THR Encouragement for a 34 year old male bilateral THR veteran

[MissMoo]

Hi @Cedric. Good to see you're improving so much. I only just caught up with your thread and you were feeling a bit lost just one week out of surgery.

Have you been able to get any relief from the back pain by using pillows to give your lumbar spine some extra support? I know if I sleep on my front or on my back my spine needs some help to lie in its neutral position. One thing I noticed is that you said you are taking ibuprofen for pain relief but one very helpful tip I got from this site is that regular paracetamol is a much better painkiller than ibuprofen and is a far safer option too.

I believe hydrotherapy can be a good option, no weight bearing, no impact etc, although its not a route I personally went down, there are lots of people on here who swore by it including @craftdee . When are you cleared to get in the water? I think it depends on how your wounds were closed; my incision was glued and I had a waterproof dressing on for the first two weeks that was showerproof. As soon as that came off I was still ok to shower but was told to wait another week before swimming as a precaution against infection.

My implant was uncemented and I was encouraged to be fully weight bearing from day 1. Can't remember now if I was allowed to throw away my crutch at 3 or 4 weeks but, by then, I was already wandering off and leaving it regularly, to the of my family. Surgeon wanted me to keep it for that long just to provide stability while the bone is beginning to regrow around the implant. Surprisingly, the progression seems about the same regardless of whether you've had one or both hips done. tagging @bsilvers who had bilateral THRs quite some time ago now, he's still active on here and one of our 'younger models'; I'm sure he'll have a wealth of useful info

Keep us posted

 

[Michegon]

@Cedric Hi, you sound good and what a feeling not to have that pain. Working in water is good for starting out with movement without the weight on the joint. Be careful because you have a lot more ease to move farther than you would on land. Again, being only 3 weeks post-op, you should let your body heal the deep soft tissue.

 

[bsilvers]

@Cedric ,

I can't remember when I was able to start sleeping on my side and stomach. I think it was after the major swelling and being sore went away and crossing my feet was no longer an issue. Is your OS telling you that you can't sleep on your stomach or are you not a stomach sleeper?

 

[Cedric]

No I could actually try and have a go at sleeping on my stomach, Ill see how I go tonight!

 

[catdemar]

@Cedric I am 10 days post op of Bilateral THR as well.
I can walk without crutches but still use one to keep my gait straight. One leg is better than the other. But for the most part ok. I'm not pushing it as far as walking long distance. Just around the house. I'm still taking pain meds but not as often as prescribed. More tight and sore than pain.
I hoping to start doing more but get tired more than anything. I wish I could nap. Never been a napper.
I start PT next week. I'm looking forward to hiking this summer.




Catrina

 

[Poppet]

Hi @Cedric - I thought you might like to get a snapshot of where you are in the process of healing.

The following is a link to an article which provides the current science regarding the healing beneath and around the implant and the medically acknowledged approximate timeframes for our bodies healing phases and processes.

Healing Phases & Nutrition

Nutrition plays a huge part in surgical recovery, in fact it is one of the 'forgotten topics' of recovery..

This second link is to other nutritional articles which you may find interesting, including one relating to bone health.

Nutritional advice for pre op and recovery

This third link refers to my ongoing research..

nutritional-snippets-did-you-know

 

[moodybluestoo]

Hi Cedric: Yes that is true because when you are in the water you don't have to support your weight because the water does. I had a total hip done in 2011 and due to LLD and other complications had to have it redone later that year. In the summer months I spent alot of time in the pool and the redo was in November so the pool was closed so I did exercises in the hot tub. It is much easier to move in the water and gives some gentle resistance as well. The hardest part is getting in and out. Best of luck Moody

 

[craftdee]

Hi @Cedric Sorry it's taken me so very long to reply... after Miss Moo tagged me and all, tut tut!

I did (and DO) indeed swear by hydrotherapy... bit of a fancy title for 'swimming' in my case I was cleared to swim as soon as the wound was completely 'sealed' (no little scabby bits allowed ) and went for it. As I said in my recovery thread it was the one place I felt completely pain/discomfort free (I felt able to "do much" activity wise quite early... meaning I "did TOO much" and got tendinitis, stoopid me.

I liked using our own pool, it was a bit "cool" (October) but I prefer cold water to hydrotherapy pool water temperature. Some people swear by the benefits of warm water though, so it's personal preference, my Physio was quite happy for me to use either facility so I opted for our own pool - as someone (Miss Moo I think) said no nasty stuff floating in there... I made sure beforehand!! .


I found not only the weightless feeling helped, but the reduced resistance in all directions meant I could really stretch out my abductors and the psoas (one of the tendinitis sites, and a problem area from pre surgery implications) I loved that I could move my upper body so freely in the water too, after using crutches - and the dreaded (terrible, hated it!) back-sleeping my shoulders were killing me!! and just the general feeling of being active without worrying about doing damage of some sort was great. It was the first real indication I had that my ROM had improved too, I had twelve weeks of restrictions and couldn't "test out" the bending thing, so finally nailing an even frog kick (had been uneven for years because of "the hip") showed me that my ROM was much improved

I would recommend that you have assistance for the first couple of sessions getting in and out of the pool... I could not believe how nervous/vulnerable/compromised I felt.... I have never had an issue diving into my pool, hubby creeps in down the steps - I can't handle that, like I said in my thread

I normally dive in, commit and execute before you give yourself a chance to wonder how cold it is I say

- but I knew it wasn't advisable to dive off the edge that early in my recovery so thought I'll have to "suck it up" and go off at least the top step; what I didn't expect was that I didn't WANT to dive in, and was really quite nervous getting in.

Getting out was also more challenging than I was expecting... obviously as you go up the steps the weightLESSness becomes, well, LESS weightLESS - so is that more? you know what I mean, you're going up steeper than usual steps with more and more weight applying to your legs... it's surprisingly strenuous - though not THAT challenging just a bit more work than you think, then you step out of the pool onto the paving or pool deck and that vulnerable feeling hits again "what if I slip". After the first couple of times I was fine, and swam every day - as well as doing my physio in the pool, stretches and step ups etc... I could do so much more IN the pool than I could do out of it without the tendinitis flaring up.

Now, I don't want to overplay the "difficulties" of getting in and out... they were really minor inconveniences of note only because they were not the usual for me... I've never even thought "I might slip" when getting out of a pool, interesting how a THR makes you start thinking like a grown up The benefits of swimming have been huge, building my fitness without compromising my soft tissue issues. Meggzie gave me an exercise to do using a pool noodle too...

One of the exercises my physio has me do is to use two pool noodles (each bent into the letter c), one behind me and one in front, crossed over under my armpits. That allows you to just hang suspended in the water with no pressure. Then, if you slowly nod your head forward and then back (SLOWLY, mind) your lower body will swing like a pendulum and it just feels brilliant. If you move your head too fast, you'll face-plant remarkably quickly - trust me, I found out the hard way!! - just look every so slightly down and your body and legs will swing out behind you, look up and you'll swing the other way - you can feel it gently loosening up your back, hips and knees - almost like a VERY gentle reverse version of hanging upside down by your ankles. I'm not sure that makes any sense at all - but I recommend it if you can figure it out from my somewhat convoluted directions!!

which was brilliant... and very relaxing

On a side note, I was 'restricted' to sleeping on my back, but my OS suggested to me that i lay on my stomach for 30 minutes at a time, a few times a day if possible, to get some stretch into my psoas... might be worth asking your OS about stomach sleeping... though you may find very soon that you can lay at least half up on your side. On a side side note, I now find that I quite often sleep on my back... something I NEVER did prior to the THR (my leg wouldn't lie flat because of muscle contracture) and even roll ONTO my back from side sleeping... go figure I find it quite comfortable... obviously not HAVING to do it makes the difference :cool:

Hope your healing continues steadily and without complication. I admire you doing bilateral... and kinda envy you too as I have to go down this road again in the not too distant future and would rather have it behind me as you do!

Donna

 

[LibraryLynn]

I had a RTHR in December, and I struggled with uncooperative muscles that wouldn't let me get off the walker. My PT and I hit the pool around week 3, I think. She was very careful to wait until all the scabs were completely gone. I had a regime of walking and stretching exercises, and then I gradually moved to a lot of work on the pool steps so I could life my leg properly without hitching up with my other side. I saw PT twice a week, and I also swam on my own the other days.
I loved that freeing feeling of being able to take an actual step without the muscle pull and pain. I got very strong in the pool, and I'm hoping that helped for my other hip coming up on Friday.