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My Resurfacing Recovery Story

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walker

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Hi Jo, Jamie, Kathy, Hippain, Mudpro...

A little explanation of some of the videos mentions in the "Why Travel Abroad" thread in this forum....

Jared filmed/created his own video (with the help of his daughter). Julie filmed her own clips in Belgium and Canada, with the exception of the vimeo video from this January, which I filmed.

It is true that videos can be misleading - either for good or bad. Written text can also be misleading. I also understand that testimonies from an internet forum are considered anecdotal, and should never replace professional care.

Julie was 35 when she had her surgery - her young age perhaps helped in her recovery. Again, my mouth was agape when I received her video clips from 4 to 6 weeks! My recovery from surgery was nothing like this!

I can speak firsthand of my own recovery. I filmed incremental videos starting at 5 weeks. I have posted these videos previously on other blogs, etc with the disclaimer "I want to be careful not to mislead." In these videos I am showing the very best that I was able to do a particular day, however it was not easy at all. Walking might look normal, but the effort to achieve this was monumental (for me). I often thought that a background narrative would have been nice - to verbally explain what was going on, but I didn't have the time or ability to put that in the videos.

My own recovery was rather average overall. I did basically nothing for 4 weeks, except my PT exercises and minimal walking with crutches. At around 5 weeks I moved to a cane. My range of motion prior to surgery was exceptional (and is still), so in that respect I feel very fortunate. It was a major concern in choosing the type of device, surgical procedure.

I had a 90ยบ restriction for 6 weeks - and I followed all of the protocol to the letter.

At 6 weeks I walked into my doc's office without a cane. He released me from all restrictions. So I went home, jumped on my bike and filmed the next video. Biking can be deceiving: it looks "fast" but is actually quite easy. It is important to note that weight bearing on a bicycle involves the pelvis. I have always been an avid cyclist, and I liked the fact that it forced my legs to be symmetrical while pedaling - it was much more difficult to "cheat" (compensate) on a bike. Once the snow returned to Chicago I of course ceased all biking - a crash would be catastrophic.

I also made a point of filming shots of me walking directly towards/from the camera, so that I could study my gait as my recovery progressed. If you look closely you can see that my right foot tends to turn in - and I did not notice it until it was pointed out to me by my general practitioner (who also saw me in person and studied the videos).
So, the clips are meant to show what was possible in terms of ROM, strength, gait.

Here are the incremental videos in order:

5 weeks
YouTube- Paul 5 weeks after surgery

6 weeks
YouTube- Paul 6 weeks after surgery

12 weeks
YouTube- Paul 12 weeks after surgery

19 weeks
YouTube- Paul 19 weeks after surgery...

6 months
https://vimeo.com/2121860

1 year
YouTube- Paul 1 year post op


The 6 month video shows my very first attempt at running. Look closely and you can see my right foot turning in - STILL. I shelved running, but included the clip to show that it was at least possible to run out of the way of a speeding bus etc etc..

Sorry for the long-winded missive. I am not sure how to take this to another thread, since this thread is about travel abroad. But this is my firsthand experience. I hope that it can at least provide some data that is considered valuable in terms of recovery, gait, range of motion.

Best regards,

Paul in Chicago

Best regards
 
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