THR Nini's Right THR Recovery -- January 2024

[Hip4life]

@Nini I, too, continued to have pains that came and went and traveled around, well into that first year and a bit beyond. It's okay to step up the activity but within reason. If it causes you pain, then dial it back and gradually add it back in like Mendogal suggested. The one thing you do not want to do is to irritate those soft tissues to the point that then you have tendinitis. That is a whole other animal that you really don't want to welcome and feed. Best wishes for continued healing and getting your strength and stamina back. The world is waiting, right?

 

[mendogal]

@mendogal Thank you! Thanks for laying it out as far as what I should be doing! And yes every other day I have been close to the trembling threshold! No wonder I’m feeling burning pain!

The training regimen I use is meant to slowly work the muscle to exhaustion but absolutely requires a five day recovery. I do it just once a week, take it easy the following day, and then the other six days using walking, garden/yardwork, housecleaning, stretching, and tai chi for exercise.
It's paying off really well in terms of improved muscle tone and strength.

 

[Jumeirah]

I also see my PT twice a week and I have been doing my exercises as I have been told to everyday and as you know I have had a lot of this burning pain and not being able to sit down for more than 20 minutes. I have been doing this exercises for around 30 minutes everyday until now and I actually think that it was way to much. I am now 10 weeks after surgery as you know.

I have mad an experiment in the last week. I have tried to not doing any exercises now and then and my best days was actually the days where I just did normal things without doing any exercises . At those days I just did a little household as fare as possible. A little walking around and resting twice a day for at least one hour . In that hour I was doing icing at my scar and the sore area around it. I think it is important to do some exercise, but I have realized that for me it is even more important not to teach that level where it star to hurt and burn afterwards . Every time my PT told me to do too much or after I did my 30 minutes exercises every day , I was in pain with burning sensations for days afterwards .

Yesterday was my best day since surgery. I did no exercises I just had a normal Sunday with a little walk outside, doing normal things in the house and a couple of hours rest. I had very little pain and it was my first day with absolutely not pain medicine Today I have my appointment with my PT. I am very excited to see if my pain will return for days after my visit today . If it is so, I will tell her that I only want to come once a week in the future.

how do you feel the days where you don’t do any exercises?

I still have my swelling around my scar but I think I hurts a little less in the last couple of days also when I sit . I am now curious if it was because that I didn’t do any exercises .. I will know tomorrow or probably this evening after my PT appointment..

I wish you all the best and I’m so glad that you don’t have this really bad pain so often anymore ..

 

[Layla]

I have tried to not doing any exercises now and then and my best days was actually the days where I just did normal things without doing any exercises

Just a reminder, ladies...
It is not necessary to exercise your injured hip to promote healing. The controlled trauma sustained through THR will heal on its own. Often though, we're impatient and want to move the process along. In doing so we run the risk of struggling with pain and setbacks stalling the healing process. The best therapy for recovery is walking, but not to excess. Start slowly increasing time and distance incrementally in an effort not to overdo it. Give yourself the TLC you deserve and reap the benefits of a successful recovery.

Wishing you both a great week!

 

[Nini]

Just a reminder, ladies...
It is not necessary to exercise your injured hip to promote healing. The controlled trauma sustained through THR will heal on its own. Often though, we're impatient and want to move the process along. In doing so we run the risk of struggling with pain and setbacks stalling the healing process. The best therapy for recovery is walking, but not to excess. Start slowly increasing time and distance incrementally in an effort not to overdo it. Give yourself the TLC you deserve and reap the benefits of a successful recovery.

Wishing you both a great week!

I do agree with what you said but I wonder if it’s different if you have weakened your muscles from non activity so long before the surgery. I was having trouble even walking very far which is why at 4 months I opted for the PT. Now that I’m walking better that’s a plus for me! @Layla I know I still have one very tight muscle, do you think it will release/relax with stretching excercise and will walking help this as well?

 

[Nini]

@mendogal Thank you! Thanks for laying it out as far as what I should be doing! And yes every other day I have been close to the trembling threshold! No wonder I’m feeling burning pain!

The training regimen I use is meant to slowly work the muscle to exhaustion but absolutely requires a five day recovery. I do it just once a week, take it easy the following day, and then the other six days using walking, garden/yardwork, housecleaning, stretching, and tai chi for exercise.
It's paying off really well in terms of improved muscle tone and strength.

And here I’ve been excercising every day plus trying to do housework and walking! Starting today I’m cutting way back!

 

[Nini]

@Jumeirah it will be interesting to hear the results from your experiment!

 

[Layla]

I know I still have one very tight muscle, do you think it will release/relax with stretching excercise and will walking help this as well?

I believe so. It may take longer as it does for many since we're all in different shape going into surgery. Many limping and using an assistive device for a long period of time and others, not in major pain and walking unaided.
It definitely takes time and patience. I will be watching with interest also to see if you notice a difference in cutting back some. Best of luck...please keep us posted!

 

[Roxi]

Just a reminder, ladies...
It is not necessary to exercise your injured hip to promote healing. The controlled trauma sustained through THR will heal on its own. Often though, we're impatient and want to move the process along. In doing so we run the risk of struggling with pain and setbacks stalling the healing process. The best therapy for recovery is walking, but not to excess. Start slowly increasing time and distance incrementally in an effort not to overdo it. Give yourself the TLC you deserve and reap the benefits of a successful recovery.

Wishing you both a great week!

I do agree with what you said but I wonder if it’s different if you have weakened your muscles from non activity so long before the surgery. I was having trouble even walking very far which is why at 4 months I opted for the PT. Now that I’m walking better that’s a plus for me! @Layla I know I still have one very tight muscle, do you think it will release/relax with stretching excercise and will walking help this as well?

I have the same concerns. I will be going to PT and doing exercises for sure (actually likely to have two separate PT groups). I have had hip displaysia since birth, several surgeries as a young child to 'fix' it, never have had proper hip alignment, and finally it is so bad that I am getting a THR on both sides. I really can't see any chance that I am going to get this all better just by walking. I have never had proper walking or proper hip alignment, so I need to learn all of these things and strengthen muscles the right way, not just whatever my body decides to cobble together.

I see it as two separate things. There is the 'healing' of the soft tissues and just getting over surgery. That will happen on its own. Learning to live with new hips when you never had proper ones to begin with is something separate and needs good PT.

 

[myglasshalffull]

Roxi,

You will be surprised how just getting new hip will help with your situation.
Many wait until they can hardly walk before having the surgery & then are pleasantly surprised when they can walk pain free for first time in their lives.
We all recover differently but many have found walking to be a great exercise.
No wrong way to approach but wait & see how you feel after your surgery, all my best!

 

[Roxi]

I will keep walking for sure.

 

[Nini]

@mendogal @Hip4life @myglasshalffull So I layed off the excercises for a full week. Saturday I did a few and all was well. Yesterday Monday I did a few and soon afterwards had quite a bit of burning tingly pain that had stretched into today. They were just gentle excercises like clam shells. Reverse clams and leg lifts. I don’t understand it because when I was in PT I did those every day here at home. I really felt like I was healing. Now I do any excercise and bam! Pain is back. Maybe I should just walk as I have been doing every day. 7000 steps and general housework? These hip muscles are meant to heal I just have to keep telling myself that!! 7 months next week… Thank you all for your encouragement!

 

[benne68]

Maybe I should just walk as I have been doing every day. 7000 steps and general housework?

That's all I did after my THR. No PT exercises at all. In fact, my surgeon would not order PT for me because he said the best rehab for hip replacement is walking. He told me to focus on walking -- gradually increasing the length of my walk until I could one mile without stopping or pain and then do that every day. It worked for me!

 

[Nini]

@benne68 thank you. I’ll do just the walking for awhile. I had such great results for pain relief after starting pt 10 weeks ago so I thought I was so close to being ok!

 

[myglasshalffull]

Nini,
You are ok. Your body is telling you to just walk for right now. Maybe in a month or so you can return to those exercises.

 

[sportbrown]

I'm beginning to think that physical therapy is kind of a hoax! It seems most people experience more harm than good!

 

[Roxi]

I disagree. I think for people with standard arthritis no PT is fine. For folks like me where I have weak adductor muscles and a trendelenburg gait, no amount of walking is going to fix that. I don't have a severe limp because I am in severe pain. I have a severe limp due to skeletal muscular issues. My PT is the reason I am still walking as well as I am leading up to surgery and I am looking forward to proper recovery with them once the surgeries are done.

 

[benne68]

@Roxi. You are correct, different people have different needs in recovery. That's why our BoneSmart Recovery Guidelines say the following.

Just keep in mind we are all different, as are the approaches to this recovery and rehab. The key is, “Find what works for you.“ Your doctors, PTs and BoneSmart are available to help, but you are the final judge as to the recovery approach you choose.