Hip muscles still to weak to walk without cane

Hang in there Lora. It will get better. It took me about 6 weeks to feel better and mine was just a LTHR. ALSO THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO LIFT MY LEG. Now I am pain free and walking up to 5 miles. Has been 5 months. You had some real major surgery. Give it time

Lord, it's very early days so don't be depressed - you,ll get there - just going to take a while longer - sounds like your surgeon is very conscientious and has done a good job - give yourself time and you,ll be running about . Just take it slow and let everything heal up then make it strong again xxxx big hug

Oh bless you Lora, this is huge brutal surgery, and we all take a longer time to recover than we think we should.  Don't fret about slow recovery, it in totally normal, don't listen to the miracle recoveries, they are few and far between.

This is a real roller coaster of a trip, both emotionally and physically.

In a few weeks you'll wonder just what you were worried about.

Best wishes

Graham - 🚀💃

Dear Lora,

Oh gosh but I understand how frustrating this is ... But honestly, it takes time even with all the hard work you are putting in. The bones and all the surrounding tissues take time to heal and I haven't heard of any magic solution on this. 

We have all felt the dips when we really felt this should all be happening faster, no one told us that it woudl take this long and what about all the new aches and apins developing - as our body adjusts to the new pieces, the new gait we have and as all the muscles learn to work the way they are supposed to again. Grrrhhh ... it wasn't supposed to be like this.

Hang in there as it gets better and one day the progress will start accelerating and you will feel great, although you may take a step or two backward until things stabilize for good. I am a few weeks ahead of you and just reached this stage. 

Don't be too disheartened - it will get easier and better. But remember that full recovery takes close to a year. As I will get my second hip done in late summer, I am trying not to multiply this estimate!

Come back and share successes and if needed, bend an ear. There are lots of us here who can emphasize.

Hugs,  

i too had very real problems with my muscles post surgery. Finally i was able to get physio sessions with the hospital.

They had put me on the waiting list as non-urgent so was some months.

Thank goodness I ended up with a really good physio.

She not only had me doing the exercises she taught me how to feel for the muscles working, that in itself was a huge relief to know the muscle was twitching even though I was not getting much result, that came with practice and 2 - 4 times a day of trying to get the mucles going.

A month later the physio was amazed at my progress, i was amazed I had made sooo much progess.

Keep up the good work, it does come

From a fellow double hippie, in Australia

Hi Lora, 

warm welcome to this wonderful  forum of hippies where we share our personal stories and experiences - 

I agree with previous posts - this surgery is major and a lot of healing is taking place - if you have not done so and are up to it (pretty intense), have a look at the youtube video - there is also an animated version - there is so much involved and definitley not "just a procedure" - well, not to us, the patient ...

In addition to the physical, there is also a lot of emotional healing going on - 

be gentle with yourself and kind to your body - listen to her and allow healing to take place ---

big warm hug

renee

 

Dear Lora,

I had total hip replacement last June so it's been 6 months. Recovery has been slow and I'm aggravated to still walk with a cane. I had no idea it would take this long to recover, but I am getting strength back, going to a gym, and I am starting a dance class just to move a different way. Before surgery I wasn't using my muscles because of pain and I became very weak, so I finally realized that I just have to keep working at it. I'm not very good at doing exercises on my own, which is why I joined the gym and dance class. For me, recovery has been little baby steps and I hope to be without my cane soon. Don't give up!

For help with building that leg raise, here's a trick my physio taught me. Get a piece of resistance band, maximum strength for starters, long enough to hold both ends in your hands and loop comfortably around the bottom of the foot. Hold it just so that it is tight but not stretched at all. Raise the leg straight up and at the same time just increase the pressure/ pull back along the band so that it stretches just enough so that your hands are helping to lift the leg. It will take a bit of practice to get it just right. You want to let the resistance band only just have enough tension to support the leg without doing all the work for the muscle. 

At first the resistance band actually will do most of the work. But over time you'll be able to see that you need to help it a bit less. As this happens, trade down the strengths of the resistance band until you are on the weakest strength (it's yellow I think) or until you can lift without help. 

Hope that helps!