THR My Intro...

[Jaycey]

Diane's thread is here and is already answered. Sorry about the hijack but glad I caught up with this thread. You reminded me I need to investigate Pilates again!

 

[C Mac]

Just some random thoughts, since I'm on my phone...

The deeper you go in a squat, the more the GMed needs to engage, so deep squats are going to be harder for most hippies.

If you're doing 240 reps of any exercise and not getting results, maybe it's time to try something else.

Thank you for the thoughts alexthecat I agree with you on the 240 reps -- last time I was told to go until fatigue... well, I do have other stuff to do so I just went to 35 reps of each of the clams.

I do like squats and since they (PT guy) seemed bothered by the fact that when I squat I am lopsided (well, I do have a variety of anatomical anomalies for peat sake...) I tried taking my shoe off on the normal leg, so I'd have some added length between the shoe and the small lift that I'm experimenting with. It didn't really work that well, since I was on the wobble board but I thought it seemed like a creative idea! Maybe it has to do with my pelvic stabilizers like the iliopsoas more so than my glute muscles, at least when I'm on that silly wobbly disc. Nothing hurt when I was squatting and I've always had that lopsidedness when squatting -- even when I was using real weights and the bar squatting in college.

The only new thing that I have to report is that my Year Three has changed from The Year of Excelling to The Year of Acceptance. I'm still not able to excel yet. I've stopped beating myself up about it as frequently and now I am 50 -- not 30, it's not going to come back to the girl that was squatting with the bar. It's the middle aged lady that has to ask for help at the hardware store with the bags of mulch and can only mow the lawn for 20 minutes at a time *and* not on the same day she gets the bags of mulch. I have to come to a resolution that I didn't get what I expected and accept the problems that I seem to have.

Carry on, but with no load...
Cardie

 

[Jyoti]

Happy 50th!! I know what you mean about the acceptance.
Take care
Jyoti

 

[Vida]

Hey Cardie.. thank goodness acceptance doesn't mean an end to having fun. As long as I can lift a glass of wine, hold a baby, plant a few flowers, paddle a kayak and get on and off a plane, I'll take it. I have 10 years on you and these days I'm all about celebrating my 'abilities.' Of course, it helps when you get a new hip that's way better than your old hip ever was. Thanks for always sharing your wisdom and experience.

 

[Poppet]

Hi there Cardie, I so agree with you, that with age (not that you or I are old) comes the wisdom and experience and choice to do what we want.

Having a THR has definitely changed the baseline of my life. I feel as though I have entered a new phase.. haven't quite figured out what that phase is, but it has to be better than the previous pre surgery 24/7 pain phase that I endured.

I may not be able to do a lot of the physical activities I used to do 10 years ago, but that was always going to happen with my advancing age.. but I do know that a lot of the activities, kayaking, swimming, beach walking, snorkeling, nutritional research, reading, craft, art, becoming food sustainable, cooking, that I have put off whilst working are going to become the fun activities of my life.. and yes, Vida, the occasional glass of wine..

p.s. I think part of the new phase of my life is to become eccentric... and proud of it

 

[C Mac]

Yea, I just wanted that "Fifty is the new Thirty" that everyone banters around...

I do need to set some goals, John Z suggested that many months ago.

I am just tired of feeling stuck & unproductive,
Cardie

 

[Jaycey]

Feeling stuck and unproductive means you and your body are mentally preparing for the next phase. I like John's idea. Find something new and different to focus on. Challenge yourself or one of your fears.

I have recently found something that has challenged me as well as given me an opportunity to visit some fantastic venues. Sharing the experience of the lifetime with new friends is something would not have considered pre THR.

We are all far stronger than we give ourselves credit for! This is very tough surgery and recovery. Don't forget that strength!

 

[Vida]

Speaking of challenging yourself..three years ago, at age 31, my daughter had a very large AVM successfully removed from her brain. It was a nightmare for us (only child) and a long recovery for her, but she is now perfectly fine. Before surgery her thing was extreme sports but because of a seizure concern, she reluctantly gave them up. On returning to work she joined toastmasters -- just to deal with her fear of public speaking. She's stuck with it ever since and it has given her enormous confidence and had the added benefit of helping with memory issues. I used to do a lot of public speaking and was always terrified, so I really admire her. Having watched her, I realized if we get stuck in one direction and sidelined, for whatever reason, we can always go in another one. If physically we can't achieve exactly what we'd hoped, we can challenge ourselves mentally. When I feel sorry for myself I do something useful in my community or take an online course. This year I have signed up for summer courses on understanding terrorism and comparative literature, all free through Coursera. You don't even have to do the work, you can just audit the classes. But I'll always keep working on my gait, just not as obsessively. As you suggest Cardie, when one door closes, another opens...if you are looking. xx

 

[bottomshollow]

What an absolutely uplifting post, Vida. I admire the courage it takes to accept defeat in one area and to accept the challenge of possible success in some new endeavor. The willingness to look for that other door that may be open to you says a lot about your character.

Take care and keep us posted. We care.

 

[C Mac]

Thanks for the reminder to flush and get off the pot Vida I am sorry for what your daughter had to endure with her condition and surgery -- and the stress that must have been for you and your husband. How did your daughter deal with the endorphins, or lack thereof, after her surgery and giving up her athletic activity? I seem to be having a lot of trouble with this aspect of the inability to exercise -- both no endorphins and inability to detoxify since I can't work up a sweat.

Yes, Jaycey I am preparing for the next phase -- generatively vs. stagnation and desperately trying to get to the point that I can be productive and contribute in some fashion.

Maybe during the Year of Acceptance things will come together,
Cardie

 

[Vida]

C Mac She still rides her bike, hikes, swims and does hot yoga! She is always surprising us, she just signed up for boot camp fitness (was OK'd) and a standup comedy program, which has to be more fun than her work as a mental health counselor. I think she gets endorphins out.. just not through mountain biking, triathlons or snowboarding! Oh and Cardie, I wasn't trying to make you feel ....anything.... I just mentioned it because its what motivates me when I feel like a sloth. Your journey is not like mine and I am at a very different stage of my life. x

 

[C Mac]

Just wanted to hear more on what you have to say about footwear alexthecat and since Mamarey seems to be taking a break right now I thought I'd ask in my own space. Just for refresher, she was using the exercise bike and elliptical machine for extensive periods of time with no trouble, but having difficulty walking very much.

I was intrigued by your footwear comment as I'd gotten criticism about my footwear choice from my PT person as well. I've been wearing Nike Free shoes for 6 months or so now and he doesn't think that's the right choice for me -- wants me in something with more stability.

Just curious,
Cardie

 

[alexthecat]

I just meant that, if she was wearing old, pre-THR shoes, they might be too worn to provide enough cushioning for her. Thus she would be feeling the impact more.

Have you tried stability shoes? They are generally meant for people who pronate excessively. So... are you flat-footed or do you have weak ankles or do you have knee pain? If you're flat-footed, that's just how it is. If you have weak ankles, why not work on strengthening them?

 

[Poppet]

Hey C Mac, great to hear from you - how are you doing ?

 

[C Mac]

alexthecat

I went from wearing the traditional "walking shoe" of the elderly woman because I had to have an exterior lift:

To the Nike Free3 at the suggestion of my teenage son...

The difference was tremendous in terms of the ability to move my foot more at the ankle -- I like that. I do not have a flat foot. The jury is out on the pronation issue, I've gotten mixed messages from the PT on this. I do have a lot of movement in my ankle (hypermobility -- maybe, jury is out on that as well). I certainly do have weak ankles -- or ankles with a lot of movement.

When we worked on gait training I was repeatedly admonished to stabilize my ankle first before moving on with my gait -- I never really learned how to do that... I was the kid that couldn't ice skate because my ankles were caved in and touching the ice... In PT we never got to the part about how the heck I could stabilize or strengthen my ankles!

This three months of PT was helpful but there was also a lot of conflicting information and shifting about in focus which lead to a fair amount of confusion. Then the PT person (clinic director) chose to move to another location in the chain and just work with the student training program and no longer see clients, so we ended with a bit of a blur.

I have a variety of deficits and problems including the hypermobility, also hip flexor impingement, a high degree of lordosis and multiple imbalances in my muscle strength and tonicity on up my body from side to side. I'm glad to be out of PT again and really need to just try to settle back in to being my normal geometrically challenged self without being reminded of everything that is wrong twice a week. So, in a nutshell Poppet that is how I am.

Take care,
Cardie

 

[alexthecat]

The Nike Free is part of the minimalist running shoe fad, that peaked a couple of years ago and is now on the way out. They may (or may not) be okay for neutral runners who aren't planning to log a lot of miles. We started to see a lot of repetitive stress injuries from these shoes, so they are rapidly falling out of favor.

The question of pronation... don't over complicate this. Put a sheet of newspaper on the bathroom floor and walk across it with wet feet. What do your footprints look like? If you see a complete (or nearly complete) footprint, you are over pronating.

Don't read too much onto that though. There used to be this idea that over pronators needed stability or motion control shoes, depending on the degree of pronation. Some recent research has indicated that it may not matter as much as we used to think and that motion control shoes may even contribute to increased injury rates and that comfort is the main thing.

I haven't seen you walk, so I have no idea whether you might benefit from a more stable shoe. Why not try some on and see how they feel? Runner's World's website has detailed reviews of lots of different shoes. Maybe that would give you some ideas.

 

[Dee205]

Cardie,
Alex is right so right about the minimalist running shoes. They are cute and were/are the "in" shoe but may lead to many stress injuries. If you're looking for more of a dress/casual shoe, all the PTs at my gym swear by Dansko shoes. I starting wearing them this year to work (Sp. Ed. Teacher/on my feet all day) and they seem to be pretty good. They are pretty expensive but sometimes there are good deals at Footsmart and 6pm.com.
Hope it's going well

 

[zauberflöte]

C Mac I found your thread! I need to read the whole thing soon, it seems your journey has been a full one. I really enjoy your posts here and there
I'm happy to see footgear discussed here, as i was going to tag alexthecat on my own thread about that, coming from your (alex's) post on Mamarey's thread. I haven't worn my old running shoes since pre-op, they are very very old, but I walk on a treadmill which cuts the impact in half, it seems. I'm sure the old shoes have bad wear patterns. So, alexthecat , would I maybe assume that the same type of shoe would be ok to get here post-op? I've neem wearing cheap Nike whatever felt good in the store for decades. There used to be an Accelerator Air i think, that I loved. I just go for whatever feels right in the store. Is this a decent method of shoe purchasing? I have NO idea if my comfy shoes (and I did used to be a jogger, 20+K miles over 20 years) caused any of my problems....now that I've been walking for 6 years, weight and weakness is the main problem LOL.

Any of you hard-core exercisers have hints for a flute player who wants to try the elliptical but can NOT hold on to the hand grips-- hands already too damaged by a lifetime of overuse, and now I'm not taking the mega doses of ibuprofen, they are very painful indeed.

 

[alexthecat]

Chris, you probably want to pitch your old shoes. You deserve new! Also, if you were limping pre-op, the wear patterns in your old shoes will reflect that and interfere with you regaining a healthy gait.

I don't know if your old brand will work for you. Just try them on in the store. Walk around, jog in place, if that's something you feel okay about As you said, just go with whatever shoe feels comfortable. You may find that you want a little more cushion, but I have to admit I'm living in Teva flip flops now that the weather is so hot.

As for the elliptical, you don't have to use the handles. Just move your arms like you're jogging. In some ways that's actually a better workout.

 

[Poppet]

Cardie, my good friend... I wish I could solve your problems... I could say, time, but you have already got that under your belt..

But, I can send