Pushed the limit a little too hard

[John C]

I had my first hip resurfaced 10 years ago, and all has gone well. I started skiing at six months, and built up to moguls and aggressive all mountain skiing by 8 months, and heli-skiing by 10 months.
I had my second hip resurfaced 7 ½ months ago, and this recovery has been much faster and easier, with hill running, tennis, surfing, and windsurfing all going great at six months.
However, this week I found my limit. I decided that since this hip was progressing so much better than the first one, I would go on our annual December week long heli-skiing trip up to Canada at 7 ½ months, instead of waiting until 10 months like last time. Yesterday was the first day, and we were skiing moderately deep powder in very steep trees with lots of small drop-offs and freefalls. By the end of the day, my hip had the first real setback since the surgery; trouble getting up and down stairs or stepping into the helicopter, and no sleep last night. I am sure it is temporary, but I thought it might be worth passing this timeline on to others. I think that skiing at six months is fine and easy, but my own experience is that advanced heli-skiing at just past six months was too big of a step, at least for me.
Dr Gross's office said take some NSAIDs, rest for a couple of days, and hopefully I will be back out on the heli.

[Rus]

First off, all the best for a speedy recovery.  Hope you're back out on the mountain soon!

I'm at 11 weeks, and was originally planning to snowboard at 6 months.  My 'boarding is nothing like as advanced as your skiing (I didn't start until I was 47!), so your timeline makes that sound reasonable.

But I've now got the possibility of a couple of days 'boarding at the 4 month mark; We're off to celebrate my mate's 50th in Lapland.  It's not a ski/boarding holiday, but he'd like to spend a couple of days on snow.  I know the area... it's a small resort with a few runs of around 1km each... so comparatively tame stuff.  I'm certainly tempted!! 

[MattJersey]

First world problems eh  "I had trouble stepping in to the helicopter" ROFLMAO. Never thought I would use that acronym but fits here!

Not laughing at your plight of course and wishing you a speedy recovery. Plenty of the season ahead so hope it's back feeling solid soon.

[John C]

Brief update. Rested one day (though the doctor's office suggested two or three), took some NSAIDs as instructed by the doctors office, and had a great day of heli-skiing the next day. The snow was deeper (some over the shoulder shots), and of better quality, so I skied hard through steep trees the whole day with no pains or issues. Still went off lots of drop-offs, but with the deeper snow there was very little impact to bother my hip. Today we ended up skiing some tricky snow that was wet with a lot of wind affect so the hip is tired and limping slightly again, but now I am confident that it is nothing to worry about, just a case of pushing the new hip to its limit for 7 ½ months post surgery.
Matt, you are so right. Having trouble climbing back into a helicopter after a great powder run is not something that should rate a lot of sympathy in the big picture, but I admit to feeling a little sorry for myself for a brief moment. All better now.

[MattJersey]

Sounds awesome John. I will get my one week of skiing in April ... Feels sooooo long away. Your posts give me lots of confidence though, my skiing is far tamer than yours!

Isn't it amazing, eh, what opportunities the resurfacing offers. (In my mind I can't imagine being able to treat a conventional THR in such a "normal" way. Although I am sure there are plenty hippies doing so, so I guess it's just a matter of perception.)

[suncag]

Hi John!

      Was wondering how your ski trip was going and sounds pretty successful!  I realize it must have been a little disappointing having to take a day off and take the nsaids.  I just had my 6-week post-op visit with Dr. Gross and all seems to be going very well.  As you said, they did not clear me to ski the first week of April since my 6month post op date is April 29th.  Kind of bummed about it because it's our last trip skiing together before my oldest goes to off to college.  So we are still going but everyone will be skiing/boarding except me.  Lee Webb's advice is that it is too much of a risk for femoral head fracture if I take a bad fall a month shy of 6 months.  I have to admit I am tempted  to try a few greens or easy blues but everything is going so well with recovery I don't want to risk it.  I really appreciate you sharing your specifics though as it provides valuable data on timelines.  Based on conversations I just had with Lee, the written instructions they provided, and your personal experience, my understanding is that the 6-month mark is more a time to start getting back into full impact activity but slowly.  Sounds like it's more like 12 months until you are on solid ground and battle-ready again.
Thanks again John for sharing!!

[John C]

Suncag: I would agree with the timeline as you described it. I believe that the timing for full remodeling of all soft tissue and scar tissue is about 18 months. After the first hip, I was certainly still experiencing improvements out that long.
Last time I started skiing right at six months, but waited 10 months before heli-skiing. This time I again started skiing at 6 months, and I knew that 7 months was a little soon for a heli trip, but things are going so well that I decided to risk it. After that one day off, the rest of the trip went great with some spectacular skiing on the last two days. It was truly a test for the hip, since on those last two days involved a lot of drops-offs over rocks, small cliffs, logs, and stumps that ranged from 2 to 8 feet. Some of the landings were pretty flat and we hit them with quite a bit of speed, so there were a lot of very hard impacts every run. A great stress test for replaced hips that performed very well. Here is a link to where we go, and some pictures of the skiing last week. I am the guy in the bright green hood.
https://www.wiegele.com/plan-your-trip/week-review/tour-801

[suncag]

Thanks John!  Just got to read this now been so busy.  Checking out your pics now....

[suncag]

Amazing pics John!  Just saw them.  Wow!  You are way out of my league!  Do you strictly ski or do you snowboard too!  Are you the 2nd from the right in the cabin picture at the end?

Thx,
Chris

[John C]

Hi Chris. The cabin picture is of a group that was visiting from Belgium. I am in the green jacket with the hood up in the shot where the heli is landing and in the shot where the powder is coming up to my chin. My wife Janet is in the green jacket with the bright yellow helmet. She is still ripping hard in all conditions, and is soon turning 68.
Nope, no snowboarding. We did snowboard briefly during our rare free time from teaching skiing back in the early 90s when the shortest carving radius's for skis were still in the 30 meter range, and carving snowboards came onto the scene with carving radius's around 10 meters, which opened up a whole new world of laying clean trenches. Within a few years ski radius's became available all the way down to around 12 meters, and we once again became solely skiers and sold our snowboards.

[Rus]

Great pictures John!  I can only dream of boarding at that level. 
My youngest daughter is a real powder hound, and would love some of those conditions!  She worked a season in Japan a couple of years back.
I've always struggled for flexibility, even before surgery, so I decided to check i can reach my bindings at 13 weeks... just!  Oh well, I know what I need to work on if i want to board in 4 weeks time

[John C]

Rus, how lucky for your daughter to spend a season in Japan, land of bottomless powder.
Have a great time on that board in 4 weeks!