I woke up excited to start physio with Mark! This got me motivated to do my videos of the hospital physio exercises I’ve been meaning to complete (on Instagram and YouTube).
It’s now been 1 month since surgery. Leading up to my left hip replacement I would only dream of getting to this point. Having two pain free hips (even with limitations) was something I actually had a hard time believing would ever happen. It was a dream I had for a long time but still felt unattainable. But now i’m actually post-surgery and pushing forward. Next stop physio.
My first physio session for my left hip
Bike time! I use to start on the stationary bike, man I wish I had one at home. My cardio is better this time around. Last time I felt dead in like 15 seconds once I started peddling. This time it didn’t hit me until later. I did a total of about 12 minutes. There was lots of tightness through the quad and stiffness when starting, but it loosened up overtime.
Manual Manipulation
With Mark we started by putting some heat on my left hip to help warm up the muscles for some manual stretching. Since he knows I do my exercises fairly religiously at home he helps with some manual manipulation and other stuff at the clinic. He started by having my lay on my right side and stretching my left leg back with a bend in it, to stretch the quad and hip. I had to be careful not to arch my back and keep my core engaged or else it wouldn’t be as effective cause he could just keep going (due to the flexibility in my back and core). He then got me to roll onto my back and stretched my leg upwards. At first what I felt was my quad and knee so he allowed me lower leg to hang and focus on the top (instead of the entire leg in the air). Then after a while he put my leg straight up (at about 35-40 degree angle) and stretched the hip that way. It was nice to have that done for me since I’m not able to do that on my own.
Exercises
We then went over how to make some of my exercises harder. I asked for a harder quad activator:
- Put a folded pillow under your knee. This way you can raise your lower leg like normal and then lift from the hip. The pillow should be folded away from you to allow it to open towards your feet.
- Using the bosu ball. Start with lifting your lower leg and then from the hip. Your legs should be on top of the bosu ball, right under your knee.
These two exercises allow work to be done at two different ranges of motion. If i had a medium sized ball I could also work the middle. This will allow t he entire range of motion to come back quicker and stronger (range of motion = ROM).
Water (Pool/Lake) Therapy
Mark cleared me for pool therapy (aka lake therapy at the cottage) since the incision is fully closed up and looks good. However, he said to stay in the shallow end. no kicking or full swimming yet (Makes complete sense due to the restrictions of twisting and crossing). This means though that I could stand in the pool and do my physio exercises. And I mean stand without assistance due to weight restrictions. That’s exciting! I need to find a pool with open time and minimal kids (since it was mid-June and school was almost out that would be near impossible, but that’s what cottages are for).
The Next 3-6 Months
Mark told me that the next 3-6 months may be a bit of a back and forth in relation to both my legs. Meaning, sometimes I may have more trouble with my right then my left but they will even out and get consistently and equally better and stable. Good to know! I’m not sure I would have really thought of that. I know my right hip is sometimes sore now but based on the use and laying on it only, not continuous healing (since it’s feel absolutely fabulous compared to before already).
Just found your blog through Pinterest. I am old! 59! I am having both hips replaced in Jan. How do you feel about 2 at once?
After speaking with some therapists I decided not too. It can extend your recovery time as you don’t have a ‘good’ leg to stand on for a bit. It was recommended to me to wait 3 months in between so I can get the strength and restrictions lifted off my first replacement (and focus on the first replacement) before getting the second one done. The recommendation was from therapist, not my surgeon, as they are more focused on what they can do then the recovery aspect (which is fine with me cause he did amazing work!!). I’m glad I waited in between personally, but I was also on crutches for 6 weeks post-op due to bone grafts (weight restriction) so I wouldn’t have been able to put full weight on either legs if I got them done 1 weeks apart (which is what they call at the same time). But I also could not imagine going back to the hospital at the one week post-op mark after my first replacement. I was still recovering, sore and out of it. I needed the time to heal before going into surgery again.