THR - 7 weeks after - exercises to strengthen muscles

[Guest guest]

I had my post-op check-up at the hospital yesterday, 7 weeks after my left

THR.

At this point I am able to walk only with a cane - without the cane I can

manage only a couple of steps with a heavy limp.

With the cane I can walk short distances - maybe up to half an hour - if I

do too much, the leg muscles really hurt. I'm also aware that I'm leaning

heavily on the cane.

I've been having PT session once a week (since I returned home after 10 days

inpatient rehab), and trying to do the exercises the PT gives me at home

(probably not as regularly as I should - sometimes they hurt so I stop).

The exercises I do with her at the PT clinic are mostly non-weightbearing

ones - I'm lying down on my back or side with my left leg supported in

slings suspended overhead, and moving my leg in various directions. She

tells me to do them slowly and gently, and to stop if I'm tired or anything

hurts.

I also do half an hour's walking every day (sometimes twice a day) with my 2

dogs out in the forest, using Nordic walking poles - the dogs run freely,

while I walk as much as I feel able to along level trails in the forest,

slowly and carefully, with the Nordic poles. Quite honestly I feel this is

the exercise tat's doing me the most good! I feel that I'm walking better

with the poles than with the cane, leaning on them less (they are not

intended to be weightbearing like crutches - simply to give some support and

balance) - and I feel more " normal " psychologically, since walking /hiking

in the countryside was always one of my favourite activities, and I feel

that I'm now starting to get back to it in a natural way. Over the past

week or two, I progressed from simply standing with the poles, attempting a

couple of cautious steps, to walking distances of maybe a hundred yards or

so. Looking forward to resuming longer hikes.......

At my checkup yesterday I told the surgeon I felt disappointed at my slow

rate of progress in walking, that at 7 weeks I'm still unable to walk

without cane (I was on walking frame for 6 weeks). He asked me to lie on

my right side and raise my left leg - I was completely unable to raise it

unaided. When he supported it, I could raise it only a couple of inches and

with pain. (He then made me turn on the other side and raise my right leg,

which I could do with no problem at all - that's the hip that was replaced 4

years ago.)

He told me my thigh muscles are still very weak (they were cut and stitched

back during the surgery), and I need to work more on strengthening them. I

asked him to tell me the names of the specific muscles I need to work on: he

said " Abductor - gluteus minimus, gluteus medius. " I also asked him to

write a note to my PT on my present condition, to help her plan further

exercises for me. (She had asked for this - she wants to spread my PT

sessions over a longer period, as she's also concerned at my slow progress.)

I have a session with her later this morning.

Now I have a couple of questions: (1) please can anyone recommend exercises

/ activities that are particularly helpful for those specific muscles?

(2) does walking in itself help to strengthen those muscles? Would

swimming help?

One bit of good news - he has removed the movement restrictions - including

the 90% rule - says I can do whatever movements I want, provided I do them

carefully and " listen to my body " , and take it easy and not overdo things.

Yesterday afternoon at home, I was able to reach my feet for the first time

since before the surgery, and was actually able to cut my toenails on both

feet!! (they had grown shamefully long, not having been cut for 3 months.)

And I was able to fasten my sandals (Velcro strap) without using my grabber;

and to bend and pick something up from the floor. So I felt a moment of

triumph at these modest-but-significant achievements.. Beginning at long

last to feel " normal " again.

Margaret

Galilee, Israel