TLDR: The journey from recovering from my hip labrum surgery over the last year has been a long one! It has been a lot of ups and downs. Healing is not linear though! My hip is continuing to heal and I am still on this journey of healing and getting to a point where I trust my hip fully again to do heavier workouts and running, but it is still improving and getting there!
On November 23, 2022, I woke up at 4:30am so that I could go take a shower before my surgery (doctor protocol because you have to wash with an antiseptic soap to help to prevent infection), put on my funny joke PT Holiday shirt, and headed up to Glastonbury for my 6am surgery time. I was lucky enough to have one of my best friends drive me to and from the surgery and on the way there, we listened to music that helped me to calm down. I was definitely very nervous. I had had surgeries before, but this was going to be the most detailed one I have ever had and the one with the longest recovery. I knew that I was going to walk into the surgery and come back out on crutches.
The mental preparation for the surgery was the worst of it honestly, and especially once I was in the surgery center and just waiting to go. The nurses and doctors were great though in helping to keep me calm and take care of me and walk me through everything they were doing. And then before I knew it, surgery was over and I got to go home.
Throughout the first 6 weeks I had a few precautions that I had to follow, to make sure that I didn’t do any damage to my hip. I wasn’t allowed to put any weight on the foot, I couldn’t bend or twist past a certain degree, and I couldn’t stay in one position for too long. I was so blessed to have one of my best friends who was able to help me out with life for those initial weeks before I was literally back on both of my feet again.
I was out of work from the end of November 2022 until about halfway through January 2023, when I started to ease back into seeing my amazing clients part time! I started off with a few hours a week so that I didn’t overdo it and injure myself. I also continued to focus on my physical therapy.
Over the last year, and I truly cannot believe it has been a year already, I have worked on my physical therapy, and getting back to doing the activities that I love. This has included not only the actual physical portion of it as well, being able to actually do certain things, and the mental piece of things as well - believing and trusting that I can do it and that my hip can do it as well. Physical therapy is more than just the physical part of it, it includes working through the fear and the anxiety of getting back to different activities as well. Part of the difficulty is that the last time I did certain things before the surgery (running, for example), I would have pain when I did run. So I have to convince myself that I’m not going to have pain and trust that I have done my rehab well and that Ii won’t reinjure myself by running or doing any other heavy activities. I know that my body is strong and that I can get back to everything, but sometimes our brains convince us otherwise. So it has been a process, but I have gotten back to many things that I want to and am continuing to improve on being able to do those things regularly and more comfortably mentally. It’s a work in progress!
There have been a lot of ups and downs with my own physical therapy too! I had a few falls and other injuries and some other illnesses and a lot of life changes this year - all which had an impact on my recovery process! The falls were not because of my hip, but it still played a mental impact on my willingness to do higher level activities since my biggest fear was falling and hurting myself! And it didn’t feel great on my hip when I landed on it! Despite the ups and downs with my rehab process, there has still been progress overall! Remember - PROGRESS IS NOT LINEAR!
Throughout the year, there have been periods of time where I was more consistent with my rehab than others. Just because I am a physical therapist, and I know what to do, it doesn’t mean that I was or am always “good” at doing what I am supposed to do. Life happens and things come up and things can get put on the back burner. I wish I could say that I didn’t get frustrated with the process and that I followed it strictly and perfectly, but that isn’t the truth. And, it’s not done yet! I am still working on strength and balance and getting my hip back to 100%. This recovery is a long process in general for this specific hip surgery, especially because of the non-weight bearing and movement restrictions initially, and it is one that I will continue on. I want to continue to get back into running more and more consistently and strength training and just moving more in general.
I will also continue on with strengthening and keeping my hips strong and my core strong and stable, to help to prevent future injuries from happening. I am prone to different tears because of some health conditions that cause hypermobility and other ligaments and muscular complications. And since I have already had one major tear that interfered with life and caused chronic pain for a long time, I am at a higher risk for this happening again, and I don’t want it to happen again! So I want to continue with my rehab and my strengthening and continue to do everything I can to prevent another injury and the need for another surgery!
I could talk about this for so long and if there are specific things that you want to know about my recovery that I had to work on, did work, and am still working on, I am happy to talk more about it! Please feel free to ask questions about it - any way that I can help I am happy to!
If there is anything specific that you would like to learn about, comment or email me and I am more than happy to talk more about it!
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Dr. Katie
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