Front thigh muscle 'solid' causing limp...

I can't easily walk for miles around here. It is so hilly everywhere and no pavements, and cars racing by, it is also tipping down with gales pretty much every day! I am cycling at home, and exercising the legs, and walking around the house non stop and gardens when it is not raining. Not sure it is enough....maybe I need to be doing even more? It is quite difficult because I need to conserve some energy for the children, otherwise the evenings are hell to get through...I am always feeling like I a not doing quite enough to get this recovery completely over with, but I am sure we 'choose' or direct it as such, maybe it simply happens naturally.

I will keep doing the stretches defintely. I can cycle 10k now on my stationary bike and so I know the hip is really good, just the muscles are a disaster area.

Lets keep going one day it will be fine ~ thank you for your message

Take care with the cycling and don't push it too hard. I have a nasty feeling that it was cycling on a static bike that may have caused my thigh problem that I now have. I have been swimming cycling and fast walking most days of last week and have ended up with either a muscle tear or a loosening at the stem tip. Hoping it's the former.

I want to be rid of the crutch, rid of the whole damn thing! Can only feel grateful the hip seems to be okay and some resemblance of normal life has returned abeit very limited. This journey is a long one, but I guess once you are there, it is wonderful (I hope anyway!)

How are you?

I am glad that things are moving forward for you.  You have had such a rough journey, with glowering apparitions appearing in front of you in hospital,and allergic reactions to drugs that the hospital appeared incompetent to handle.  Has there been any progress on that front, yet?

I am now preparing for my first visit to the consultant on Monday.  I have prepared a list of questions, and a further list of medication, only one for a bad sleeping pattern, and my vitamins.   As I have said, this appointment effectively draws a line in the sand, and the whole process begins to become a reality, and not something that I read about, based upon other members of the site's experiences.  I am in it! 

Once that is over, and hopefully, I get an op date shortly after....  I can start putting things in place.  My apartment is not post op friendly, and all my rugs, etc., will have to go into my study where my daughter sleeps when she is here.  She will just have to sleep on top of everything - I don't think so!  She can have the cat in there with her, too!  Tallulah, my Maine Coon, want put up with that.  She only wants to sleep at the foot of my bed!

Will post again, following the appointment on Monday.

Gpod luck with your recovery, take it easy, you have had a difficult journey, and get that husband of yours to massage the painful areas with muscle rub.  It does help.

All the best to you,

Susie

At first I was happy to survive the operation, second I was happy to be pain free from bone pain, I promised to god if I could laugh and smile again with my children this would already be a success (I was in so much pain pre op I forgot how to sing or feel happy) I now sing like a canary in the sunshine, and I am quickly returning to be the person I was before this whole thing started....but this limp is making me worry quietly, and the fact I have started to rush again! Old habits die hard and all of that and I nearly slipped on the stairs....note to self I am NOT completely recovered yet.

The muscles are the only stopping me from the most hoped for goal of ridding oneself of the blasted crutch! Which I have began to hate with a passion.... I could limp on happily without it, but my physio said I will learn to walk badly, and that is a nightmare to correct further down the line....so I guess we keep going no matter the patience is waning somewhat today 

I promise keep going! I was in the same boat about two weeks ago where I thought that I would not get rid of this limp! Luckily i was an ex professional footballer (not in the premier league unfortunately but i still keep in touch with a physio I knew very well and he just told me patience, stretching and plenty of walking!! He was right despite my negative thoughts!

I am not sure if you read my previous post to Colin but I was in Rome last weekend with my wife and we walked over 20 miles in two days - i know it sounds crazy but the more i walked the more i lost my limp and started to walk naturally even my wife noticed it. The next two days was pure agony (tight hamstring, groin, thigh and buttock) but by stretching and more walking on Wednesday it felt good again. I got up this morning and said to my wife that the hip is not as painful as it has been when i first wake up and managed to walk without a limp (i still think that some of it is in my head!).

Again another bit of valuable advice from my physio - it could take up to 9 months to get the muscles/tendons in the thigh region back to normailty because of the lack of exercise/stretching due to work committments (driving/sitting down).

I am the worlds worst for patience but I have to keep believing, every week it gets better

Same here, darling , in both thighs - strangely, the old new one (right) is stiffer than the new new one (left) - massages are good - 

I know it is getting old, but really, we are trying our best to walk properly -

I never would have thought that it is so tiring and how many muscle are involved in keeping me not only somewhat balanced but also walk - (you know: lift foot, heel to toe, finish step and engage arms and shoulders too) - 

I take my cane with me, but hold in in my hand so that I walk unaided .. Well, after some wobbling , I actually walk normal (I think) yeh !!!! 

BUT ...... the muscles ache - especially quads and groin ( what is it with the groin area?????) - 

Do you use crutch only outside?    Can you use a stick or cane instead? 

Other thing I am dealing with, like you are : do I too little or too much ?

 I honestly don't know - 

So windy here and rain on its way .... definitely not doing too much today 

Rome sounds amazing, and that trip must have made you feel very happy ~ did you fly there? I have a holiday booked in March and was thinking through the options at the airport etc. Rome is a beautiful place, we have only been once, but Italy is a never ending treasure chest of wonders and you could spend years there and never see everything.

I was very fit before this happened, and can't wait to return to serious sports and the gym. Have you been on a running machine walking at all?

I dont know whether to give it a try...in the mid winter it is hard to go out for very long walks. Today we have 60mph winds! 

I will keep going and try and keep the stretches up...and hopefully there will be a breakthrough. Has your limp almost gone?

I am under some pressure to get back to work too, but I can't possibly do so until I am off the crutches and can sit down with the my leg on the floor for hours at a time. Sometimes it swells. How have you managed? 

I was 50% weight bearing when I left hospital on two crutches. After 10 days my PT took one crutch off me to walk with when out and about and try not to walk with it indoors! After 20 days my crutch was taken away to encourage me to walk more - I walked almost 5 miles a day without a crutch and with a very heavy limp but the more I walked the more my muscles strengthened - but it has taken time! I could not drive for more than an hour without my leg hurting after 6 weeks. I personally thought they took the crutches away to early but they explained that you have to build the muscles/tendons up as soon as possible. My inner thigh tendon is still knotted (so when I am laying on my back I struggle raising my leg 6 inches of the ground) so I have to massage with my finger and thumb with the stretches each morning - gradually it will go I have been told.

i have travelled to my London office this morning and I am not going to lie, everytime i get up from a sitting position i have a limp (it is not sore and I am not sure if it physcological!) but I stretch for a minute in public and then walk properly. Again since my last post 20 minutes ago I got up out of my office chair to make a cuppa and again no pain, slight ache and I limp but same again I just stretch and walk properly!!

I do use a road bike and a stepper at home but the main stretches and exercises are squats (both legs and just managing to use operated leg), rubber band (or tyre inner tube) over both knees and walk sideways (the tension is excellent for buttocks and thigh muscle). I dont do it regularly but if you can try and spend 30 minutes in swimming pool and walking forwards, backwards and sideways - very good again for tension.

My consultant said it would be 12 months before he would like me to kick a football around again and to play squash. 5-6 months before playing competitive golf again - so it is a patience game I guess and keep working hard.   

She said I would learn to walk badly and continue that way.... Do you think it has helped walking without your crutch? Has it strengthened your muscles? Would love to know.

I am so irritated using the crutch I often just abandon it altogether inside. Against all advice.

I think the medical profession has a lot to learn about consistency.

how can we ever believe what they tell us?

Graham

Personally I would try without crutch, keep stretching, exercising, walking and massage your thigh areas - it will come.

We went away for the weekend, and during my massage the therapist mentioned she was a nurse and worked in the spa part time. I showed her my walking without a crutch and she said to ditch it too, stating that the muscles need to be used to get stronger which won't happen if the crutches are used too much!! She said my consultant would go mad if he knew I was still on crutches given I can walk reasonably well without them....not sure what he would say in reality but it did give me plenty to think about.

So I have decided to walk around the house without aids, and use one crutch when outside. It seems like a compromise.I hope this will work!

It just makes me question all advice I am given when they can't even have some collective agreement on something so simple...

Thanks for your post Hammer, it is really helpful for me, and gives me hope! 

I have to admit i had some pain in my outer thigh yesterday but continued to walk and gradually throughout the day it disappeared. I think it is just the muscles/tendons in there gradually getting back to normal but again I was walking without a limp after stretching!

I am just ordering a stepper ~ what a brilliant idea!! Thank you!! It is just what is needed in mid winter. It is wild outside and I am not keen on battling the winds and rain....and cycling uses other muscles...I am really grateful thanks for your ideas. Keep them coming if you think of anymore! x

PS What stretch do you do when getting up out of bed? I find that is the worst....