Post-Surgery

It's getting hot and humid out there--summer is right around the corner here in So FL!

I finally had surgery on my hip last Wednesday.  I saw my surgeon this morning; he said it all went very well.  He removed 16-17 little loose "bodies" and the inflamed lining.  I also had a labral tear (tear in the ring of cartilage around joint cavity) that he repaired.  I'm on crutches and have to wear a brace that keeps my leg from abducting or extending back too far.  I am also not supposed to internally rotate my leg (the labral tear was in the inside front area).  Physical therapy will begin next week--dr said six weeks, then another six weeks of more intense PT.  Then...  I can begin to get back to my running!  Yay!
My runners are doing great.  Several of them ran a local 10k this past weekend and I wanted to go.  But my husband had a terribly bad cold, bad enough for him to spend most of Sunday in bed, and I didn't think I was up to driving over to the race by myself as I was just four days post-op.  I want to get some more video of them.  There are some 5k's coming up I will go to.  I want to get some racing video and some doing things like form drills and techniques.

Here I am with my brace on...

It's All Good

I have some catching up to do...

A LOT of walking, physical therapy, and yoga throughout February, in Florida. Physical therapy finished up, but I am to do all the exercises on my own, which I WAS doing... until coming to L.A. to visit my pregnant daughter and her husband. She's 18 weeks and I got to go with them to the ultrasound appointment and... it's a boy! We've been baby shopping and having LOTS of fun!

I was in Wisconsin all of last week; not terribly cold, and I did get out a couple days for some walking, but mostly I spent time on the elliptical. The hip/leg are somewhat better. I didn't realize just how bad my hip was. Just running a few miles, the other muscles take over and can handle it, but jack up the mileage (like I was doing), and everything breaks down. The specific exercises I did (and am supposed to continue), plus the yoga, really show me where I am weak, and thus what I need to work on.

So, it's all good. Being balanced is soooo important--that is what I am learning.

Piriformis Syndrome and PT

I decided not to wait two weeks before going to a doctor; saw an orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday. First, let me say that I've had ongoing pain since the hip surgery over two years ago, after almost three months of physical therapy and both the surgeon and PT giving me the okay to start running again (see first blog - Aug 16 '09). The pain would not be too bad, but would get worse as I would try to move up my mileage and/or speed. So, I would back off a while and start again, only to be stopped by the pain again. I saw an orthopedic surgeon in Wisconsin who told me to stop running and take Aleve for a month, then start back again slowly. I did that. My hip/leg eventually blew up again. A few months later, I saw an orthopedic surgeon in South Florida who told me to stop running and take Aleve for a month, then start back again slowly. I did it again. Hip/leg eventually blew up again. For the past year and a half I have been going through this cycle.

The doctor I saw on Wednesday thinks my problem is piriformis syndrome. I have piriformis tendinitis, high hamstring tendinopathy, sciatica, and some hip bursitis. AND, he told me something new. After explaining everything to him and him examining me, my movement, flexibility, what hurts when... (the two other doctors barely touched me--very poor examination)... he said that they are seeing people who have had hip arthroscopic surgery (like me) who develop this piriformis syndrome; people who haven't been rehabbed correctly after surgery.

Soooo, he prescribed aggressive PT for the next eight weeks, AND I am seeing a PT who is a runner who treats runners. YAY! I have hope!! And, it makes sense... I have been able to run just fine for miles and miles with not too much trouble or pain, and then not be able to run at all for four or five days--too much pain.

Anyway, I go tomorrow to my first PT session, so I will let you know!