THR titanium57 recovery thread

titanium57

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Hello Community,

I just had my left THR three weeks ago. Surgeon did a posterior approach to repair my periformis muscle and my incision is about 8 inches / 20 cm across my butt. First two weeks were very difficult, exhaustion, lots of pain, lots of swelling, inflammation and cramped muscles, could not stay ahead of the pain. This third week, I reduced my exercises and activity and got more rest, and I have had less pain and more ROM and can do more than ever before.

I think these doctors and PT's and people who are pushing for "fast recoveries" are setting people up to be disappointed...I want to heal properly and not be in agony 18 hours of every day.

Questions:
1) How much activity is enough ? how many hours of PT per week?
2) How do you gauge how much you should do in one day ?
3) Is there such a thing as sleeping too much ?
4) Is anyone doing all these exercises 5 and 6 times per day ?
5) Why is there so much conflicting information about proper steps to recovery ?

Thanks in Advance for you thoughtful replies,

Titanium 57
 
Hi @titanium57 and welcome to Bonesmart.
Some recovery articles soon to come your way so do take some time to read them carefully as there are activity progression guidelines as well as a Big Tip!

There is alot of confusion regarding PT...but you've already figured out that aggravating healing hips does not lead to a quicker recovery so you are ahead of the game already!
 
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@titanium57
I am not an expert so can only give you details from my own story. I have had 2 hip replacements, once last July and the other last November.
I didn't actually do any PT for either op, other than basic foot/ankle pumps and just walking round the house doing usually daily activities I.e. Bathroom visits.
Visits to PT just consisted on them watching me walking to see how I was getting on and giving advice on heel to toe walking.
I do have a lot of stairs here, 13 up and then 3 down to get to the bedroom. I used those 'journeys' as my own form of Physio.
Personally I found it difficult to sleep, especially at night, but I would say there is no such thing as sleeping to much. It helps to heal your new hip.
Both hips are doing fine so I am glad I didn't have a PT who pushed me hard.
I had a posterior approach on both hips and my scars sound about the same as yours. I found that weeks 3 to 4 were when I started to see and feel improvements. I hope it isn't long now before you find the same.
 
winter welcome 2.jpg
@titanium57, so pleased that you have joined us here on the forum.

Hip Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:

rest
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. At week 4 and after you should follow this
6. Access these pages on the website




BIG TIP: Hips actually don't need any exercise to get better. They do a pretty good job of it all on their own if given half a chance. Trouble is, people don't give them a chance and end up with all sorts of aches and pains and sore spots. All they need is the best therapy which is walking and even then not to excess.


We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.


We are here to help in any way we can: answering questions and concerns; supporting and encouraging you from start to finish; giving you a place to vent, whine, complain if you need to; sharing experiences with one another; and having fun and some laughs along the way.

Take care and keep us posted. We care.
 
Hi, Welcome to BoneSmart! :welome: Thanks for joining us. Congratulations on your new hip!
Interesting avatar, someone in a mid-fall. :yikes: Risky biz from now going forward, hopefully it never happens.

1) Use the Activity Progression for THR in the Recovery Guidelines as a rough gauge. Abstain from PT if you're able - BIG TIP: Hips actually don't need any exercise to get better. They do a pretty good job of it all on their own if given half a chance. Trouble is, people don't give them a chance and end up with all sorts of aches and pains and sore spots. All they need is the best therapy which is walking and even then not to excess.

2) All you need to be doing at this point is walking 15-20 mins once, maybe twice per day, depending upon how you feel. Add to that some simple activity around the home. Nothing too physical or strenuous.

3) In these very early days I don't feel you can sleep too much.
Our body's energy supply isn't limitless. So when we're in healing mode after major surgery
our energy will be used for healing first, not leaving a great reserve for all the other activity of daily life. It is completely normal to feel tired for quite some time. How long....most likely relates to your body's rate of healing. Making our best effort to get adequate sleep and rest is beneficial.
Our body does it's best healing while we're sleeping.
http://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/energy-drain-for-thrs.12415/

4) Some do and hopefully they come along and share the negative effect some of them have experienced in doing so.

5) More and more surgeons seem to be jumping on board in not pushing PT. Like anything, it will take time and there will always be advocates. PT is personal choice but a choice we caution against here due to the negative effects and set-backs it can cause. You'll hear both sides here and will need to make a decision on how you want to move through your own recovery.

Wishing you only the best. Stop by often and share your progress. We'd love to support you along the way.
Have a great Tuesday! :wave:
@titanium57
 
Thanks to all for the advice and the links.
Lots of good information for me to digest - I plan to share a lot of this with my Dr. and my PT's
 
@titanium57 Welcome to BoneSmart and the other side of surgery! I have had both hips replaced and can confirm the rest, ice, elevate and meds approach works much better than the aggressive PT approach. Your body is injured. You would not engage in exercise if you broke a bone would you? It's the same with THR. Let that hip and all the surrounding areas settle. Plenty of time for strengthening when all is healed.
I plan to share a lot of this with my Dr. and my PT's
Just a word of warning. Most PTs will not agree with the no PT approach. They have a checklist and unfortunately every one of their patients have to tick all the boxes. Just say no.
 
I agree with, Jaycey. Plus it's their livelihood.
They don't want to hear "Sorry, not interested."
 
Just to give the other side of it - some PTs don't just check the boxes. My preferred PT looked at me and what I was experiencing. If something hurt at the time, we didn't do it. If I had pain after the session, we didn't do it again or waited a couple of weeks before re-trying. The first couple of weeks had a lot of massage and gentle assisted stretching. Everything was geared at loosening up the hip (which can be very tight after SuperPath) and relieving pain and not strengthening. As we progressed, the only "machines" we used were the treadmill and recumbent bike - low and slow at first. We seldom used any of the resistance bands. Exercises were "functional" and scaled upward as the hip healed and muscles got stronger. I am personally a proponent if you can find a PT like this. As I was dealing with a psoas impingement, everything that one PT that my new doctor sent me to hurt at the time and hurt so much worse that night that I got out the walker (at 7 months post op) and then used a cane for a few days. I cancelled the remaining appointments with the "Wicked Witch of the West" and made my doctor give me a different referral. Not all PTs are good and not all PTs are bad.
 
I plan to share a lot of this with my Dr. and my PT's
Let us know how that works out! As you said most Dr.s are so trained into getting people back to work as fast as possible they tend to push people and give them unrealistic recovery times.
 
Happy One Month Anniversary!
I hope you're doing well.
Please leave an update if you stop by, we'd love to read of your progress,
Wishing you all the best as you journey through recovery.
@titanium57
 

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