Bilateral TKR The Historian - recovery diary

[ElanorG]

If you are having trouble with the hip machines here is an exercise that might work for you. They give me this in PT as my hip muscles were so weak from lack of walking. They called it "Hip Hike". I will try and describe how to do it. Take a big physio ball and stand with it between your hip and a wall so you are perpendicular to the wall. With the leg that is pressing against the ball, shift your weight onto the opposite leg and raise the leg pressing into the ball off the floor. The idea then is to squeeze the buttocks and hip muscles in the standing leg and think straighten out through that knee to make the standing leg rise up. Now the first time or two I did this it felt like nothing happened, as my hips were so weak the muscles would not fire. But after a few times, it all of a sudden started to click in. I do 2 sets of 10 on each side. As you get better you will have a finer control over the motion. I noticed it did not take long before my hips were doing much better. I looked around on google to see if I could find a video or better explanation but I could not find anything that used the ball. But there are examples where they do it without the ball and it might give you the idea. Using the ball is safer unless your balance on TKR leg is great. https://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=3OwttGWEOB8&desktop_uri=/watch?v=3OwttGWEOB8

 

[TheHistorian]

ElanorG, BOTH legs are TKR. I'll try it but I'd prefer to get into the hip abductor and adductor, since those machines work very well and let me set the weight I want. I usually set them with a 50 pound resistance.

I was so sore yesterday it hurt to type. But endorphins are to men what catnip is to felines, so I'm going back today.

 

[bottomshollow]

Nothing I love more than a glutton for punishment. You go, Neil!

 

[RICBAK1]

i love your reindeer i would love to send to grandkids but we use postman not electronic .

 

[ElanorG]

Historian. I knew that both legs are TKR, I just was not thinking. FWIW, I was using both abductor and adductor machines before my surgery and was lifting a lot of weight with them. When my PT made the comment that my hips were so weak, I asked how that could be, as I used the machines at a very heavy weight. She told me, and my personal trainer concurred, that when you exercise the hip muscles from a sitting position it does work them in the manner in which standing does, as the various hip muscles fire in a different direction. I wish I could remember the technical description about what is going on, but I do not. So she said to strengthen the hip muscles in support of standing and walking that I would need to do standing exercises, hence she started me on the Hip Hike. Just thought I would pass that along. Good luck with the endorphins!

 

[zjrog]

Hey brother, even in my best shape, I HATED the hip abductor machines... I need to get back in the gym too Neil.

 

[TheHistorian]

Roger that, err, Roger.

Meanwhile I've returned to my Four Rules of Weight Loss: Take Responsibility, Practice Accountability, Swallow Pride, and Find Joy. Part of that is weighing myself for the first time since the pre-surgical screening. It's not as bad as I feared, but its not good; I've gained 20 pounds since surgery. The causes are easy to spot. I've not been exercising often enough or hard enough, and I've 'medicated' through food. Obviously this has to stop, and it is stopping now.

 

[bottomshollow]

Neil, your rules of weight loss are awesome---and they cover all the bases. I am going to print them out in large bright letters and put them on my fridge as an inspiration to leave the door closed or watch very carefully what I take out. I, too, have gained 20 pounds since surgery---just too much snacking!!! Sure wish it was as easy to lose as to gain and at least half the fun----but, alas, it's not to be.

 

[ElanorG]

Neil, Not sure I understand rule #3, Swallow Pride? The others make eminent sense.

 

[zjrog]

Swallowing Pride makes perfect sense... Admitting you let yourself down, and getting back into the groove is chock full of it. I know I don't always llok or feel like I belong in the gym, takes some swallowed pride to get back in there...

 

[TheHistorian]

I included "Swallowing Pride" because fat people, or at least super-obese fat people like the old me, are full of delusions, self-defense mechanisms, and the like. "I may be a little overweight, but at least I'm not like those people who need a hole cut in the wall to get them out of their homes." "No need to watch what I eat, I drink diet soda." "You always gain it back." etc. Or my favorite, albeit unspoken, statement: "I'll do anything to lose weight except give up the lifestyle that made me fat."

I DO believe that if people are happy being 400 pounds, more power to them. I've not come across any happy super-obese folks, however.

 

[TheHistorian]

Hey brother, even in my best shape, I HATED the hip abductor machines... I need to get back in the gym too Neil.

The hip abductor and hip adductor helped me enormously when I was a 400 pound plus novice at the gym. By working the small muscles and glutes they helped smooth my gait and made it easier for me to rise.

 

[ElanorG]

Thanks for the explanations on Swallowing Pride, Neil and Roger. Being in the super-obese category (although I think they call it morbidly obese) I think I really look at my weight and the issues surrounding it differently.

 

[TheHistorian]

Thanks for the explanations on Swallowing Pride, Neil and Roger. Being in the super-obese category (although I think they call it morbidly obese) I think I really look at my weight and the issues surrounding it differently.

I was 400 pounds and unable to walk a city block. I hope you aren't in that range.

 

[ElanorG]

Two years ago I was 340. Dropped down to 326, then got down to 312 right before my surgery and am now at 293. Still got a long way to go. I could not walk a city block either, still can't. Replacing the knee has helped, but my other knee is not so good, my right hip has pretty bad arthritis and I have neuromas on the bottoms of both feet. So walking is still quite challenging and probably will be for awhile. So my primary cardio vascular focus is on water walking, swimming and biking as I could do those before the surgery and am on my way to returning to the same level with them. It is a long road.

 

[zjrog]

Some of that pride we spoke of, I've been all over the map the last two years. 300 or so before the replacement (I weigh very infrequently), dropped about 30 toal, but gained some back. I was about 280 when I jumped off the ATV in my avatar or 7 months post TKR. Two months later I was back about 296, when I crashed my bicycle. Over the next few months I lost 40+ pounds. But I also don't suggest an accident as a good method of weight loss. I'm back about 290, hence the pride part. Eleven years ago, I weighed 235 or so, when I retired from the Navy. I hit 315 in about 2 years. I've never weighed more than 305 since then, but sure seem stuck in the 290ish range.

 

[ElanorG]

I think what you refer to as pride, is for most women, shame. Each weight gain, either a return to a previous weight or a new "high" would be accompanied by a lot of shame and self-loathing. For years I tended to cocoon and isolate myself from people when my weight would go up as I felt so ashamed. I might still be going to the health club on the outside, but on the inside I would withdraw from meaningful relationships and hide and I would never talk about it. But over the years I have done a lot of psychological work on those issues surrounding my weight as shame and self-loathing are not particularly helpful feelings nor very healthy, and so now I can get on this forum and actually tell people how much I weigh and talk about my weight and there was a time I would not have been able to do that! Those feelings aren't totally gone when I experience a weight gain, but I manage them better.

Neil and Roger, was it hard for you to walk after the surgery? I find that I can water walk and swim for 45 minutes and bike for 30 and lift weights for 60 and my HR is not as low as it was pre-surgery but it improves everyday. But I try and do 3 short walks a week (beyond normal life walking), they are about 6-7 minutes and my HR gets quite high and it just does not seem to get much easier. I know I have other issues with the other knee, my right hip, etc. but I suppose I had hoped that the walking would be easier than it was before the surgery. At this point, the only thing I can really say is that the right knee does not hurt like it did before the surgery!

 

[zjrog]

Sure, I had trouble with walking more than a few minutes. Somewhere about the third month I took off I guess you could call it. I had things I wanted to do, and not have the knee slow me down. It let me get away with a lot. Even being heavier, I am fairly active. I did treat the knee to ice and elevation when it warned me I had been doing too much. It was the least I could do.

 

[ElanorG]

At this point, the knee is not the one doing most of the complaining, it is my back, hips, hip flexors, etc.

 

[TheHistorian]

My first hike/walk after surgery was at seven weeks, 3/4 of a mile at Black Rock Park, and I was so worn out I couldn't sleep that night. I can walk that distance, and more, easily now.