THR 50 year old male's recovery

Man you really are pushing it! I haven't started water walking yet. Water is very resistant so its no surprise you are sore
I walk a couple of miles a day and on alternate days good off.
Tomorrow will up it to 2.2 miles. Slow increments.
Nothing hurts. No meds . I do believe in the turtle. the Dene symbol of patience
 
Hi @toughstuff
This hip recovery business takes some trial and error in regard to how much is enough.
I did some pool walking but I believe it was closer to 3 months out...I liked it very well.
I don't think it is neccesarily too early but it IS easy to overdo so the best advice is to listen to your body.
You know your body best.
walk for about 10 minutes take a break and then do it again
So two ten minute sessions?
Perhaps consider every other day. A day to do, assess and rest...and just earth walk?
 
Good morning @toughstuff
I think several of our forum members enjoy the water walking and water exercises. Since we all experience our recoveries differently- I would say that you should start slow and with a minimal amount-listen to your hip and body- and add onto the duration of your water activity when you think it's time.
I can think of one member who has enjoyed water walking for her THR recovery, @Elf1 so I tagged her to chime in with her experience. I'm not sure at what stage of her healing she added it, though. I had the opportunity to pool walk and did some treading water, while at a nice hotel. It felt great and loosened up the hip quite a bit. But I doubt that I did over ten minutes, and just once a day for 3-4 days. This happened at around 8 weeks post op.

You can also do a search on this forum and type in water walking.

FYI I am a month ahead of you and I still have a sore hip and leg after certain activities. It varies from day to day. We aren't automobiles that just had a fender replaced.. our bodywork involved nerves, tendons, ligaments, muscle and connective tissue.. oh and bone! They sawed off part of our bone! Hopefully you are feeling incremental improvements.
 
Good Morning, toughstuff
If you're sore and stiff the next day, scale back. Either do it every other day as, Mojo, suggested, or only do one daily ten minute session for awhile.

I'm not sure why you're assuming you're not doing well, can you elaborate?

Please try not to fixate on that Three-Four Month timeline as though you'll be all healed then. It simply does not happen that way and all you're doing is setting yourself up to possibly be disappointed. It takes A FULL YEAR and even longer for some to make a complete recovery. Relax and give yourself that time. You may feel no different than you do now a month from now if the changes are only subtle. You will get there though. So unless you're experiencing new pain that is unrelenting and escalating in frequency and itensity...just roll with it all.

Have a great Sunday!
@toughstuff
 
@lotusbuds
Is another recent fan of pool exercising who isn't on the forum as often anymore, but does drop by now and then. You may want to check out her thread.
 
@toughstuff I have been doing some water walking off and on since about week 7/8 or so. I started very slowly, even though I felt great, decided to err on the side of caution. My walk was pretty much a slow stroll, periodically taking little breaks and doing bicycle peddling/treading water. Also did some floating around with my pool noodle. Only did 20 minutes the first few times and again, this wasn't constant walking, nor fast. Haven't been able to go as often as I would like but I think the good I did was 45.
 
@toughstuff - I'd be a bit careful with the water walking if I were you. Much of what you've described (pain at top of thigh, soreness after walking/steps) could be the psoas (primary hip flexor). If that's the case, walking in the water, which will increase the resistance and make the psoas work harder, could be problematic. I had psoas issues at the beginning so my PT told me not to do the leg raises and other exercises that would activate the psoas. It all cleared up but, as I got more active, I started having psoas issues again. It turned out that it was structural in my case (the psoas tendon was rubbing on the acetabular cup) and required surgery to fix, but going slower and letting the psoas rest and "catch up" later could be helpful for you if there's no structural issue. Are you still seeing a PT that you could discuss this with?
 
@toughstuff I started in the pool at 6 weeks and found it great exercise. Walked forwards, backwards and sideways and exercised at the side of the pool. I didn't find it too strenuous. However you do have to take care walking to the pool and getting in and out!
 
@toughstuff Hi I love swimming and water aerobics and anything to do with water. I am at 7 months post right hip surgery. I was told recovery would be 6 weeks and then I could drive and swim again. So at 7 weeks that happened. But no one told me that doesn't mean you are healed. Like @Layla says it can be a full year. My OS told me at 9 months I won't know I had it. My advice is be careful in the water. Its deceptive. I don't do water walking as I swim but I do exercises at the shallow end of the pool that I do for PT. I started doing water aerobics in the deep end at 10 weeks and somehow hurt my good knee on my non operated leg and could not weight bear within 4 days. I am still recovering from that. I am much better but still have a bit of a way to go. I say bit as most days if I exercise it helps. But I don't do much. I do swim 30 minutes crawl non stop but the water aerobics although it doesn't hurt while doing it I do only 10 minutes max and gently. I want to start water walking again in shallow water as it was hurting awhile back. Best of luck to you and know that it all does get better. I don't walk enough so that is my new thing. I have to use trekking poles. Sometimes if I look back 2 weeks at a time I am amazed at how far I have come. Trust when you have pain sometimes it means rest.
Good luck!
 
@toughstuff, you can read through my recovery for some comparison with my fairly active, but not athletic, life at 43 years old.
One thing I want to point out though, although I try not to complain about it, is that I've had a LOT of chronic pain in my life. From tons of back pain beginning in my early teens to debilitating neck pain in my 20s and 30s, and now hips and shoulder, I've had my share of opioid doses, tylenol, and advil experiences. Trust your doctor but communicate your drug concerns.
Because of my chronic pain, I tend to tolerate pain more than most people.
At two months, I was able to hike but I remember being quite sore, and I felt I had a fast recovery. I found multiple "sessions" of light walking much easier to do than a similar distance all at once, and ice was effective. At 2 months I think I still used the Vicodin as needed. I'd also take a day off of activity if I overdid it.
Now at almost 5 months, I'm able to ride dirt bikes, hike in mountains, and work every weekday. I dont use any medication for the hip now. The soft tissues still have some sensations of having been manhandled.
There are still days where I'll get some rogue hip pain, or twist or move wrong and get some very short term pain. My quality of life is drastically improved compared to more than a year pre-surgery! Yours will get better. And then when you think it's good, it'll start feeling even better, more often.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk
 
Sigh.

Everyone is different. Eight weeks some are walking five miles a day, some around the house twice. Some doing stairs no problem, some not. Some have stopped using narcotics at one day, some have to run out and be refused additional refills.

Where did the idea of using a heating pad come from? After all the great, consistent advice? Really?

Time.
 
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Happy Saturday to you @toughstuff :wave:
Hope you have a nice one (weather wise) on tap in your neck of the woods and some fun plans for the weekend. Wondering how things are coming along?
I'd love to hear some upbeat news.
Tell us something good....
Enjoy the weekend! :)
 
Completed a 6-day vacation in Disney that was booked a year in advance. It was at the 9-week point of my recovery. Did the flight, the park each day for 5 hours, out to eat each night, and some pool time. I did use an electric vehicle in the park but other than held my own.
I am improving but it is slow. I was testing it a little this morning at the 10 week mark. Two miles in one shot walking is still tough. I feel pretty week in that hip area. It’ll come along as it strengthens. Thanks for reaching out.
 
Wonderful news!
What a great vacay. We're all kids at Disney, right?
I hope making it through all of the activity involved in air travel, schlepping through the airport, sitting in the small confines of an airplane, 5 hrs in the park daily, pool time and dinners out and making it home in one piece is huge progress and hopefully a great confidence booster. You're getting there, it takes us all time, some longer than others but you'll get there.
If the distance you're walking feels too much for now, back it off a bit.
You're doing great...Yay for you!!
@toughstuff
 
Happy Three Month Anniversary!
How are you doing? We'd love to hear about your progress.Please leave an update when you have time.
Have a great Thursday and weekend! :)
@toughstuff
 
Thank you for checking.

I’m doing better. The joint itself feels good but I still have a bunch of muscle soreness. I’m sore on the outside of the hip (IT band?) and some groin soreness. My surgeon did say it’ll be quite awhile because of the approach and how tight it was to place the ball back in the socket. I do see improvement.
Hopefully the soft tissue/muscle stuff will settle soon. I’m sort of set in the idea that 3-6 months is not unusual.
Have a good day.
 
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Hey @toughstuff
Thanks for updating.
We're all different in how long it takes our bodies to heal. Just continue to be patient and roll with the flow. It seems you're doing well.
 
:wave:Nice to see your update and this recovery business can seem like a two steps forward - one step back deal.
I’m sort of set in the idea that 3-6 months is not unusual.
Certainly...not unusual.

Hope things keep improving @toughstuff
 
3-6 months sounds about right. I noticed differences on both those milestones. Apart from stiffness and some pain if I overdid it 6 months felt almost normal but plenty of recovery to come after that....
 

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