THR JayGardiner

jpg717

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How before I can start lifting light weights? Pullups? Situps? I am 17 days post op and recovering very well. Thanks, All
 
:welome:Welcome to BoneSmart and recovery. Congratulations on your new hip!
Thanks for joining us. We ask that you please provide your surgery date and which hip was replaced so the info can be applied as your signature. Thanks in advance.

The person to best advise on your questions is your OS. Use the opportunity of your post op visit to inquire about weights and exercises and any other questions of that nature that may come to mind before your next appointment.

Following you‘ll find the Recovery Guidelines which contain beneficial information as you begin your healing journey.

Stop back often...we’d love to follow your progress.


Hip Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. At week 4 and after you should follow this
6. Access to these pages on the website

Pain management and the pain chart
Healing: how long does it take?
Chart representation of THR recovery

Dislocation risk and 90 degree rule
Energy drain for THRs
Pain and swelling control: elevation is the key
Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

BIG TIP: Hips actually don't need any exercise to get better. They do a pretty good job of it all on their own if given half a chance. Trouble is, people don't give them a chance and end up with all sorts of aches and pains and sore spots. All they need is the best therapy which is walking and even then not to excess.

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask the at each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.
 
Left hip...June 9, 2020. Love this site. It is extremely helpful and informative. I think I am way ahead of the schedule you sent. Off meds day two, driving day 9, off of Walker day 14, using stationary bike since day 14, along with Arm Ergometer. Think I'll be off the cane by Day 21. All approved by my OS.
 
Welcome @jpg717 you might be one of those mythological "Great Aunt Tilly tap danced out of the OR!" people. That sounds phenomenal, what you've done, but feeling fantastic is no guarantee of being healed, which is something your body decides the timeline for. All bodies take about a year to fully heal. There are many things you can do before that though!

Weight lifting adds stress to the stem, if you had uncemented. You want to give the bone plenty of time to ingrow to the lattice on the stem, and you only have one chance to get that right. On my second hip, at about 9 months, I participated in a group lift-and-carry-across-the-yard of a small marble statue, and had a ring of pain around the entire hip for over a year. OTOH, I was heave-ho-ing bags of clay cat litter and multiple full litter boxes around at just a couple of weeks with no ill effects.

Situps-- can you get down and up off the floor yet? I got stuck once and gave myself a lovely shoulder tendonitis using a reverse triceps dip thing to lift myself. Also, I am trying to remember how what felt when, with my anterior recoveries. Right this minute, I know how to isolate my abs doing very tight tiny curls (as in barre classes and maybe Pilates) with the abs only, no hip flexors involved. Maybe your OS would permit that.

As to pullups-- I had a real "this feels way too weird" antipathy to putting the hips into zero gravity situations. Even my first swim (in the ocean as had no pool) , many months after each hip, felt very very loosey-goosey and uncomfortable. Like my leg might fall off. I stuck with kayaking until the next summer, when all was well.

Definitely ask your OS. My "no activity limits" came at about 6 months for each hip. I still won't ever run/jog for exercise again, just to keep the wear and tear to a minimum, I've never skied, only surfed when I was 15, and have no plans to bungee jump or sky dive, so I'm good for life!
 
Thanks for your kind words in regard to BoneSmart. It is appreciated.

You’re doing well. I’d hate to see you suffer a set-back stalling your recovery. You are ahead of most and I’m happy for you. No matter how you’re feeling, your body is still healing and will be for quite some time. When you have time, check out this article and see what you think -

I hope your weekend is all you want it to be! :)
 
Hi @jpg717,
Congratulations on how well you are feeling in just a few weeks! I am also a very active person, but in my post operative course I felt unwell for many weeks, so my discomfort naturally slowed me down.

In my 'free' time, since I have an un cemented hip replacement, I read on this forum and other places about how my bone has to grow into the stem and the cup to secure the implanted structures (a couple of months to adhere, followed by more growth over time).

Every OS seems to have a little different view of early exercise, as my OS directed me to avoid outpatient PT until a minimum of 6 weeks after my surgery, out of concern for over stressing the newly implanted hip. She mentioned wanting to avoid any micro-motion/tiny motions of the stem, from repetitive exercises.

Yet, now that I am at 6 months, my OS is pleased with my progress, has lifted all cautions and told me to go live my life and enjoy!
 
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How before I can start lifting light weights? Pullups? Situps? I am 17 days post op and recovering very well. Thanks, All
@jpg717 - I'm glad you're doing well so far, but do remember that you have had major surgery and your hip needs plenty of time to recover. Complete recovery of all your tissues can take as long as a full year. If you start being too ambitious with exercise at this very early stage, you could undo all the good work your surgeon has done.

While some surgeons may prescribe early PT, it is not the type that includes stressing the new joint, as weight lifting would do. Frankly, I think you should leave weight lifting until 6 months from now.
Weight lifting adds stress to the stem, if you had uncemented. You want to give the bone plenty of time to ingrow to the lattice on the stem, and you only have one chance to get that right.
Weight lifting adds stress to the new hip, whether it is cemented or uncemented, but it is particularly important to avoid ambitious exercises in the early weeks if your hip is uncemented - or you could end up needing to have it all done again.

You are right that there is considerable variation in advice given by surgeons about early exercise. While an uncemented hip may need extra care, hip replacement is major surgery that causes a lot of trauma and it is unwise to over-exercise, no matter what method is used, because all those wounded tissues need time to heal.
 
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How <long> before I can start lifting light weights? Pullups? Situps?

My surgery was 2 weeks before yours, so I'm a month out. I am trying to stick to the Take It Easy plan this time, after having had great success with the Go For It plan 6 years ago. I'm risk averse right now.

I've been doing ab crunches for a couple weeks, on the mat. I have an anterior incision and my quad /incision area preferred my knees at 90 degrees and my hip is supposed to be at more than 90 degrees, so I put my feet on the wall or on a footstool that happens to be near the mat. I personally want to concentrate on abs and involve my hip flexors as little as possible.

We have a pullup/dip rig. I need to use assistance bands with it, and I'm still getting used to the bands (I would prefer an assisted chin/dip machine). Hanging feels wonderful, so you might be fine with pull-ups.

We've got a few dumbbells, but don't have a bench and bar, gyms are still unsafe or closed (covid's getting worse here), so I can't figure out how to do any lifting without loading my lower body or pelvis, which I do not want to do.

My rule is that if it feels wonky, or if I have more pain or fatigue the next day, then I stop and try again a week or so later. Personally, I figure my body has only so much rebuilding power per day, and I kinda want it focused on integrating the new hardware and healing up the damaged muscles / tendons /etc. So I am trying to wait until 6 weeks before I do any real exercise. Right now I'm walking a couple times a day, in general a bit longer each time I go.

Best of luck and congratulations on your awesome early progress; I hope it continues unabated.
 
Just don't.

Wait at least 3 months before you do any weight bearing exercises on your new hip. It is not worth the potential setback you could have if the hip is not healed properly. Wait until those soft tissues and bone heal - then you should start your rehab/workout routine.

If you NEED to do upper body workouts start REAL easy - I used bands to start with - but you are still so fresh off the operating table I would still wait and heal more. Just my .02.

Walking is best for the 1st 3 months.

Good luck!
 
Personally, I figure my body has only so much rebuilding power per day, and I kinda want it focused on integrating the new hardware and healing up the damaged muscles / tendons /etc. So I am trying to wait until 6 weeks before I do any real exercise. Right now I'm walking a couple times a day, in general a bit longer each time I go.

Best of luck and congratulations on your awesome early progress; I hope it continues unabated.

@cstinchcomb that first sentence is brilliant! I wish I'd thought of that, because it captures the absolute essence of the healing/recovery process.

And gave me pause for thought lol! I will be re-evaluating my response to a recent hernia repair-- I am jonesing for even a little bit of my barre classes, and will try harder to resist......
 
+1 on taking it easy and not rushing things. After my first THR (anterior approach) I had a slew of seemingly-endless soft tissue complications that resulted in a year of unbearable pain and disability. I am not entirely sure whether I pushed things too hard in the post-op period (like you, I wanted to get back to rebuilding my body ASAP) or if these things would have happened regardless. But that experience is nothing that I wish to repeat, so I am erring very much on the side of caution this time around. You may be just fine with forging ahead, and I think it’s fair to say that this Forum is a bit biased with a disproportionate number of contributors that had problems rather than an uncomplicated recovery. But as so many of us can attest, the price of such complications is very high - hence the messages about being patient and holding off a while longer.
 
@jpg717 How are you doing? Hope your holiday weekend is happy and relaxing :yes: :SUNsmile:

A recovery thread from long ago has just resurfaced and might be worth reading. It's Constanze's recovery thread (and may be called that). She's in her 60's, a triathlete, and competes also in the individual sports. She's recovered from a biking accident since her THR as well. Fairly inspiring!
 
My surgery was 6/29. My first symptoms of OS showed up two years ago and advanced rapidly. The pain was so severe that I had to stop virtually all fitness training. I’d been quite active with kettlebells, biking, hiking, and weights. As the OS progressed in my left hip all workouts except walking came to a halt. So
Many of the questions you have I do as well. I went from being very fit to slightly overweight and sedentary. My internal and external rotation was down to 5 degrees. Following surgery I have the same rotation as my good hip. The arthritic pain is completely gone. So yeah....I’m a sports car on high idle. Lol. My surgeon is a fitness buff so he does understand. He’s given me some ideas. Biking is one strongly suggested activity.
 
I am 4 weeks out and feeling really good. Virtually pain free. Started lifting VERY light weights last week, been using the arm ergometer one week after surgery, started recumbent bike at two weeks and just started, light, no resistance elliptical. Hope to get cleared by my OS on July 13 for most activities. Thanks for all of the support. It truly is great to hear about others' journey and the vast variety of recoveries. I realize that I am blessed. I'll stay on this sight a while longer to follow those who had their surgery about the same time as I did. Thanks!
 
Happy One Month Anniversary!
It’s good to read you’re doing well, but please go s-l-o-w.
You don’t want to crash and burn, stalling your recovery.
Hope you have a great weekend! :)
@jpg717
 
@jpg717 sounds like you're doing really well!

I was "cleared for just about anything that doesn't hurt to do" at approximately 6 months for each hip. On hip #1 I'd given myself a nasty tendonitis at about 8 weeks simply by trying on and lacing/unlacing too many pair of new running shoes. I avoided that tight bending over assiduously for the second, but did some damage anyway many months later, doing some heavy lifting twice in two weeks. I am still paying somewhat for those indiscretions-- at 7 and 3 years out!--, although it doesn't stop me from my strenuous activities.
 
Hey, all! I am now almost six weeks out. No pain and feeling fantastic. What about using a push lawn mower on my 1/3 acre lawn. It is a self propelled mower and slightly hilly track? What about "hitting" tennis balls, with nor running and no competition? If the motto of "listen to your body" applies...I think I am ready for those two activities. Thoughts? Advice?
 
@jpg717 well....I wouldn't have mowed grass at six weeks, that's for sure! Although I've never used a self-propelled. As to whacking a ball around, are you serving to yourself? Seems to me like a tennis serve involves some sudden possible twisting and contraction after an extreme stretch? You can tell I played tennis for 5 minutes when I was 15, can't you!

At six weeks both hips, while I did feel very good mostly, I was more into "let's see can I walk faster? In this heat? Are you crazy??" :whistle: :rotfl: I think for #1, at 6 weeks I was learning balance confidence in my bumpy uneven yard. For #2, I was doing the walking faster.

Oh! And vacuuming! Which is not on the activities guidance for six weeks... and it was a central vac and I laid the hall rugs back down, so heave-ho-ing the giant rug attachment. Shhhh. I don't think I ever mentioned that on here! :whistle: :whistle:
 

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