2 years and 2 months post-op right hip, 1 year and 7 months post-op left hip.
Been a while since I last posted about my hip journey. Since last time, the following things have happened
- I finished my degree! Woop woop!
- I was offered a job (on the last day of my last placement too!)
- Had a ma-hoosive flare-up of hip and SIJ (sacro-iliac joint) pain, the worst I've had for a long time. Properly debilitated for a good couple of weeks, back using a crutch and all the associated misery and tears
- Recovered from aforementioned flare-up - thanks some helpful physio advice and gentle lumbar spine exercises
- Started my new job
- Spent Christmas with the fam
Anyway, here is what is good hip-wise recently:
Being on my feet a lot - tiring but this is inevitably helping with general functional hip strength in day to day activities
Using my glutes more! I'm making a conscious effort to activate my glutes when I'm standing (or driving, or sitting...!), and I am often feeling them tired the next day. My flatmate was very amused when I came home one Friday very excited, exclaiming "I've got DOMS in my glutes!"
My line manager and other team members I've told have been supportive of having reasonable adjustments in the job. I actually wrote a list for myself of the things I find tricky and then wrote what might be helpful to tackle them and it helped me explain things.
I am now mostly off anti-inflammatories (Naproxen) in general and not taking any other pain relief like Paracetamol.
Heres what is not so good:
I'm still not running :-( I just don't think my left hip is strong enough yet, and when I started trying little runs in the summer it was causing pain
I'm currently getting pain in flexion in the left hip, so anything like squatting or sitting too low seems to be causing problems, rather frustrating as I was beginning to be able to squat a bit more for various activities like reaching the bottom cupboard in the kitchen, or squatting to talk to patients on the ward etc.
My adductors seem to want to have their own little strop at the moment. They, along with my hip flexors seem to be quite over-active, as described in a previous post (click here if interested) and that is causing pain
What I am doing to tackle it all:
Pacing. I'm actively trying to do less physical activities at weekends like walking far or strenous house chores, for example. The first few weeks at my job I haven't been very good at adapting things where I've needed to, due to trying to settle in and some hectic days on the ward, however I plan to be better at this!
Taking time to do stretches, particularly stretching my adductors, quads and hip flexors. In the evenings and taking five minutes during the day if possible I find helpful.
Strengthening. I'm currenly focussing on hip abductor strengthening exercises and glute strengthening to combat the over-activity of the quads, hip flexors and hip adductors. The evidence-base talks a lot about optimal loading rather than stretching for tendinopathies like this, however, perhaps when muscles are compensating with hip dysplasia it's good to look at targetting the compensating strategy too? (That is my not-very-experienced analysis of it, so please readers consult a more experienced clinician for personal advice!)
Minimising squatting activities where possible, for the next few weeks, to see if it helps this whatever-it-is settle down.
I am on the waiting list now for screw-removal from left pelvis, it might be a few months until I get a date, but that's fine by me. Practically cried at my last clinic follow-up as it was right in the middle of the horrible SIJ flare-up, but my consultant was very understanding, and I do think it takes time for the biomechanics to adjust to both hips being in a different position than previously.
It's important to add though, that even with my complaints of the above, the pain I experience these days is infinitely better than what I experienced pre-op. Very happy about that.
