The Art Of Walking

My one week follow up with the surgeon's assistant went well. The short story is I'm ahead of schedule in range of motion. At this stage of the game range of motion is the most important thing. I'm better than before surgery. I get the biggest grin when the docs or PT turns my hip into positions that would have brought tears to my eyes two weeks ago.

I spent the first few days close to bed. I'm restricted to short periods of sitting and walking with crutches is a pain in the ass. I've had several stints on crutches for other injuries but was non weight bearing. When you can just swing the bad leg is pretty easy to build up some speed on crutches. I am supposed to walk with a normal gait and use the crutches to offload the weight. I'm trying to be hyper aware of my core muscles and how I use my pelvis. People with this hip injury spent years learning how to walk incorrectly to protect the bad hip. Now I have a few weeks to unlearn all those habits. I'm really motivated because I won't be able to ditch the crutches until I can walk correctly. 

I have a few exercises to do hourly and some passive exercises with the assistance of a helper 2x daily. There are just 3 hourly exercises and they are really easy on paper. I contract my glutes, abs, and quads ten seconds each x 10. Now that my hip is fixed I can feel how crooked I was. I can't wait to see how I feel when I get back in the saddle. I'll finally have even seat bones! 

I'm really excited for next week when can start doing more myself. At the two week mark I can start weaning off crutches. It's strange to feel so much better that pre surgery and have so many restrictions. It's tempting to test out all the positions that used to kill me before. I have to admit I've gotten a bit wild here and there but my muscles get angry before I can get too crazy.