@LAbabymama Thanks for the questions. I’ll try and give a bit of a breakdown of the various stages of my rehab so far.
I looked back at my film again after reading the earlier comments on the thread. Perhaps the film does give the impression that I was extremely active virtually from day 1. This was not the case. I had lots of bad days when I could barely get out of bed, particularly when trying to reduce and eventually eliminate my reliance on prescribed pain medication. I thought I was mentally prepared for this but was still surprised how paralysing the post-op blues could be at times.
What I did do religiously every day though, was force myself to get up, wash, get dressed and go outside for a walk. Initially, I walked to the end of the road and back (about 100 yards). My surgeon told me to be as active as I could comfortably manage, so during the day I never sat for longer than an hour without moving. I’d get out of my chair and walk into the kitchen or go up and down the stairs. Anything really to stay mobile. In reality though, most hours of my days over the first six weeks consisted of sitting in a chair!
After a few days I started to increase the distance of my morning walk. I walked the same route every day and, using a Fitbit, extended my walk by an extra hundred steps each day. Always returning the same way (combined daily increase of 200 steps). After about six days, I went down to one crutch, and then no crutches after 11 days (much to my wife’s concern). In response to
@orange, I don’t think I was in any extra pain when going down to one and then no crutches. I could feel the stabilising muscles were very weak, so just tried to walk slowly and steadily in the belief that this would strengthen everything.
After 6 weeks, the daily walk had gradually increased to about three miles and was taking an hour or more to complete. When I went back to see the surgeon after 6 weeks, I was told I could start increasing the distance a bit more each day so over the next week I got up to 5 miles. After that, I started doing some easy hiking in the hills local to where I live. I kept everything as lightweight as possible. For instance, I used trainers rather than heavy walking boots, carried minimal equipment, and used two trekking poles for added stability. Over the course of the next two weeks, I felt pretty good and gradually increased the distance to around 10 miles. Getting back into the hills was probably the most enjoyable part of my recovery to date. All the routes I hiked were very familiar to me so there was minimal chance of getting in trouble due to navigational errors. LAbabymama, aside from your hip, I don’t know your current general physical condition but I can’t see why you won’t be able to return to hiking. As
@alexthecat says, starting slowly with gradual increases seems to be the key.
In terms of supervised physiotherapy, I was given three exercises by the hospital. These were all done from a seated position and, although not shown on the film, I did these movements multiple times every day over the course of the first twelve weeks. I still do them, but less often now. The exercises shown in the early stages of the video (lifting knee, leg out to side etc.) were found on YouTube and were not prescribed. I never pushed any of these exercises to the point where I felt any unusual pain, so although
@Layla described my recovery as aggressive, it didn’t feel that way to me.
In terms of other activities shown on the video, the upper body exercises (pull-ups, dips etc) were started after two weeks once my staples had been removed. I’m not sure these had any particular impact on my hip other than perhaps an indirect benefit from general whole body strength and conditioning. I’ve been injured many times over the course of my 52 years and have always tried to train around injured areas. It could be argued that, anecdotally, my experience supports a common hypothesis that training other parts of the body helps speed up the recovery in injured areas. Any thoughts?
I followed the 90° hip precaution rule very strictly during the initial stages. By the end of week 5, the depth of the squatting movements I was practicing had reached the point where I was starting to break this rule (shown on the video). As squat depth was achieved very gradually over a period of time, the depth reached in the video felt perfectly natural and comfortable.
At my six week check-up, I was specifically told not to weight train, climb or run until after the full twelve weeks. I adhered fully to this recommendation and have only re-commenced these activities in the last couple of weeks. I was permitted to start swimming after six weeks but not to perform a frog kick until after the twelve week period. Again, I followed this instruction rigorously. When I did resume weight training, this was on machines only. This was something of a novelty for me as I previously trained using heavy barbell squats, deadlifts, cleans etc. Maybe I’ll return to this type of exercise one day, but for now this is out of the question. When I finally got back to doing some easy climbing at the local wall, rediscovering the movements without the pain I’d had previously was an absolute joy!
@LAbabymama. You asked if I pushed myself harder than was recommended. Possibly the mileage I walked eventually ended up exceeding the initial recommendation but, as detailed above, this was built up very gradually in much the way
@Jamie describes. With the strength/mobility exercises, I did what felt right for me. If I’m honest, I probably did do too much occasionally, and would pay for it in terms of tiredness over the next day or so.
In terms of pain, like everybody else, I had lots of it. This all seemed to be soft tissue related and I never really felt anything that suggested a major issues with the bone/joint. Having said that, hip replacements do really hurt, and a certain acceptance of that fact is necessary I believe. Every two or three days, another area would start hurting and I’d then commence a lengthy internet search, trying to see if this was a normal part of the process. The pains, and particularly the stiffness, gradually reduced over the weeks and months and is virtually non-existent now. I just need to keep working on increasing strength and mobility.
In conclusion, I really think that a positive mental attitude was very important for my recovery. I am self-employed and found myself staring down the barrel of several months with no income coming into the house. Although I had planned financially for this, my savings were not inexhaustible so there was a massive incentive to recover efficiently to enable a quick return to work. I approached my rehab almost like a project, and tried to keep focussing on the positives during the (many) dark days.
Lastly, I am delighted that some people have found some inspiration from the film. At the same time, I am also concerned in case it inadvertently encourages somebody to do too much. I would strongly second the recommendations from
@Layla and
@Jamie in encouraging conservativeness and to build up activity levels gradually.
Thanks again for the responses.