Birmingham Hip Resurfacing - Patient Journal

Greetings, Dr. Rogerson! I thought I would drop a line to give an update on how I am doing :) Well, I am doing excellent. I had an appointment today with the PT for inserts for my shoes. While doing PT for my hip I had her work on my right knee, which I was having a lot of problems with – more so then my left hip now, LOL! Some of it is due to my leg length discrepancy, some of it is due to how my foot rotates which locks up my heel and causes mechanical issues...so the inserts should help. I guess all of the pain from my hip pretty much overshadowed what was happening with my knee. So, we are just tweaking some things a bit :)

I cannot believe how much better I feel each week. My boyfriend and other close friends have noticed a change in my appearance because the pain lines in my face are gone and that tight expression I had so gotten used to has gone. I keep feeling better and better, which amazes me because I keep thinking WOW, I feel good, then the next week rolls around and I say WOW, I feel even better then I did last week!! I have to say I do notice the cold which I was hoping would go away, but I suppose it will take time for that to resolve, or it may stay, I am not sure about that.

If I sit for long periods I still am stiff when I get up and I limp for a few steps until I loosen up. I work very hard to get up every 2 hours at the most and take a walk. If I don't, I stay stiff longer, but as long as I get up and move a bit, the stiffness resolves very quickly. I am doing great at the gym. I started back on my work out routine with the exercises I can do right now. I am up to doing 2.5 miles on the elliptical machine and strength training is back full course. I just joined two classes at the gym that I never could do before. I called first to check to make sure it would be okay. One is called F.I.T. and it is a step aerobics with weights. It is 60 minutes on Thursday mornings. The other is a Lift class that is more strength training then aerobics. It is 60 minutes on Tuesdays. I am back to logging my food and have a goal of loosing 1.5 lbs a week for the first 10 lbs.

I want to take the next 7 months to really work on getting in shape for biking this spring and summer. I would like to ride several cross country races this next year. It will be the first time in over 6 years that I will be riding pain free!!! I am really looking forward to getting out on the trails. I already learned a very hard lesson 6 weeks before surgery though and plan on not going fast downhill. I got just a bit cocky and had a fall and scared the you know what out of me. So, I really want to focus on climbing skills and easy downhill paces. But just to be out on the trails to me is an amazing thing!

As for my gait, I only limp a few steps if I am stiff or if I am not concentrating on walking. My joke is that I cannot talk and walk at the same time. There is no pain at all, it is all retraining those neuromuscular pathways from years of limping. I have all of my co-workers trained to point out to me if I limp. As soon as someone says something, I take a moment and the limp totally disappears. I think that the whole retraining process will take me a bit longer then I thought it would. But, I can do one leg quarter squats, balance on one leg at a time and I can now do push ups again using the bench so I am at an angle. No hip pain and I am slowly able to increase my reps. I started the week before at three sets of 10 and now I am up to 12. I was up to 30 before surgery and I am sure I will get back there fairly quickly but I am not pushing it. The last thing I want to do is to go to fast and hurt myself. I am not sure what all is normal at 10 weeks out but my workouts are back to 6 days a week. I can walk up and down stairs without having to hold the handrail, although I still do for safety. I have a lot of strength in my abductors but am still having to gain strength in my adductors. I do my leg exercises every day, my classes I have are great because we do some Pilates squats which really works the inside of my thighs which right now seem to be my weakest area.

I really am very happy with how well I am doing and the fact that I have no pain. If I overdo it, I know it, but I pretty much now do not even think about my hip as far as day to day life. I still am not bringing my leg up past 90 degrees but I can now bend my knee while laying down and lay my leg out to the side and bring it back to center which two weeks ago I could not do. I am really enjoying how much more I can do each week, it is like having Christmas every week.....

There is one thing I would really love to try next spring after my 6 month mark. I would love to ride a horse again. I rode dressage and did trail riding and shows with my horse I had and I have really missed it. When I started having all of my back pain before I found out what was wrong and that I would need surgery, I had to place him. Him and I were together for 11 years and that was a hard decision to make. I am not sure how my back will deal with it though. I think my hip would be fine unless you feel horseback riding is not something I should try. I would like to take a lesson and just see how it feels. I know I could never do a sitting trot again, way to much impact on my back since my shock absorber there is gone, but with my hip all healed I know I could post a trot easily! I think a gaited horse would be pretty smooth, but I will have to wait and find out. Do you have any patients that have gone back to equestrian activities? I know it is really the risk of falling. I had that pounded into my head from Dr. Flemming, the orthopedic surgeon who fixed my back. He let me know there were some activities I just could not participate in again. He did not want me to mountain bike anymore, but I just could not give up everything...I hate road riding, I tried it, after two close calls with cars I went back to the dirt. Rocks and trees do not cut in front of you...LOL. Besides, I gave up BMX riding, snowboarding and softball.... I have a great full suspension bike set up perfectly for me :) I'll have to send in a picture of me riding next summer :) Needless to say, I am doing awesome and am very, very happy.

Thank you again so very much for helping me to have my life back. Thank you does not really express how I am feeling and does not seem adequate, but it comes from the heart. I cannot say enough how wonderful a team you have, both at the office, the hospital and at HipHab. I hope that if you have another gathering next year I can come and tell everyone what a wonderful experience I had! :)

Sincerely, Michelle Gregory

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12/6/2007

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