Week 6-Post Op.

WEEK 6.-Post Op.

I had my 6-week follow-up with Dr. Vail http://orthosurg.ucsf.edu/Thomas.Vail and I saw my 1^st x-ray with both hips resurfaced…crazy! Everything looks good. The stem of the Wright medical Conserve Plus device is a bit longer than the left Johnson & Johnson Depuy XLR  device, but essentially they look very similar.

Dr Vail was happy to know that I’m being active, and getting stronger. He says that the glutes are still weak, so I need to keep working at what I am doing. I see him again in 6 months. He said that the surgical healing period is till about 3 months on average.

I also gave my ok to be a part of the American Joint Replacement Registry. UCSF is creating a research study to establish a California state and nationwide joint replacement registry. In the U.K and in Australia they have joint registries, but not in the U.S. until now. Since I have been researching hip resurfacings, I have been amazed that there was no U.S. registry. It is being created to have a national data bank for safety and quality control over joint replacements. I think it’s long overdue.

This week:

Monday: PT

Tuesday: 1.25 walk with stick

Wednesday: PT

Friday: I swam & water walked in the pool for 1 hr.    Felt Great!

Saturday: I walked for the 1st time up our local hilly regional park- Helen Putnam Park. 1.25 hrs. The park has lots of un-even terrain, hills and paved path. I went with Sean and he took the dog. I used my stick for about 1/3^rd of the time.  I felt really good in my hips! strong, itchy from blood flow to surgery site….and then I did some yard work for about 1.hr TOO MUCH.

Sunday: Friends from New Mexico visited and we had a raw oyster picnic in Tomales Bay (we saw a red fox!) and then walked along Pt Reyes North Beach for 1.hr. I used my stick. I was sore and really feel like I NEED my stick.

Just goes to show….Listen to your body. And don’t do too many things without a rest in between days.

WEEK-5 Post op

With feeling better comes over-doing it. I did some yard work, moving pots of dirt around, without stick. Nothing sudden or a fall, but just increased pain in my hip and low back. This is good, cause I need to know my own boundaries. I need the stick, but it gets in the way and I try t give it a go without it. Everyone keeps telling be “be careful”.

Besides, PT and swimming 2-4 a week. I have been adding Pilates work in as well. Some exercises I have been working on: 

CADILLAC: rollbacks, push thru w/ side bend, articulating/neutral bridges (working up to singles), clams, side leg lifts.

REFORMER: foot and leg work, (working up to single leg) straps, standing butt blaster, kneeling arm work with yoga block, frame pull in neutral!

CHAIR: standing balance, VMO pump, side stretch.

MAT: adductor stretches, supported table top, marching with pelvic differentiation, psoas stretch, prone leg lifts, quadruped- leg lifts, and knee to chest, Childs pose!

WEEK 4- Post Op.

I am driving! 

I have a clutch, but my surgery was on the right. No problems getting foot off gas and on brake. Getting in and out of the car is challenging due to the space between wheel and seat is too short. The flexion in the hip, along with the internal rotation of the hip is a bit uncomfortable. I have to push the seat back and then forward to drive. An easy fix. Freedom feels good. I can get around on my own easier and walk, with and without the dog.

I am continuing to work on aqua therapy in the pool, swimming for 1 hr. Not like used to do it (1 hr with flippers), but working on resistance, balance, stamina, mobility and strength for a full hour. It feels great; I don’t want to get out! I am also increasing my walking. I can walk flat track for 1 hr with (and a little without) my stick. Feel the glide of the hip joint! The freedom of un-impinged hip extension!!

I have started Physical Therapy http://www.postwellnessbydesign.com/ in Petaluma. And I am working with Mitch, the owner 2 times a week.

 I get a great soft tissue massage as part of each session. This helps to break-up scar tissue around hip &  ITB. 

We are working on very functional gait work without the stick, and of course…. lots the glutes. Glutes on hip flexion (squats), glutes in extension (pushing off and weight transfer, as in walking), glutes on abduction (getting into my car), glutes on adduction (getting out of my car & being in hands and knee position). Most of the lateral glute attachments have been super stretched or excised and sewn back together. 

POST has a reformer, chair and a move-able mirror! I would like to get one like that.  It’s been good to have someone spotting me in different foot & legwork exercise. I started some leg strap work this week too. Feel the glide of the hip joint!!

I have weak glutes on the R; rather, the glutes have a hard time firing correctly. I have to REALLY think about working them. It takes a few times of really focusing on using them, then they seem to turn on.  I think is is from having the OA, (or maybe they got weak and this started causing OA??). Anyway,  this patterned evolved. 

I am most focused on not going back into my old movement patterns. This takes work, cause I think if there is a issue before surgery, it will be most likely (or weakness & dysfunction) there after surgery as well, and needs to be addressed before it gets to imprinted into the nervous system.

A short walk in Petaluma's Shollenberger Park at 4 weeks:

Some areas that I need work on are: R-adductor tight and weak, R- Quadradus Lumborum- tight weak, Deep rotators tight and weak. Piraformis- tight, weak. R-Illiacus & psoas tight & weak.