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THR Roxi rocking on

PT at 75% weight bearing. Wow, that was... enlightening. I have a long way to go and PT kicked my butt yesterday (in a good way, I did not overdo it).

First she stretched me a bunch. Have got leg range of motion up to 85 degress which is huge. We will sit around there for a while now because I can't go past 90 anyways. She also is working on my tight and weak hip flexors. I felt like she really pulled them back and I was commenting that I did not think my leg had ever gone that far back and she said: well, your leg is not back, it is just finally straight. So. Yeah. Lots of work to do for that and it might explain why I walk so terribly. Did some bridges and leg presses with a band and I am super weak. That is to be expected, but it was laughable how weak I was. I could do bridges no problem pre-surgery!

Next we went to the zero G treadmill. Got me to 75% weight bearing and I am walking completely sideways. I know my left leg is now longer and I need to get used to it, but I had to hold on so much just to stay upright. So now I get to spend the next week thinking heel to ground, push through to big toe, don't kick out your leg like a pirate, straight on through. Show the world your toe before you hit your heel, push through big toe.

At this point I do not think I am going to be walking full weight bearing in two weeks, but I just have to remember slow and steady. I can always go to Target at that point and practice with the carts like @Eman85 suggested.
 
"well, your leg is not back, it is just finally straight"....
I laughed in recognition. At some point many many years ago, I told a (chiropractor? body worker?) that my body felt even and level.

She put a mirror in front of me. One hip was elevated (because my pelvis was skewed on three planes) and one shoulder and my head were visibly rotated laterally.
Um, gee, that's why things hurt!

It sounds like this PT will be a winner for you. Go slowly, listen to your body. And check your mirrors! :heehee:
 
Roxi said:
This PT is great. It is amazing how much you can get used to a body out of whack.
Click to expand...
Isn't that nuts? Your body will slowly adapt to just about anything, no matter how bad an idea! Now that I can bend more, I often feel something in my back or a foot pop back into a more optimal place. It feels so good when it does!
 
@Roxi It really is a revelation to have good hips again! When I went into my surgeon for my postop visit he had me do things I had been unable to do for years .... like stand straight, bend backwards to see the wall behind me, sit and bend to touch the floor. And with PT there were many more motions I could do again.

You are making good progress! Congratulations :cheers:
 
This will be my last week at 75% on crutches and then I move to just... walking I guess. I need to talk with my PT today because I am realizing that I don't know how to hold myself when I walk. Should I be stretching myself up and tall when I walk, or should I more like settle in and let my weight really hit the floor. I am having a hard time with the heel toe walk because I don't know where my 'center' is and so I keep trying different things and none of them feel correct.
 
@Roxi Years ago I learned how to center myself, and as my hips got bad that center very gradually moved to accommodate my inability to stand straight ... and after my hip replacements that center shifted again. It did take a while to find it again. When I was learning it was explained (rather graphically) that one's center, for women, is approximately 6 inches below your belly button. For men it tends to be right at the bb. Imagine a pole going through your body and if someone spun you around that pole you'd spin evenly ... equal weight on upper half and lower half. You sort of have to feel around mentally inside your self to find it. I experienced finding that center as an internal "click" of finding just the right place ... sort of a mental/physical returning home. It can also help - weather permitting - if you can go outside and just stand on the earth with bare feet. Just stand still and imagine a rope of gentle energy flowing from the earth up through your body and out the top of your head.

Might sound a bit "whoo whoo" ..... but for me it really helped get me steady again and walking normally.
 
Ok, I might try standing outside barefoot and see if that helps. I am short with a short torso, so 6" below my belly button is almost in thin air.
 
In traditional Chinese and Japanese martial arts the center is 2 finger widths below the belly button, and based on their teachings how I have taught other seniors safe walking:
one sinks the feet deeply into the earth,
breathes into an area 2 finger widths below the belly button, keeps hips and shoulders aligned with knees and feet,
and feels a string tied to a hair atop your head gently lifting head and spine,
to which I add:
aim eyes and heart at the horizon;
when you want to change direction while walking, imagine a flashlight in your belly button and aim it where you want to go; the rest of you will follow.
 
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Oh I can work with that. Thanks. Especially the part about using the belly flashlight. I think I always turn just with my ankles and then swing myself around.
 
@mendogal my PT had basically the same flashlight recommendation as you. She also had me put a giant rubber band around my hips and crutch around with her pulling it to give resistance.
 
@Roxi
OK, I have a vivid imagination... I'm giggling picturing you with crutch and giant rubberband in a sawdust floored horse arena, your top-hatted PT in the center, rubber band in one hand and whip in the other.
 
I am finally at full weight bearing!! We also moved and I am trying to unpack things, which is hard when I can only deal with the little light things.

New things to notice:
-New house has lots of stairs. I knew this, but unpacking makes it more obvious
-New house has really high toilets! My feet barely touch the floor. Guess I won't need a riser next surgery
-There are so many muscles in my legs that I don't think I have ever (or at least in the past 2 decades) used to walk. Like... how? I feel like a drunken sailor walking
-Nov means I am both ~2months past the first surgery and ~2 months before my next one
-That means I have 8.5 weeks to get this leg to be the strong 'good' leg. That seems like a huge challenge.
 
The issue with your leg muscles may mean they are currently having to compensate for postop weakness/inefficient firing of glutes and other muscles of the pelvis and upper thigh.

I think you'll be fine for your second hip.
What I experienced with my 4 1/2 month apart knees is that my first knee's extra work essentially served as its only "natural PT" until knee number 2 eventually caught up with it.

You definitely should be prepared to feel various soft tissue changes (muscles, tendons)on both sides after number 2!
 
I think I am just worried in case I have no weight bearing on hip #2 like I did for this one. I shouldn't in theory, but who knows what will happen. My PT is going to talk to my surgeon to see if we can use a blood flow restriction cuff to try to supercharge my muscle development. My muscles are so weak that I am overcompensating with other muscles and we need to fix that asap before I go back to old habits.
 
I am also worried about ROM. My PT streches me and we almost have me up to 90 degrees. I can't go past there of course for another month, but we have been working from getting from 60 up to 85. The thing is, when she stretches me it is tight, but we are slowly getting there, but somehow if we then try to get in the position again it is like my lizard brain takes over and I am pushing against her. I also can't then go to the other side of the room and do single leg marches and get my knee up to 90 degrees. It is like it is stuck, but I can't tell if it is because my muscles are too weak to pull it higher, or if my brain is preventing me from pulling it higher.
I feel like I was making such good progress, but I am kinda stuck again.
 
If there's that much tightness on stretching it's very possible there are active trigger points in the muscle.
These hard little lumps, tender on pressure, are literally bound up small muscle bundles. I have been prone to them for decades, especially in my quads.

They prevent both proper stretching, as they can't relax on their own, and effective contraction across the entire muscle as they won't relax enough to then contract.

If you and your PT aren't familiar with hands on finding and treating trigger points (it requires very slow steadily increasing pressure on one at a time while you deep breathe and try to relax into something that may be temporarily quite painful but isn't at all damaging), perhaps she knows a therapist who is?
 
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I will ask her! My old PT does this, so I can always get back to her I suppose.
 
Question for all the people who remove hair on their legs. What is the best method now? I still can't really shave because of the restrictions (and even once they lift, I will be 4 weeks to go til my next surgery. Can I go get a wax, or is that too high risk of infection? Hubby has helped me with so much, but I don't want to ask him to shave me.
 
You may want to consider a razor like the one linked here -> https://a.co/d/cRqopHO
Amazon has others you can view on their site.

My advice is to touch base with your surgeon's office to see when they recommend that you stop shaving your legs pre-op. My guess, because I've forgotten, is you should probably stop for a week before surgery to avoid the risk of tiny nicks or cuts which may increase the risk of infection.

Waxing - you will likely need to stop one to two weeks pre-op also. Waxing can make the skin more sensitive and prone to cuts and abrasions

Please do follow your surgeon's specific instructions.
Have a great weekend, Roxi!
@Roxi
 
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