yours will take longer than most of the rest of us because of the type of surgery you had, but you will heal!  I am not a very patient person myself, and it was very difficult for me sometimes to put up with the limitations my doctor imposed for the first 6 weeks, but in hindsight, it was worth it.  Hang in there!

[Luann]

Hey Tin,
 Thinking of you... glad it sounds like you're doing a little (?) better. I say keep on with the butt squeezes! Too funny! Only us hippies would realize it is not for "buns of steel" but pt recovery. Imagine a newbie reading that... TMI!  Hang in there and keep getting better!  Lu

[newdog]

Love doing those butt squeezes!   

Flippy Hippy,

It's tough going through recovery. Even though we went through different procedures than the one you had, we can still understand. If you need any tips on anything to try and be more comfortable, ask, someone on here will have some good advice to give. Icing, sleeping positions, pain control, anything. Keep talking to us.

[Tin Soldier]

Butt Squeezers, or squeezes, reminds me of Jack Black in Nacho Libre when he tries to impress his nun "girlfriend" by squeezing his butt cheeks with tight pants on.  Too funny.

The first week, I think I got the shaky dog leg from the butt squeezes, but it went away after the legs got stronger.

Carla - you might want to stick to the pain meds if that gives you rest and a little break from the pain.  I don't like the stuff either, but given the choice I suppose I'd take the meds.

[newdog]

Tin,

I didn't see that movie but it sounds funny!

Carla,

I don't like taking the "stuff" either but if given the choice I'll take it. The pain will also make you tense and may affect your recovery. I can tell you when I experienced leg spasms. When I woke up during the night I would gently stretch my legs out. It felt fantastic but then my legs would lightly shake for a few seconds. It was kind of weird and I didn't like it either at first but then got used to it. I can't remember how long the shaking went on, maybe a week or two but not longer. It never happened when doing butt squeezes. We are all different.

[John C]

Hi Tin Soldier,
I saw that your doctor said "no NSAIDS". Did he mean this for just during the initial healing, or for life with a resurfacing? I did read that Mr McMinn is against NSAIDS in the arthritic hip prior to resurfacing, because it does inhibit healthy bone remodeling, and he believes it may increase problems with cysts in the femoral head. I am curious about Dr Pritchett's thoughts on NSAIDS after resurfacing.

[Tin Soldier]

Pritchett and the staff at Swedish Orthopedic say only for recovery, you know like 6 weeks or so.  I think there are some other highly experienced surgeons saying for up to a year trying to stay away from NSAIDs.  The premise makes sense to me.  Don't decrease circulaton to affected areas.  After the first 6 weeks or so, one would expect bone growth to reduce to a crawl, but we are all still told to stay off impact sports for a year because we know that every little molecule of bone is important.  So why slow it down by decreasing your circulation of blood into an affected area?  Although on the other hand maybe too much inflammation is not good, isn't that the reason half of us are here, because our cartilage was destroyed by too much inflammation?  I think this is a debate that is based on very small differences in results, at least after the initial recovery.  I don't know enough about blood flow and inflammation and all that, but it is an interesting discussion.   

Vicky recently posted some info from Mont, or Ball?  about bone growth in the hip after HR, you might try to find that info.  I thought it was pretty informative, not sure if it got into the NSAID debate.  Also I've seen a couple difference threads on the NSAID discussion. 

[23109VC]

I overdid it around six weeks and was sore for a couple weeks...you will get better.

I'm at 7 months now, and still feelthat I get soft tissue pain if I push it...take it easy and don't stress.

[Tin Soldier]

Thanks Sean.  It's getting better, but it's slow.  I'm just taking it easy.