Anyone here trying to get back into shape after an injury?

nellielovescupcakes

I have a labral year in my hip and it has caused me to 1) get out of shape 2) put on some lbs. I'm getting back into my normal running and exercise routine but I was curious if anyone had a lot of trouble returning to old activities or shedding pounds after an injury and what helped you get back on track? Also if anyone has had a similar injury, what exercises are minimally invasive? Need to literally get my butt into shape lol

Camo_xxx

Not sure what you mean by "trouble returning to old activities" As in causing you undue pain ? You may want to consider working with a physical therapist or sports medicine professional.

For me, I am lucky to be able to walk. I have to make due with the things I can still do and not snivel about the things I had to give up.

Even with limited mobility I have not had trouble losing fat and gaining fitness. 70lbs gone 10 to go. I ride my bike about 100 miles a week for fitness now but lost most of the weight with no more exercise then learning to walk again.

nellielovescupcakes

Thanks for the advice. Part of my trouble is the fear of the injury/pain returning so I am almost scared to take the next step. I let pain be my guide but I never push myself like I used to. Trying to get my miles back up again but fearful of running passed 5 miles for fear of the pain creeping back in. I used to run about 6-8 miles 3/4 times a week. I don't want to go back to that but but would like to get to a place where I can run half marathons or at least 10 milers.

sofaking6

I have - tore my lumbar ligaments in a car accident, then had the physical therapist wrench my shoulder out of the socket for me so I'm still nursing that labral tear...I totally hear you on being afraid, it was like my whole life I was invulnerable and suddenly I'm fragile as a wine glass.
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It doesn't sound like you're actually having any pain at 5 miles, is that true? If it's just a random milestone in your head then I'd suggest running 5.1 miles ASAP. If you are having pain then *respect the pain*. It's there for a reason. Your body is more reliable than your brain

Camo_xxx

learning what pain is good and what pain is causing injury can be a fine line and takes some time to figure out. I am constantly pushing the limits in my quest to raise my abilities and occasionally I over due it and have to take several days off to heal up. Make sure you are getting adequate rest or rest days between your workouts. The recovery between workouts is just as important as the workout.

nellielovescupcakes

@sofaking6‌ you hit the nail on the head, feeling fragile is something I have never experienced before. I was running gingerly but now feel like I'm not anymore. I ran slightly more about a month ago (I just passed the year mark on my injury, but it's bc I didn't rest). And I was aching in pain. How did you learn what was the pain that was a normal part of the process vs pain that is injury related? I know that's a subjective question but I am curious to know what helped get you to the other side?

nellielovescupcakes

@Camo_xxx‌ how long ago was your injury? Are you still in pain during your regular workouts?

GettingConfident

hey! Last year feb I fell over and fractured my foot! I was on crutches for around 5 months as I got ligament inflammation! Consequently, I put on a lot of weight and at my heaviest ...However, I kept using my foot as an excuse to not diet and exercise as I felt sorry for myself and was too scared to exercise thinking my foot injury will return. However, after the help of a physiotherapist I managed to get rid of the crutches and back to walking without them! I started going to the gym 3 weeks ago and also started a low carb diet! I do feel pressure on my foot sometimes when I am on the cross trainer but I guess that's just my foot getting used to it again!

So I recommend that you see a physiotherapist and get their advice on the exercises that u can do.

ASKyle

I fractured my tailbone, I can barely bend over!

The bright side is that it has forced me to eat better vs. depending on exercise to burn the extra calories I eat.

As for exercise right now, for some reason the stair stepper at a snails pace doesn't seem to bother me. Honestly just getting to the gym and doing SOMETHING makes me feel better.

nellielovescupcakes

Thanks for the input and sharing your story. Good to know I'm not alone

Camo_xxx

nellielovescupcakes wrote: »

@Camo_xxx‌ how long ago was your injury? Are you still in pain during your regular workouts?

I am not a good person to compare that sort of thing with because I am an idiot. Lmao
But I'll give you the jist of it. First broken neck 20 years ago, second broken neck 10 years ago. 3rd spinal surgery 3 years ago left me immobilized for almost 2 years. Spinal cord swelling finally went down and was able to walk again. Kinda..... Had gained 80lbs and lost muscle strength.

Pain , Ahhh sweet and bitter pain.
I could write volumes about pain. But I will resist doing it here.
Yes I am still in pain. Always will be. But I have been able to stop taking any and all meds to deal with it. Exercise is my escape from pain even when it is often the source of additional pain.

the trick is finding your thresholds and your own way of dealing with it.

sofaking6

nellielovescupcakes wrote: »

@sofaking6‌ you hit the nail on the head, feeling fragile is something I have never experienced before. I was running gingerly but now feel like I'm not anymore. I ran slightly more about a month ago (I just passed the year mark on my injury, but it's bc I didn't rest). And I was aching in pain. How did you learn what was the pain that was a normal part of the process vs pain that is injury related? I know that's a subjective question but I am curious to know what helped get you to the other side?

I hate to say it but mostly trial and error...I find that pain which lasts is a good thing to check with the doctor about, but pain that goes away quickly can be experimented with. And sometimes, especially with injuries like yours, some pain can be from gait issues if you've been favoring that side for a long time, so it'll get better as you even out. But it's really hard to know without trying, which SUCKS lol!

ETA: with my back, it also lets me know when I've made it angry by locking up all the muscles. When I find certain areas getting tight, that's kind of my red flag version of pain.

And of course...ice ice baby.

punchgut

nellielovescupcakes wrote: »

I have a labral year in my hip and it has caused me to 1) get out of shape 2) put on some lbs. I'm getting back into my normal running and exercise routine but I was curious if anyone had a lot of trouble returning to old activities or shedding pounds after an injury and what helped you get back on track? Also if anyone has had a similar injury, what exercises are minimally invasive? Need to literally get my butt into shape lol

I had surgery on my left hip in 2012 and I'm heading into the operating room again in March for my right hip. I tore the labrum in both hips in an incident while teaching a ski racing clinic in Colorado. Even though one of the most famous physicians for this thing is there, all of my doctors miss diagnosed me and I spent from 2/2008 until 3/2012 in an ever increasing amounts of disabled. Because of the problems getting diagnosed properly workman's compensation insurance got me kicked out of their service and I spent a number of years in a state of high level chronic pain. Driving would put me in tears and white knuckling the steering wheel. During this time, I went from a 30 waist size to a 42. The weight only added to the pain and all I could do to help get relief was drink, which didn't help with the weight and would always cause a bit more pain the next morning in my hips.

Around August of 2010, I decided that I needed to either take up heroin or try something in order to reduce inflammation. Long story short, I went low carb paleo while dosing with high levels of very good quality omega-3 fish oil (has to be in triglyceride form). I strictly avoided all grains, legumes, nightshades, seed oils, vegetable oils, and sedentary lifestyle. This worked really amazingly well. Pain from 10 to 2 (relative, still hurt) with the ability to actually exercise. It sold me this lifestyle, and it sold my now wife on it too. Seriously amazed!!!! I also went from 230 down to 180 by June of 2011 without working hard.


Since having surgery on my left hip my life have vastly improved, which also caused me to go enjoy foods which I shouldn't eat and a little to much wine. A little gluten free pizza here, some mexican food there. You know the story. Over time my right has gone from pain not high enough to warrant surgery, to better get this done before it gets worse.

I can answer all kinds of questions and am willing to help answer questions for things that help. Little tricks:

when it's really bothering you lay on your back and get a friend of SO to pull some light traction on the leg. Sometimes a little shaking while moving it away and back to midline with the traction helps. But just a bit of traction can help.

Sit as little as possible, this puts the femoral head deeper into the socket which causes compression on the labrum.

Figure 4 stretch.

Feel free to friend me and ask as much as you want. I can also guide you through selecting your surgeon. Been down that road big time. Believe me, you want to make sure your surgeon knows what they're doing on this one.

nellielovescupcakes

Thank you for all of your information and helpful suggestions! I am truly grateful to find a space where I can talk to people openly and get honest feedback.

I was having a good day and the pain is creeping in again. Will try all the suggestions. My labrum is torn and causes a muscle imbalance on my SI Joint. So when one hurts, the other will almost always start to ache too. It's a strange nerve like pain that I feel down the side of my leg down to just below my knee.

Again thanks for all the advice!!!

punchgut

nellielovescupcakes wrote: »

Thank you for all of your information and helpful suggestions! I am truly grateful to find a space where I can talk to people openly and get honest feedback.

I was having a good day and the pain is creeping in again. Will try all the suggestions. My labrum is torn and causes a muscle imbalance on my SI Joint. So when one hurts, the other will almost always start to ache too. It's a strange nerve like pain that I feel down the side of my leg down to just below my knee.

Again thanks for all the advice!!!

Had that same problem.

nellielovescupcakes

Any suggestions for SIJ issues? Is that why you ultimately got surgery? How long is the recovery? Did you get it stitched and have the socket "shaved down." That was what the surgeon (who is a hip specialist) suggested

njitaliana

I am trying to get reconditioned from many illnesses and injuries. The more current ones were a torn meniscus, tendonitis in my ankle, and now tendonitis in my adductor and hamstring. All of this is on my left side. I also have SI joint disorder on the right.

And since I have groin pain, I may need an MRI with contrast to rule out a labral tear. If the PT doesn't improve me in a month, the doctor is ordering that. With each body part I strengthen, I hurt another part. It's so frustrating. It took over a year to fully recover from the torn meniscus.

It's so hard to just take it slowly. I've gained a lot of strength, which is good. Now, if I could stop injuring myself.

Feel free to add me as a friend. I could use some other injured friends.

I have 56 pounds off, despite everything!

PS, I have been in PT steadily for one year, and less regularly over about 3 years.

Azdak

While it may be possible to some day return to running, if you are experiencing pain it is probably not a good idea at this time.

Labral tears can take a while to rehabilitate. You have to build up strength and stability throughout the entire core.

Here is a rehab protocol you might find useful. You don't have to start at the beginning ( since it is for post-surgery), but move down to the strengthening phase and see if this helps.

http://www.mattpricemd.com/pdf/hip-labral-repair-protocol.pdf

punchgut

nellielovescupcakes wrote: »

Any suggestions for SIJ issues? Is that why you ultimately got surgery? How long is the recovery? Did you get it stitched and have the socket "shaved down." That was what the surgeon (who is a hip specialist) suggested

The SI joint issue is usually due to tweaking it during the labral tear injury. For me, the SI calmed down after the surgery. Most of the nerve pain was due to the horrible shape that my labrum was in and the large amount of nerves that travel through the hip. Like all of your spinal nerves travel right there, so I had horrible pain all the way down to my toes. For the longest time the doctors thought I had sciatica, due the pattern of the nerve pain. It's awful, and as you know by now there is no way to rest the hip.

I had the surgery because I couldn't function with the shape my left hip was in. When the surgeon got in there he had to do a total debridement of my labrum. It was shredded entirely. Anytime I moved it made it worse and also increased the amount of nerve pain I felt. It was in bad shape though. A little bit of scaring on the femoral head (arthritis).

Like I said, going all in on a full low carb paleo diet decreased the pain a huge amount. I was doing great up until I had my MR-arthrogram. That dye injection irritated my hip and I was unable to recover. It basically had me bed ridden until my operation.

Yes, the surgeon shaved down around my femoral head/neck junction.

My wife had this surgery, but her tear was discrete and clean. The surgeon stitched her labrum together and shaved down bone also.

The specialist depends on where you live. My wife had her done in Colorado and there are a lot to chose from there because Dr. Philipon at the Steadman Clinic trains people and he is considered one of the fathers of this surgery. She had hers done by one of his former fellows and he did a great job, she's completely happy. I had mine done in a different state and we only have 3 surgeons in this state that are qualified to do this. I visited two and spoke with Philipon who said that I should go with one of the doctors here because you don't want to travel after the operation and if he needed it he would use the doctor I used. The other person I spoke with I wouldn't trust to cut my worst enemy.

If you give me your state, I can ask my surgeons office who he would recommend there. I know the number of surgeons in the US who are truly qualified for this operation are small and they know each other. That said, any orthopedic surgeon is technically qualified to do this, but I've seen the results from that (sad face clown).

Ask away or PM me to continue in depth.

MikeSanchez2323

I have been down that road before. Be sure to take it slow and know the difference between pain and soreness from working out. You don't want to injure yourself again.

CathieCats61

I'm in pain 24 / 7 and also was looking for modified work outs the only time I can give it my best or close to my best is on my pain meds I've succumbed to a bit I f depression and sitting on the putty pot but sickness and pain to be honest sucks
What are you able to do now?
I'm just getting started