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My Journey in Finding the "Right" Surgeon...

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@Cynthia777 LOL - there was me thinking you had a route to delaying things a bit more. Good luck anyway with all the other "stuff" and we'll no doubt see you here loads


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@Cynthia777 you will be fine. A big part of the recovery for me was this site, to share, laugh, cry, get info, complain, hugs, thoughts, prayers and other stuff too. We will see you through too. I can't wait to hear your tales. My first impression after surgery was that I thought the PA was an Adonis, not so much now. A drug induced coma. He he. Your stories will be grand!
 
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@Cynthia777 I had a Labral tear (along with loose bodies) cleaned up from my right, now replaced, hip when I was 18. I have a tear now in my left hip that has been painfully locking up too often but because of my age and OA I'm not a candidate for repair. Still nowhere near bad enough to consider replacement but I imagine at some point it will be.
 
So, now I must tell you all about my first PT appointment.
I sign in and my wonderful physical therapist, Francisco, gives me a hug and walks me into his den.
He asks many questions and begins turning and twisting my body (into positions I never knew existed) as though I were a contortionist. Upon completion of this segment of my visit, he then leads me into (what looks like) the chamber of horrors (keep in mind, I've joined at least 25 gyms in my day, but have only visited 6 or 7 times).
I lay down on a table with a heat pad on my hip for 10 minutes. I'm then led to a stationary bicycle and pedal away for 3 minutes. Next I'm put on another contraption where I place my feet on a board and push back and forth for 3 minutes. My final feat is to lay on my stomach and sweet Francisco massages my (it sounded like my pinafore, but since I wasn't wearing one I knew this was not what he was massaging) pi.... muscle (I've seen the name on BS, but can't remember what it is. It's along my buttocks and it felt so good). He said I have no problems with this muscle.
So, to sum it up, I accomplished 6 minutes of exercise and am wondering how in the heck am I ever going to build up muscle (in 30 days) at this rate?
 
Piriformis if I remember correctly.

As for muscle gain, with the right approach you can make some significant gains in 30 days. You won't quite be Rachel McLish (boyhood crush of mine), but the body can adapt quite well & I'm pretty sure you're stubborn/focused/driven (take your pick) enough to keep it consistent.

Have fun


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Hi Cindy! I like your plan! The PT will probably show you one way or another whether THR is right for you now. And you still have the surgery scheduled so no more delays if you decide to go forward.

If you think your PT session was on the easy side, my advice would be to enjoy it while it lasts! In my experience, the focus in PT is to 'improve' on what was done before. So each visit you will probably be asked to do a little more. You and your PT should work as a team to make sure you don't go too far too fast.

My advice: Never ever tell your PT "That was easy!" He will be very happy to make things a little harder!
 
@agileHippie
He did say he's going to increase everything each visit. Thanks for your confirmation of my plan...I just want to make sure this old brain of mine is functioning better than my hip is! I'll tell you one thing...boy, the Piriformis massage felt SO good! He said it's very important that it has no problems and he said mine was good...whatever that means. :-)
 
ooohh! @Cynthia777
You gave me a good laugh.. The pirformis is a good muscle to have on your side. When it gets irritated and starts constricting your sciatic nerve, then you have that butt pain. Your body sounds like it's in good shape for the surgery. I agree, the indecision and "what if's" are awful! Luckily (???!!?) for me I am having a really bad week so there is no indecision for me right now. Not so sure this girl is going to make it for 4 more weeks.. continuing to work, that is.
Thanks for the giggle!! :loveshwr:
 
@CricketHip
Lol...I'm happy I could lighten up your day, as having that constant pain and having to work on top of it must be horrible! Yes, Mr. Piriformis is in good shape thankfully...not sure about the rest of this sack of potatoes! ;-)
 
I'm a little jealous that your insurance pays for massage during PT! Mine expressly excludes it, so no massages for me from my tall, cute PT guy. *sigh*
 
Ah, but don't you just know that you'd get a 6' 6" monster from the black lagoon with heavy hands and halitosis as the masseuse

Ref the piriformis, if you get stuck look up the golf/tennis ball method for self massage. I used to use it when I tweaked mine when training many moons ago and it can help - assuming it doesn't cause any additional hip pain, I've not tried it since the op.

Have a great day


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There's actually a self help tool, called "Miracle Ball" that are much kinder on the muscles or soft tissue than using a golf or tennis ball. I love them and what's nice is you can stand against a wall and work it around the piriformis area without causing discomfort by lying on it and putting your full weight on it.
They are great for the pains around the shoulders too.

https://www.amazon.com/s/?tag=ate362da-20
 
@CricketHip I hadn't seen one of those before, I might just have to grab one and try it, Cheers


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They are great @AndyH99 It's a slower result, it eases in like a good massage therapist would.
 
Well, @agileHippie, you were soooo right!

Today was my second day of PT and I can say I'm going to be hunting for the epsoms salt tomorrow! I worked muscles today that I never even knew existed!

The most difficult (and by far the most humiliating) was the one where you stand and balance on a flat round board (the board is sitting on top of a ball) and proceed to do 10 second squats (all the while squeezing your buttocks cheeks together and keeping your balance so you don't fall off of the board). Omg, talk about embarrassing! My legs were shaking so badly that I thought I was standing atop of the San Andreas Fault!

This physical therapy will most definitely end up helping me in my decision making for surgery!

When I was done, I told Francisco (the PT therapist) that all my friends and moderators on BS don't like him! ;-)
 
@Cynthia777 I am laughing so hard...the visual of you doing this is cracking me up....and you did not want to go into your pool. Just a wee bit of advice...it is ok to say no to pt on rep amount and actual exercise they want you to do. I made excellent progress but knew what would hurt my back and/ or knees. You rock miss Cynthia!
 
Oh don't you worry dear little @sunbunny, I cheated so many times today it wasn't funny (told him I did 30 butt lifts, but I counted by twos)! Swimming is sounding pretty good at the moment! ;-)
 
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