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10 Year Anniversary
2/23/2012
Just finished having my x-rays checked by McMinn (his
Centre, actually,
Chandra did the review and he was part of the team that did
my surgery).
I had the original operation on August 1, 2001. This makes
me one of the
longest-lived surface hippies. What was the result?
Excellent!
Implant is right where it should be, chromium levels are
normal (and
that's with me taking a supplement). I've been training as
hard as ever
with powerlifting, martial arts even did a couple months of
sprint
training for the heck of it.
Thanks to everyone on the list (old guard) who helped me in
my early
days. Not sure how many of you there are.
Cheers,
Jeff G
rBHR Aug. 1, 2001
Mr. McMinn
Eight Year Anniversary
I really don't post much nor do I read the list much either.
However, I
was one of the earlier ones to get a resurfacing. It
happened on Aug. 1,
2001, so I am now on my 8th year.
Generally surfacehippy caters to people who are
contemplating surgery.
Those of us who are well past it now don't have a lot to
offer, since
our information is a bit too old. On top of that, it has
gotten so
loaded with trolls and flamers it's just a chore to read
it. Anyway....
Read up on my story here:
http://www.jqhome.net/hip.
I also have a webpage with some of my conditioning on it:
http://www.jqhome.net/taiso.
How is it working? Fine! Meaning that I can basically
ignore it. That's
real progress! For those of you who don't know, I am a
very active
athlete (martial arts, conditioning) and workout very
hard every day of
the week. I just got back from a weekend of training
martial arts. No
hip issues -- the rest of me hurts, but that is just
fine.
A few observations from someone who is further along the
long haul:
* Be patient if you are within a couple of years post-op.
Yes you want
your life back now, but it will take some time.
* If you want to really get it right, walk barefoot on
uneven ground (like a grassy field). This is the simplest
way to fix a lot of gait/posture problems. You might want to
get some ultra-thin shoes like these .
Some people claim Masai
footware does it which mimics walking on sand).
These will help your toes grab a bit, bit still being a
shoe your gait
mechanics will not be affected nearly as much. This is
not something to
run off immediately post-op and do. Give it some time and
when you feel
pretty strong and want to take it to the next level, give
it a try.
* Healthy people without hip surgery usually have lousy
hamstring/glute
activation.
* Healthy people after about middle-age have shortened
psoas muscles
(front of the hip) and have a hard time standing up
straight. Between
this and the first point, it means that your average
person has poor hip
mechanics and therefore poor posture.
* Knee, ankle and lower back pain are most likely caused
by poor hip
mechanics. (Sure, you can have disk issues or degnerative
OA of the
knees, but most people with pain have neither of these.)
Generally if
part of you is weak, the load gets transferred to the
next joint up or
down the kinetic chain. So a bad hip means you *will* get
either back of
knee pain.
* Fixing poor hip mechanics is hard. Running (treadmills
in particular
will actually screw up your mechanics, since the belt
pulls your foot
through on each step, allowing your entire posterior
chain to shut off),
weight machines (ok for rehabbing prime movers, but you
can cheat
massively and even I find getting halfway decent form
difficult), biking
(works quads pretty well, but not much glut work unless
you get the toe
clips and actually practice using the gluts at the bottom
of the stroke)
etc. will not do it. You need to move you in 3
dimensions. It is
possible to fix it by swimming, and by swimming I mean
actually doing
the strokes with correct mechanics, not splashing around
in the water.
This has a really steep learning curve, taking a good 6
months before
most people can really swim. It is well worth it. Free
weights are a
good bet, but it is rare to find anyone who can coach you
adequately
(FWIW most "trainers" in gyms do not know what they are
doing and should
be avoided). The only sure way is to get your legs doing
what they do
- move you over uneven ground. I suggest... walking
barefoot.
Jeff G
Aug. 1, 2001
Mr. McMinn
Seven year anniversary
August 01, 2008
Amazingly enough, seven years ago today I got surfed. That
seems, well, unreal. So here is a quickie report on
me:
I've had no issues with the hip after about the first year
and a half.
Up until then, it was, I now realize, pretty standard
rehab. Yes it hurt
at times, yes I was down in the mouth but post-op was so
much better
than pre-op it was worth it. Now post-post-op (??! what
else to call it)
is just as it should be.
Activities: I train about 2 hours a day, doing
conditioning, swimming
and running, then I do martial arts 3 or so times a week
(2 hours a
shot). I train hard and there are only a few things I do
as an
accommodation -- mainly avoid certain funky leg techniques
in martial
arts. I also run on an elliptical trainer. This vastly
lessens the
impact on the hip and also knee (which is hinky and will
probably be the
next joint to get replaced at some point). My toy for
myself this year
has been a weight vest for training. In point of fact,
I'm in simply
fabulous condition (about 7% body fat, ripped as all get
out, you know).
Oh, the scar isn't that noticeable unless I point it out
to people.
Folks are consistently amazed when I tell them I have an
artificial
joint and used to be a basket case.
So, I'm not the person to ask about failures. Indeed,
mine's been an
outstanding success up to this point. No movement of the
implant, bone
density is up, ROM is good and strength is excellent.
My advice? If you need it and are a candidate, get it. A
lot of the pain
people have post-op comes from muscles and other soft
tissue. Avoiding
PT will just drag this out (again, assuming there is no
other pathology
involved).
Cheers,
Jeff G
rBHR Aug. 1, 2001
Mr. McMinn
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