Author: Coppi

It happened yesterday.  My first official “Run”.  Run is in quotes, because I am not sure the speed at which I was moving actually should be called running.  But all the same, it was a big occasion.  My first run without walking.  6.5 Months Post THR.  I went out with the mindset that I was going to try to run 30 minutes and I did 40.  So, a very positive experience.

It has been two weeks since I started to run at all.  I started with run 1 minute and walk 1 minute.  And although I still feel awkward running, I feel a positive progression.  Getting out and running actually makes my hip and the surrounding muscles feel better than if I did nothing.

Keeping things tame, taking it slow, relatively flat soft surface of the rail trail.

Positive about keeping the progression going.… (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

So it has been 6 months since my THR and I decided that it was time to try and go for my first run.  It was a mixed bag.  Honestly, at first, it felt like I had never run before.

I decided to ease into things…so I chose to alternate 1-2 minutes of running ( if you can call it that…it was very slow) with 1 minute or so of walking.  I made it 50 minutes with about 30 of it running and 20 of it walking.

Not sure what I was expecting, but I was fine with this as a starting point.

The bright side is that I did not feel any of the anterior pain, which was very much the case on every single run before the THR.

I did have pain on the lateral portion, which is where the surgery was done.  And that has been the focus of the majority of my pain and stiffness.  When speaking with the doc last time, he said that when they put the appliance in they abuse you muscles and tendons pretty badly to get it set.

My running will be all flat and all soft surface on the local rail trail, for a while.

My 6 month visit is 6/9, so I look forward to seeing how that goes.

I am very thankful to have been able to get out today and run.

I have 5 months to get into shape enough to complete IM FLA ( # 13) and that will allow me to hold my spot for Kona 2017.

Any portion of the race that I can run instead of walk will be hopeful for this year with the hopes of being able to actually run at Kona in 2017.

Still a long way to go, but those first steps were most likely the hardest and I look forward to the progression.… (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

So far, Recovery has been more slow and more painful than I imagined it was going to be.  I see my doctor later this week for the first time since the surgery.    At that point, it will have been 5 weeks out.

Listening to what my doctor and my PT told me, I have done what I consider to be almost nothing for the past 5 weeks.  I am in PT, where I am doing work in the water, but still, for someone that did IM Fla, 2 months ago, I am doing next to nothing.  My orders have been to have no resistance and no go more than 20 minutes.  I was even ordered to not go overboard and start to do killer upper body workouts, as that would take away from resources that would assist in the healing of my hip.

I want to be like Rusty, walking 8 miles just a few weeks out? But I also want to recover for the long term, as I am still young enough ( new hip on my 56th birthday, 12/1/15) to have a long athletic career ahead of me.

So far, the pool feels best.  I have a treadmill at home as well as my tribike on a computrainer.  But I have done minimal 20 minute workouts.  So, it is hard for me to judge if I am being lame by doing so little or if I am being smart and prudent by taking it super slow and taking the long view.

Either way, I am looking forward to the doctor visit, as I am hoping he ups the anti a bit.

December was a brutal month for us.  Me having my hip done and my wife having a really hard time recovering from carpal tunnel surgery in her left ankle.  She had her surgery about a month before me and is still suffering with a wound that keeps opening and getting infected.

Sleep had been extremely difficult.  Once I was off the pain meds, my new hip would wake me up every night.  So much so, that have … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

The Weekend brought big developments.  I am two weeks post OP today and was released from Home PT and I start outpatient PT in two days.

Over the last two days, I relearned how to walk!!!  A huge step in the right direction, no pun intended.

I dropped the one crutch and I am now using a walking stick.  I can walk without it, but I walk in a better position with the walking stick, so I am going to use it a while.

Lots of walking in my immediate future.  I will take it slow and build gradually.

I am enjoying the process of taking it slow and rebuilding the stabilizers that were weak due to my limited range of motion.

My birthday present of the THR is beginning to pay off!

My wife said she is not going to be able to recognize me if I go back to racing IM, as she could always locate me by the turned out knee and the leg that caught wind like a sail.

Be well!… (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

The first ten days have been a series of highs and lows.  I already posted regarding the first 5 days, so I will stick with the latter portion of my post op experience.

First of all, everything seems much longer than it is (was) in reality.  It seems like it has been ten weeks or more since the surgery and it has only been 10 days.  And it seems like a year ago since Ironman Florida, but it has only been a month.  So, I try to remind myself to be patient, even though it is difficult.

I also have to remind myself of how truly difficult a thing my body is going through and allow my body to do what it needs to do.  The past three days I think I have slept 18+ hours a day and I am someone who rarely sleeps more than 6.  But it just all caught up with me and it’s ok.  Give my body what it needs.

I feel an important point to bring up to those going into this is something I was not really aware of.  It is secondary concern to many other things, but still a big factor in your overall general comfort.  CONSTIPATION.  It seems a side effect of all of the pain meds, both in the hospital and after, is constipation.  My wife is a nurse and knows all about this, so she started me off on one stool softener, then to another and finally to milk of magnesia.  After 8 days of nothing, it was great to have 3 days of movement.  A little thing that you take for granted, but needs to be dealt with during recovery.

Rehab, I have been reminded, is a painful thing.  No matter what you did physically prior.  It is disheartening when you can not do movements that seem so simple, but are difficult and sometimes painful.  So it is important to play the game of balancing pain meds enough to allow you to rehab, but at the same time ween from them asap.  There are certain movements that are … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

On my birthday, Dec 1, 2015, I had my right side, THR completed.  The procedure was completed with a spinal (morphine), which worked great.  I do not remember a thing about the surgery and I had no nausea afterwards.  I thought there was no way I was getting out of bed on Day 1, but I quickly learned that progress comes relatively quick, even if it seems very distant at the time.  I recall feeling that my leg and butt were crazy glued to the bed and I would never be able to move. But with the assistance of a walker, I was able to go for a short little stint in the room.  Day two, they took away the walker and had me use crutches.  The main reason for that was to prepare me for home.  I live in a very old farm house, with shallow stairs.  Since I told them that I intended on being able to get up those stairs when I get home, PT decided crutches were my best bet.  Day Three, some more PT, teaching me to do stairs and I was sent home.  This was basically 48 hours from the time of the operation.

Home is interesting, because my wife decided to have ankle/foot surgery two weeks before my hip.  She GREATLY underestimated the toll the surgery would have on her and she needs to be non-weight bearing for 6 weeks.  So, I needed to buck up pretty quick.  The first day home, I made it up our crazy stairs.  Went up and down a couple of times.

Day 4, Home health nurse had me do some exercises.

Day 5, I took an unassisted shower and dressed myself.  I noticed how hugely swollen my right leg is, so I have been even more diligent about raising my legs.

Do I pain, certainly.  But I am using half of what they suggested pain wise because the pain med are causing constipation.  Nothing has happened on that front since before surgery.  Have taken the stool softeners each day, but no action yet on that front.  Also … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

Hippy birthday to me!!!!!!

I celebrated my 56th Birthday by getting a right THR.  The day went well and this evening i moved from the bed to the chair 10 feet away.

Way more difficult than i ever expected.  But the spinal worked awesome and i did not feel a thing, no post op stomach issue and the morphine is a dream!

I understand tomorrow will very tough

the doc said the hip was worse than we even thought.  There was bone spurs and additional damage beyond what photos showed

the last few weeks have been very painful from doing nothing, which always hurts me more than moving.  But i was recovering from ironman fla a fee eeeks ago, so rest was a good thing, especially pre op.

While contemplating, i am amazed that my mind and heart trumped my physical joint issues to allow do 12 ironmons and qualify for Kona world championships.

but i am  looking forward to having a normal life and the simples pleasures that come with it.

My new hip is ceramic ball in plastic cup. We made that decision based upon durability with the lifestyle i lead.  We shall see how it goes and i am excited about the journey.  I will try to attach a photo if i can figure it out.thank you hip runner family for your love and support! ❤️ Coppi

 … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

I am curious about how much down time people had before running again.  My doctor really does not want me to run at all, but has come to the realization that it will happen.  Therefore, he advised that I not run for a good 9 months post op to give the joint time to settle in.

I know that each scenario and every body is different, but I would like to hear about how long it took some of you to start running and then to start racing.  And the effects of same on your hip.

Thank you to this community for your support!

I am already getting very nervous about the downtime.… (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

It has been a long time in coming.  I have pushed through the pain for more than a decade when I was hit by a truck on my bike and my hip pain started.

I was at my peak when it happened, doing Lake Placid 12:20 and ready to go sub 12 that year.  I retired and made a comeback of sorts, doing 10 races since that year in LP, which was my second.

In the past few years, my right hip has been exponentially worse each year to the point where this year was a bit of a disaster race wise.  I did LP without being able to run for 4-6 weeks before the race.  I managed to finish on a very hot mid 80’s day.  This past Saturday, I went to IMFLA.

The swim was way tougher than I expected.  I was actually to do more running training for this race. I squeaked out a few long runs up to 2.5 hours on a rail trail with at least one other run a weak.  But the training runs were sometimes very painful.  At least I had the bike, which I managed to do ok training on.

In Florida, I was doing pretty well, averaging 18 mph for the first 50.  But for the first time ever during a race, I started to feel hip pain during the bike.  Things went downhill from there at that point and I was ready to bag the race at T2 after sitting in the tent for 10 minutes, trying to ease my hip pain and cool off from a brutally hot race day.  I decided to go out of T2 and look for my wife to discuss dropping out, something I have never done before.  I have finished every race I have ever started.  12 for 12 IM’s. Not all pretty, but I managed to survive, which is always an accomplishment as there are so many things that go wrong when you are healthy.  That goes up exponentially when you are racing 10 IM’s needing a THR.

Well,  never found my wife … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

Coppi- About me-Hello everyone in hip runner land.  I write to you from VT, where I am doing doing a 6 hour indoor bike trainer workout, in preparation for Ironman FLA in 5 weeks.

A bit about myself, I am 55 yo, and IM FLA will be my 12th IM.

I did my first IM at age 42 and was doing well, when I was hit by a truck and knocked across a highway.  Messed my up bad.  I took a couple years off of triathlon and thought that was the end of it for me.  But I discovered ART and was able to get enough range of motion in my hip, mainly due to the efforts of ART Chiropractor, John Asthalter in Breckenridge, CO.  With his assistance, I reentered to tri world and am now going on 10 IM since that accident, all with hip pain.

I know that I am bone on bone and have known it for some time.  I put off THR    on my right hip and just toughed it out.  I actually retired from triathlon a few years back, but then made a comeback when this Legacy program came about, where if you complete 12 IM’s, you qualify for Kona.

So, I have done two a year for the past three years now and I will have my 12 completed in November in Florida.

I did a relay running race with my wife in May and the roads were very uneven,  with big crowns.  That put me in great pain and I basically had to take off the month before this summer’s Lake Placid, so that did not go so well, but I completed the race.

Training for Florida has been going better than it did for Lake Placid, but still the runs are painful…and I never know what is going to happen day to day.  One day I can run an hour and a few days later, I can’t run 20 minutes.

I have the usual issues that I assume I share with some of you.  Hard to put on shoes and pants, trouble … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)