When a PT Rehabs

I am now over 8 months from my second hip surgery and about 16 months from the first. It’s an interesting place to be, and things are going well. I am well past the initial healing stage and can do a lot more normal things, though not at my normal level. It’s really hard to keep focusing on rehab related things for my hips because I can do so much more. I am working on how to use everything I’ve learned in rehabbing myself to help my patients with this particular problem. The goal as I sort through things is to put more information on the blog as well. Here’s how things stand at this point in recovery:

• Both hips still get a little sore (as these last few days after some increased physical activity). The right hip tends to be a little more squirrelly than the left hip still. Maybe some tendonitis problems? It’s possible, but it’s improving, so I’m happy.
• Being pain free in the morning when I wake up is a much more normal thing now. If fact, instead of pain being something of a default, I now notice it more because it’s more unusual. I don’t know that I’ve made it through a whole day without any pain, but it’s most of the day and the pain is very minimal.
• I’m hiking! Today I was standing on a trail with gorgeous blue skies, listening to the birds, and just feeling so happy to be on the trails and able to walk. My distances are starting to get up there. My friend and I are talking about a hike in the Fall that may still be a little too much, but actually feels possible. It’s a 17 mile hike. I’ve got a long ways to go, but I can make it 7-9 miles now, depending on elevation gain and all.
• My surgeon released me. Kind of feels weird. I know there’s still a lot of work for me to do, so it’s odd to not have to go back, but there’s nothing more that they can do for me. It’s all PT stuff. He did remind me to ease into things and not to overdo (I didn’t even tell him about the 9 miles). Point is, it’s still healing and between healing and working back into shape after all that time, it’s a full 12-18 months for healing. I would say from the second surgery, because the right hip got so flared up from that, it’s a bit of a starting over point for both.
• I’ve started climbing again! I’m so happy! Still on much easier routes than before all of this, but I’m off the ground. Sticking with the gym right now since there’s less chance of falls or impact, but maybe some easy top roping in a month or two outdoors on real rocks!
• Rehab is… floundering a bit. As you might imagine, being out doing things that I love is much higher on my priority list. However, I do still think that I will get better long term results if I can be a little more consistent with stretching and strengthening specific areas of weakness. There is a lot less time for that when there are so many more activities that I can do. It’s an absolutely wonderful problem to have, and I’ll keep working on figuring out how to fit it into my life, even if I no longer spend as much concentrated time on it.