Back after hip surgery—it’s tough alone!

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october_surprise
october_surprise Posts: 6 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hi there. After surgery to repair a labral hip tear, slight bone deformation, and bursitis, I’ve finally been cleared by the medicos and physical therapist to start getting back to regular exercise, but it’s been tough. Before the surgery (and the pandemic) I was a daily bike commuter and did a variety of fitness classes at my gym 2-5 days a week. I had to stop running about 3 years ago when I first started feeling hip pain, but pretty much could still do everything else I wanted. The past 4 months of lots of lying/sitting around in post-op have definitely hurt my strength and endurance—not to mention the psychological hit of no longer knowing my limits of what my body can and can’t do. It’s hard to know when to push myself and how much.

Anyone else out there have advice on recovery or just words of encouragement? I’m all ears and excited to join the group :)

Replies

  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,400 Member
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    Didn't your physical therapist give you a program to start? I'd check with them first and then slowly ease in and see how things go.
  • october_surprise
    october_surprise Posts: 6 Member
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    Good advice. He gave me a walk/run program for getting back into running: essentially 1 min on, 1 min off at 165 bpm and gradually increasing. But as far as everything else (HIIT, pilates, yoga, biking, hiking, etc.), my instructions are to do as much as I feel I can. That’s the hard part because of course I want to keep up with everyone else in class—even over Zoom!
  • ecjim
    ecjim Posts: 1,001 Member
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    I have had multiple broken bones in the past, and now I'm recovering from an ankle fusion surgery. My background is more weight training & martial arts. The best advice I can give is ease back into it, it will hurt, a dull ache is normal , a sharp pain is not.
    With my ankle I can walk with the ortho boot brace, so I walk and do what work I can until it's too sore. Some days I do a lot, some days not so much, but I'm doing more today then last week. I weight train upper body, pressing, pull ups, rows, etc. crutches can be a good arm /shoulder exercise.
    Best of luck with your recovery
  • october_surprise
    october_surprise Posts: 6 Member
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    Wow, ankle fusion surgery sounds pretty intense. Glad to hear that you’re making strides forward with your recovery though (horrible pun, sorry).

    I wish now I had done more upper body stuff when I was still on crutches. Sounds like that’s where a weight training background comes in handy—knowing how to isolate certain areas. Thanks for the advice. I hope your recovery goes well too!
  • ecjim
    ecjim Posts: 1,001 Member
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    Thanks - I am actually striding ... sort of.
    You can get some dumbbells & do some exercises while seated, overhead press, curls, floorpress, maybe a single arm row if you can work it out with your leg. Go to You Tube for some videos. You can get a pull up bar to fit it the door frame , they don't cost much
  • Larrystone7956
    Larrystone7956 Posts: 2 Member
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    Hello everyone, I am new to discussion but my weight loss have been good I have lost 3stone 5.5lb
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,503 Member
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    As a trainer who specializes in rehab for many after surgery, you should hire someone to help you get back into shape. Realize that surgery for many is corrective and the body adapted to what you did BEFORE the surgery. So angles are different, how your muscles reacted were different, etc. You need to be assessed to see where your weaknesses are and have that trainer (who knows what to actually do after surgery) to program you something that can get you to rebalance everything out. And FORM is going to be very important here. Videos are one thing. Getting someone to actually watch you perform and exercise and give you critical feedback and correction is another.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • october_surprise
    october_surprise Posts: 6 Member
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    Ninerbuff— I hear you. And you’re right, I am absolutely certain that my body has been compensating for the hip tear for years now. (Part of the problem was that I never really lost mobility or flexibility prior to surgery, so even going to the docs reporting the pain I was feeling, they didn’t think it was that serious.) I’m all over the place as far as body balance goes. Wish the gyms were open! A trainer would be so helpful. For now though, it’s youtube :(
  • october_surprise
    october_surprise Posts: 6 Member
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    Ecjim- Stride on! And I’m actually planning on picking up some weights this weekend. We’ll see how it goes.

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