How much time exercising?

[nickji]

Hi Everyone,

I'm really curious about how much time people spend on specific PT exercises after THR (not including walking/housework/usual 'life' stuff). On a 'good' day (now almost 7 weeks post op.), I probably do three sessions of around 15 to 20 minutes each; on a lazy day I might do a few leg raises. Lazy days are not uncommon!! I'm lying back at the moment watching movies and berating myself for being idle. How about you?

Enjoy it all,

Nick

 

[Josephine]

I'm incredibly lazy! Of course, I've been spoilt by having such a head start. Also, when I bemoaned that I wasn't able to do leg raises because of the tourniquet pain, my surgeon (bless him!) said not to worry as I'd soon catch up. Now it's almost 4 weeks and I'm still telling myself I'll soon catch up!

How stupid am I?

 

[TBONE]

Good question nick. I'm curious what others are doing. Yesterday and today, at 10-11 days post op, I did about 30 minutes, 2x per day. If I'm lazy, it takes a little longer. I do 10 exercises and 30 reps each in 2 or 3 sets. Half of my exercises are done on bed and half downstairs. The exercises are as follows: 1.heel slides (heels to butt); 2.abductor slides (heels pushed out to side while flat on back); 3. short arc quads; 4. abductor lifts (while on side); 5. leg lifts while on stomach for glutes; 6. 1/4 squats against wall or in door jam; 7. single stair step up from side; 8. single stair step up from front; 9. standing abductor lifts (to side); 10. balancing/marching in place. Put a long walk in there and I'm pretty beat.
Tomorrow, I start out patient PT so things may change.
tom

 

[Josephine]

Oh Tom! You make me thoroughly ashamed of myself!

 

[TBONE]

Don't worry Jo as I'm sure there are others that will put me to shame. In addition, I'm going back to work tomorrow, so less time to spend on PT. It's a desk job so it'll be no strain on my hips. I can't wait to get back into a pool but my OS said no until my return visit (at 4 weeks post op) I'm getting my staples out tomorrow...maybe I'll take another run at them to let me back into a pool. Has anyone been swimming at less than 4 weeks? Any restrictions (like frog kick or small swim fins. or speedos?)
Tom

 

[Judles]

Nick,,,,,the answer usually is MORE than you (or any of us) is usually doing!!!

 

[JudyS]

Tom
I started swimmimng at just under 4 weeks. My doc at 2 weeks told me to wait 1 more week until the incision was totally healed. I had a posterior with full restricitions. However in the pool, i did mostly frog leg stroke from the beginning. I had no pain so kept it up . I really think my great range of motion was from the pool and swimming with the frog leg. I was soon up to a mile at a time with no problems
judy

 

[YoungM]

Nick -this is a great thread. I'm interested in other's practice as well. I completely agree with having some more lazy days than non-lazy days at times! On a good day, I probably do my exercises about 5x a day. I was told to 3 sets of all the exercises, however, many times I do just 1 or 2 sets of each. One thing I've been doing is my standing exercises while I brush my teeth, cook, or watch a show. It helps with the boredom!

I do bed and standing exercises:

Standing: 1) Leg raises and alternating leg raises (marching) 2) Abductor lifts (leg to side) 3) Heel Leads behind me (pushing the leg back) 4) Heel lifts (raising up to the ball of the foot) 5) Weight shifts -just shifting weight from side to side and trying to balance on operated side

Bed exercises: 1) Ankle pumps 2) Tighten gluts 3) Leg raises (straight leg) 4) Leg raise, bend knee in, straighten release 5) Quad tighten and release 5) Heel pressing out to side and return

 

[TBONE]

Thanks Judy--I've heard that swimming was really great rehab.
Tom

 

[oldbones]

TBONE, I found that having staples removed can be a real eye opening experience! The doc that I work with took mine out for me and I did really well at the beginning but by the end I was lying on the table with the doc fanning me due to a vagel response. Oldbones

 

[TBONE]

Oldbones--Thanks for that timely post. I'm going there in about 2 hours so I'll be sure to be careful and I'll ask my doc, who is also a friend of sorts, about it. I had heard it's nothing, but I could be just that the type who would react to this.
Tom

 

[UTdave]

Good luck Tom! Feels good to get those staples out! They don't really hurt, but it's just the principle of the thing, I guess!

For my post-op, I would do a good deal of walking. Usually a 15-20 minute walk morning and evening and then the standing exercises (abduct, flex, extend, blah, blah) before the walking.

After 2wks or so, I add in gym time on the bike, elliptical or what have you and gradually worked the times up from 10 minutes to 1 hour.

After 8wks, I actually listened to my doc who said "go for it". The first surgery put me there in Winter, so the climbing gym was where I went for a huge variety of movement and flexibility training. This surgery put that time frame in the Spring. . . so have been back to good-old, outdoor mountain biking!!! Third ride happened today. About 2hrs of ride time with lots of climbing, fast descents and some small jumps. Amazing to get into body positions I've never been in before on a bike. I don't know how I even did it before!

 

[Judles]

Dave! Aybe you should take Advil tonite,,,,tomorrow may be a whole different story since you've awakened some muscles you haven't been using for awhile!!!

 

[TBONE]

I had a very interesting meeting with my out patientPT, who came highly recommended. He does a lot of local young athletes here in our area. He basically said that we have to get some of my flexibility back first, before we move on to more advanced exercises. Because I have had my condition, SCFE, for 35-40 years, my body has spent that amount of time coping with and adjusting to progressively limited flexibility. Now, my flexibility, while much greater than before surgery, is still quite limited. Accordingly, I am going back to basics, spending a lot of time on simple balancing exercises, avoiding, for now, the more advanced single leg weight bearing exercises, and simply teaching my muscles to adjust to my new hardware and to stretch (with the PT's assistance). My PT spent almost the entire hour on my right leg, simply trying to get it a little more flexible. It was not particularly strenuous, but I went home and promptly went to sleet for 12 hours.
So my current exercise regimen is less physically strenuous but probably more tactically effective (brains over brawn). I must confess that this makes lots of sense to me. Before my surgery, several OSs told me that I would have a long PT road to full recovery because my hip limitations had been around for so long.
Tom

 

[hurtingbuthopeful]

Tom - you must be thrilled to be able to exercise even if it is geared more towards the basics just for now. I think your PT's approach is dead on and very sensible. We all start with baby steps. I can remember the first time I was able to lift my leg on to the bed using my newly healed muscles. It hurt and seemed like it took forever but it was like a miracle to me... Everyday I celebrate every silly new exercise that I can execute independently. I look forward to each new challenge because I know that collectively each baby step will ultimately bring me closer to the whole, strong body I am meant to have.

 

[TBONE]

Another interesting PT session. PT spends much of my time trying to get some movement in the joint and working on basic stabilization exercises. He even is spending a fair amount of time on the scar itself, trying to soften it up, along with surrounding tissue. I have to say it's not fun, but exercises I can do on my own, this stuff is much harder to do on my own. I can massage the scar to try to soften it up, but the glutes and hip joint and surrounding tissue, well, they need work. He is also doing weight shifting exercises, stabilization exercises and gait exercises. Unfortunately, he told me today, he thinks I'll be on a cane for about another 6 weeks, minimum. I can deal with that, but it's a little frustrating because I made such good headway early on. But I like the PT's approach, because it makes sense to me--back to basics--unless I get some basic flexibility back into the joint, I'll always be compensating.
tom

 

[Nana55]

Sounds like you have found a good PT. Keep working on that scar, my PT had me massage mine a couple of times a day after my MUA and it really loosened up the surrounding tissue.

Good Luck
Nana