THR Some allowed to drive after 4 weeks, some after 8

[sissy46]

Sounds very comfy!

 

[bellaroma]

John, the picture made me laugh, I could so see my husband doing that. Thanks for the article also, as I am always looking for a perfect mattress for my back, and love reading about them.

 

[oldyellr]

One of my targets after hip surgery was to be able to get back on my bike. My OS asks me whether I'm riding an exercise bike, but I didn't have one as such. What I do have is a set of rollers I can ride my bikes on, but that's a bit tricky and a fall could hurt my new hip.



I'd been checking the thrift stores for a used exercise bike, but found nothing, so yesterday I got a cheapie from Walmart. It's not quite as fancy and rugged as the multi thousand dollar ones at the PT gym, but does track time, "speed", "distance", heart rate and even supposedly calories burned. This one doesn't show cadence like the one in PT, but I've figured out a conversion factor so I can get that from the speed reading. Let me tell you that assembling the darn thing was a workout in itself!

I posted about this over in our cycling club forum, but nobody's very friendly over there, or are not monitoring posts.

 

[puddle fish]

Its very similar to the one I was using, and until you can get back on the real thing will be great in building up strength and stamina. Just make sure you get the saddle adjusted correctly. Im now back on my cross trainer and doing step ups and it feels great to work out again.

 

[oldyellr]

Yes, the saddle height adjustment holes are a whopping 1.5" apart when it ought to be infinite, or no more than 1/4". Luckily I was able to find a position that was perfect for me. At the PT gym they were more concerned with not breaking the 90 degree rule and erred on the high side.

 

[puddle fish]

Enjoy and put a telly or computer in the room and enjoy the time on the bike.

 

[bellaroma]

Oh no, not rollers those can be quite dangerous , My husband uses and I have also an old 80 Vette wind trainer, as it also supports the front wheel, there is some sway to it, but you will not just fall, and then you could use any bicycle you wish. You can find them pretty cheaply if you want to on ebay.

 

[oldyellr]

I used to ride a track bike on the rollers, sometimes with a home-made wind resistance device hanging on the rear wheel. However, now the Walmart exercise bike does the job just fine. Even with the magnetic resistance turned way down and spinning at 80 rpm I'm ready to call it quits after 3 minutes. I'll be working on increasing the time as I build strength.

 

[bellaroma]

My husband is very into riding, he does road riding. I like to ride, but it is fun not a passion. He has some many bikes and components, I thinkg he needs his own house for them alone. He is a Campagnolo guy

 

[oldyellr]

I'm into vintage bikes, none of that plastic stuff. My best road bike is all Campagnolo and I'm in the process of restoring a British frame from 1951 similar to my first "real" bike I had as a teenager in the 1950s.

 

[bellaroma]

My husband would love you, all of our bikes our vintage, we have quite a few Raleigh frames, Bennotto, Puegot, he is very proud of his Marinoni Special, which I guess the guy still lives in Canada. He want to send it to him to repaint. All his bikes also have Brook saddles, some have competitors with Brooks also. I know my 71 Raleigh International is all Campy equipped, but once again he is the real biker in the house. You must have all the tools and such also, he did teach me how to true a wheel, but I can not say it is something I wish to do.

 

[oldyellr]

Yeah, I wanted a Reynolds 753 hip, but all they had was titanium.

 

[bellaroma]

Huband definetly would love you, I had never even heard of Reynolds tubing before him

 

[oldyellr]

So far I'd only been doing shopping trips, for groceries, etc. I haven't even started the dreaded Christmas shopping. Last night I ventured out to a concert, just over an hour's drive each way. The driving was uneventful. I spent time before the show started and during intermission chatting with friends and downing a couple of beers . The seating was comfortable, but standing around took more out of me. Got home a bit after midnight, read a bit and slept well.

Today was more eventful. I was doing some loads of laundry when one of my flood alarms went off. I have a septic tank, so a sewage pump pumps out the drain water to the septic tank and I thought it had failed. However, I'd replaced it just a few years ago and that wasn't it. The drain hose from the washer had come apart. I spent the next couple of hours scrambling around with the shop-vac to save areas with carpeting and laminated flooring. I knew the routine because it had happened before I replaced the pump, but now my hip is a bit sore. Needless to say I won't be doing my exercises today because I've already done enough!

 

[puddle fish]

John, I have noticed its not so much the hip excercises I need to do now Im classed as fully mobile but some of the stretches otherwise it all gets very tight and stiff especially if Im busy at work.

 

[oldyellr]

Yes, the exercises become too easy and boring and I just skip through them. All except the exercise bike, where I'm still out of breath after 3 minutes. I'll ask about stretches at my next PT appointment.

 

[Damn!]

I think the exercise bike is by far my favorite PT exercise. In spite of all the post-op difficulties I have had, I have no trouble with the bike. The first time on it, I pedal all the way around and kept the speed up between 9-10 mph for the 8 minutes they wanted me to do. Felt great! I am looking forward to having them increase the resistance.

 

[sissy46]

Damn! :iagree: The exercise bike is great. The real one, even greater. Really loosens up my stiffness and feels so good after. At first I got breathless, but I bet my hematocrit is back to normal by now, and exertion is okay.

 

[oldyellr]

The "speed" indicated on my exercise bike seems meaningless since it does not move, but when I ride on the road I try to maintain a cadence between 70 and 100 rpm and the speed around 24 km/h (15 mph). When I was younger I rode at 18-20 mph. I timed myself on the exercise bike and 27 km/h is 80 rpm, which is where I like to keep it. (The exercise bike appears to have about a 70" gear if you're into bicycles.) The better exercise bikes that you find in gyms and can buy for thousands of dollars also measure watts and a lot of other stuff and you can adjust the resistance to preset levels. This one does display calories burned. When I burn 20 calories in 3 minutes I reward myself with a 150 calorie can of Pepsi.

 

[Poppet]

Nordic walking for this girl....

Can't wait to have time off from work and get stuck into it again each day.. Need to retire... sigh!