Pre Surgery Excercises

[mslendzion]

I'm scheduled for surgery in January. I am in a lot of pain when sleeping, sitting, moving, walking, etc..  My range of motion is very limited, i have trouble putting on socks, etc..  My husband keeps telling me to try to get in shape before my surgery.  I don't think he gets it when I tell him it hurts to bad.  Are there any recommendations for getting in as good as shape as possible with minimal pain?

[hernanu]

Hi, I don't think people understand the amount of pain involved. The best thing to do is to concentrate on your core strength, which is not usually emphasized on many exercise programs (at least not for people in pain).

Pat has a good list of pre operative exercises at this link:

http://surfacehippy.info/pdf/preophipprogram.pdf

Do what you can with as little pain as possible - you might also check out exercises like the dead bugs and other core exercises... remember - minimize the pain, they don't help if you dread them.

http://exercise.about.com/cs/abs/l/blbeginnerabs.htm

Good luck, hope these help, and keep positive. People may not get the amount of pain, but you need to emotionally and physically prepare, so make them feel that you need the support.

[mslendzion]

Thanks for the advice and links.  Many of these excercises seem out of the question at this point.  Bending and twisting is really painful.  Often the slightest muscle movements or slight turns in the leg cause shooting pains.  I use the 'sock helper tool' to put my socks on, use a cane (now I only use at home), and have a really hard time gettin up from a seated position, getting up stairs, and lifting my leg to get out of the car. 

I'm 46 and was pretty athletic prior to when I started having problems 2 years ago.  I beleive my injury was caused wakeboarding.  I had a fall and one of my feet came out of the wakeboard boot and the other left stayed in.  When I fell the wakeboard twisted  I felt and heard a snap in my hip.  After that is when the pain started.  My activities slowed down and now are pretty much at a minimum. 

[Woodstock Hippy]

There's an old saying from running ''Listen to your body''.  Your body is telling you to take it easy.  There will be plenty of time to get fit after you get straightened out.  I tried really hard to remain active but little by little I've had to give almost everything up; first running went out, gave up kicking when swimming at the same time, then mountain biking, then road biking, tried running again but gave up, finally walking became too painful.  I tried.  I made deals with myself ''just walk today and you can bike tomorrow'', but tomorrow my hips were killing me.  Save yourself the pain and frustration and prepare mentally for what you have to do to get back.  After surgery you'll be ready to push yourself all the way back.

I'm getting bilaterals this Tuesday, then I've got a lot of work to do!

[tennisgirl]

I'm going to chime in, and say if at all possible, try to see a physical therapist who can put together exercises that will work for you until your surgery.  I'm only a few days out from my surgery, but I'm betting that because I tried to get strong prior to surgery it will aid in my recovery.  I worked on my leg strength and my core, and lemme tell you, having my core in good shape has been invaluable since one of my legs is not being especially cooperative at this stage.  It also helps that my arms are strong for crutching about.

Best of luck,

Mindi

[mslendzion]

Best of luck on your surgery.  I was in PT and they sent me back to my doctor.  This was earlier in the summer.  I had less pain and more movement than I do today.  I think my spurs are prohibiting my movements.  My husband said to just keep moving the leg to smooth out the spur.  he is crazy!

[hernanu]

Yeah, that's not going to work, and if it did the pain would be excruciating. Do what you can now, but also work on mentally being ready. Once the procedure is done, you'll be exercising a lot.

[Boomer]

I doubt I will suggest anything you haven't already thought of but I will give it a try. Water. If you have access to a pool, water will give you the best chance to exercise without pain. Drs. De Smet  and Rogerson have incorporated water based PT very early in their rehab protocol. Anything you can do in water will help.

I am currently unable to do much, including walking. I can however, gut it out on a stationary bicycle. Even if you set the resistance low, really low, you still can get a range of motion workout that will help you along.

People who haven't suffered with OA have no idea how painful and limiting it is. Pay no attention to them. Do the best you can. If all you can do is breathing and relaxing exercises, that's fine. You will be better soon. Take care of yourself.

Boomer

[curt]

    I had several pretty significant spurs as well.  I did some pretty dynamic deep tissue massage and four weeks of PT over the summer.  I think it actually hurt more than helped.  When your hip(s) are a mess, it isn't such a bad idea to let them be until they can be repaired.  All that grinding and mobility is something that your hip is actually trying to avoid. 
     If you are like I was, it was tough to do anything, but I can't hurt to stay focused on the journey ahead.  Use the time to map out your plan and talk to yourself about recovery and the exercises to come.  There's lots to do after the hip is repaired.  Don't sweat whether you have measured up with a pre-op routine.  With the pain you're in now, you will probably have better mobility within a week or two after surgery than you do right now.  It will come.  Hang in there.  Curt

[rbt2011]

mslendzion,

Can you swim?  Swimming is great for the core, glutes, and hip flexors. 

[mslendzion]

Thanks for the advise.  I tried swimming this summer but it hurt to kick my legs.  2 yrs ago my xray was fine.  the degeneration happened in this really short time frame.  I thought the pain initially was all muscular until I got my MRI and x ray results this summer.  I was in shock with the news and in denial for a while.   I'm going to take the advise of the hippies and work on my core.  This is an excellent forum and the advice, stories, and encouragement form all is unbelievable.  it makes something that seems impossible manageable. 

[hipnhop]

SwIm, Swim, Swim - It is a great exercise and no impact.  You may have to avoid kicking but there are all type of devices that you can use to keep you feet elevated.  Also deep water running is not that bad.

[Anniee]

Make sure you work some on upper body strength too!  That is very important for the first few weeks after the surgery.  I was able to use an elliptical trainer until just a few weeks before my last surgery, then it started hurting too much.  I did not sweat it though, because I knew I could rebuild my fitness level after I got my hips fixed.  So will you!