14 weeks after hip replacement, and just had my first session back in the water, having been given the green light by the surgeon two weeks ago. Waited for today, HH, glassy peelers to share at the local with a few friends.
Slow start, better finish, gonna take some sessions to knock all the rust off and get the new hip fully grooving to the beat.
All in all, could not be happier. for the first time in decades have a full range of motion, all the rehab work has made my legs stronger then in years.
Now a fully convinced supporter of the anterior/Hanna table minimal incision approach. The rehab is so much faster then with the more common posterior approach.
Anybody facing similar, feel free to ping me with a PM about it.
yo, Mcding, get Gaz his new log yet? Got pics of it?
ya, Art, very happy camper. Able to work and play again without the constant companion that pain had become. Now if only the wear and tear in my knees and back would similarly dissapear…lol
8’6 x 22 HPLB for the first session back. Easily the most versatile board in my quiver. Paired in the truck with a 7’8 RP 5 fin I really favor, pretty much got everything covered except for the bigger winter days. .
Glad to hear that your getting those sessions in. Recovering from a full achilles tendon rupture this spring as well just hit weeks 32-34 and im finally feeling normal again. Slow and steady wins the race with any injury. Keep on grinding it out!
Recovery has been steady. Made great progress first 3 months with daily leg workouts with weights, spinning, swimming, etc. Still dealing with stiffness and pain in my upper quad where it connects to the hip, which the surgeon said not unusual to last for 6 to 8 months. Having lost all the cartilidge in the hip, basically bone on bone, my leg was actually a half inch shorter then the other. So with the new hip, leg is now a half inch longer, which has stretched all the nerve roots of the primary muscles, which has pissed them off… :)
From an acitivty point, surgeon thinks I am way ahead of the curve. First surfing sessions worse then expected. Would go into a turn, just nothing there, like the leg had forgotten what to do. Now almost 5 months post-op, each successive session better then the previous one. Probably going to take another 3 or 4 months to get to where I want it, a full year to be as good as it’s gonna get. All about the major muscle group nerves fully regenerated and the muscle memory fully firing.
Aside from the continuing quad issue, feel great. Much more mobile, enjoying my landscaping and shop projects, getting ready for the start of salmon season on the local rivers.
Hip replacement isn’t easy, it is however fully doable. Just takes the right surgeon, and a willingness to do the work to get to where you want to be.
Glad to hear of steady recovery for you. You really seem to have done your work and are benefiting from the results. Thanks for the PM too. Your progress does sound pretty great to me and very happy for you. I always appreciate extra details and I expect others do too. I do not believe I have a length difference with my legs, but I am bone on bone and have been for at least 5 years. I never thought about the nerve roots being stretched in that fashion when returning to ‘full length’. So many variables and dynamics to this procedure. Your reports on your surf progress and status are very interesting and only hope I can follow in a similar path of success. I think I might have asked before, but is your leash on the same side as your operated hip? Any concerns or feelings about that? I have considered trying to go goofy after the surgery to avoid a possible setback. Most seem to not be overly concerned by this, but I have had a strong tug some years back that made me wonder if the hip was still in the socket. Your goals sound realistic and at a healthy pace to keep on a steady recovery to surfing the level you want. Endless thanks for posting your experiences here!
been in the same boat for a year went to ortho who told me hip replacements both but no pain in right hip only left…Want to relate to you thats all they know,so be catious when listening to their prognosis.My journey began with hip x rays then MRI which showed i still got cartlidge left, so i went with stem cell prolotheraphy left hip,it has been a long journey it took time and patience to let the body heal still not where i want to be ,have dealt with the hip pains that most of you mention here but i got to tell you walking up stairs which was very difficult without holding on to the rail has now become easier and i can do it with almost no discomfort and not holding the rail But in short attempts no running up stadiums so to speak…It takes longer and hip prolo is about 80 percent success for hips but this is the future of medicine and i ask all of you to look into it before you decide.Plenty of high end orthos are going this route but it does take longer but what remains intact is yours.No insurance covers it that i know of so out of pocket is high but its worth a try.Have started with a deep tissue masssues who is now breaking up the scar tissue from the healing very painful taking my hip to max ranges of motion.What i have found i could never have done that myself and guess what my hip did not fall apart a concern as i have been favoring my leg because of the pain.Just around the corner is artificial cartlidge its now available but cost is almost unatainable hang in there and i wish you all well in your journeys aloha.
Good input privateer and definitely worth mentioning and bringing to attention
I am curious, do you know if stem cell prolotherapy is different from other kinds. I did 6 sessions of prolotherapy, but my tissue did not respond. My hip is pretty far gone and they knew it was a gamble at the time. Another person I know had prolotherapy in his shoulder and it helped quite a bit so I am glad to hear it worked for you too and you are feeling better. I agree about the deep tissue massage helping, I had a plan/regimine going for a while at a sports injury clinic that used a lot of what you mention. It is definitely worth checking into for others and I did learn a lot along the way from that clinic. I like the sounds of artificial cartilage, hope it comes soon as I will eventually have my other hip to contend with. I have also heard of Viscosupplementation by injecting fluid to help lubrication of a joint , but that seems mostly for knee issues at this point and have been told it quite expensive and does not last very long. To me the more methods or options to explore the better, nothing beats still having natural bone and parts
yea, John, I switched my leash over to the other leg. Actually started doing that a while back. Interesting thing is I never get my leash tangled around my feet anymore on take-off. Once you get used to it, you forget your leash is even on the front leg.
As far as my leg being shorter. You have approx a half inch of cartlidge in a healthy hip. Once you’ve worn through that cartlidge, as I did (fully bone on bone, surgeon couldn’t believe I was still surfing…“doc, it’s not the surfing, it’s the walk down the beach…) the head of the femur rides deeper into the hip socket, effectively ‘shortening’ the leg. So even though both legs remain equal length, the muscles, tendons and ligaments on the bad side steadily contracted as the cartilidge wore out. Now the leg is pushed back out where it belongs, and everything is going” Huh…WTF?..
The key to any of these chronic wear and tear conditions to any major joint is the earlier the discovery, the better chance there is to use less invasive procedures to save the remaining joint for as long as possible. The surgeons I interviewed, all pre-eminent in their field, said the same thing. too many patients wait until their close to crippled before they seek medical advice, and by then the vast majority have long past the window to try any other restorative procedures other then replacement.
