u/RandomDragon314

I am on my second day post op for labral reconstruction/augmentation, and impingement bone shaving of cam/pincer/iliac spine (that last one was a surprise, we never discussed iliac but I imagine surgeon was concerned it would cause a re-tear).

Surgery and the day after were painful but mostly ok. But last evening and this morning, I can’t even take a step without it being an ordeal. It is so painful to move my op leg, I had been sliding it on the floor (with crutches), and now I can’t even manage that, I’m using my toes to inch my foot forward. I suspect it’s a combo of me shifting around a lot in bed to get comfortable and the hospital drugs wearing off.

I was expecting to move slowly and painfully, but this is kind of next level. Did anyone else have this experience? Tell me it gets better soon!

Help me not need help getting in and out of bed and onto a pillow asap! Lol my spouse is going to be exhausted lifting my leg so many times when I need a bathroom trip, and they are only teleworking this week anyway. So I need to figure this out. I’m keeping my op leg propped on the entire length of a king pillow, so even if I get my body on the bed, there is still another obstacle.

I have a leg lifter tool (hurts to pull in toward my body to do the lift) and have tried hooking with my good foot (hard on the back), but both hurt if I lift more than to just shimmy. What do you all do? My bed is close to chair height, though a bit taller, so I can sit on the edge with my feet on the floor.

I am constantly causing little twinges and pains doing this, which does not sound like a good idea. I have a really hard time not using my op leg, at least a little. I hate asking spouse for things every 5 minutes. He can help me, but he is also working (2 flight down).

Tomorrow’s the day. I have some meals prepped, snacks in convenient places, laundry and dishes are done, house is as clean as it’s going to get, upright stationary bike is in place, I have some audiobooks downloaded, and all my assorted post-op tools are here and ready to go. Picked up all my meds, printed out the instructions for spouse, and stashed them all in a bin with a notepad to keep track of times.

What do I need to know about coming home/day 1?
I was thinking of bringing a small fleece blanket to pad the seatbelt, since a regular pillow seems unwieldy. I already use a wedge cushion in the car.
No idea what to wear to the hospital, they said loose shorts are easiest, but I will probably want pants at home since I’ll be icing, so maybe loose yoga pants? I don’t want to have to change. For shoes, I plan to wear crocs. I’ve been wearing woxers (women’s boxers) with a 5inch inseam because I hate how the leg holes on regular women’s underwear irritate my tendons, but I suspect they won’t work with the bandages. So I guess I need to use something more standard. :/ At least I don’t have to use a brace.

What am I forgetting? I’m basically just bringing a few personal items (ID and such), a couple questions written down for spouse to ask afterwards, and a glasses case so they don’t get smooshed when I take them off. This is outpatient, so I go home same day. A bit nervous since I have terrible low back pain and suspect it will be difficult to manage post op.

I’m having surgery next week and need suggestions for entertaining easy-read series to keep me distracted from pain/fill time. Genre is less important than tone—I like lighthearted books with some laughs, maybe some action. I like scifi, mystery, fantasy is ok, action is good but don’t really care what kind. Snarky characters are a plus but not required. Nothing too think-y since I’ll be tired and drugged. Things I’ve read recently and liked:

Murderbot Diaries, The Martian, Project Hail Mary, Finlay Donovan, Louisiana Longshot, Six Wakes, Alexander X.

(edit: indie books are fine, but must be available in audio.)

I have surgery next week. My SO has a crazy work week and zero time, but I do have some time this week. How can I prep to make things easier for them to help me post-op? They will be teleworking for a week after my surgery, and will continue to do that as much as possible, but they have a really busy/high stress job, and we have a tween who will need attention and rides as well. We have no local family, it’s just us.

If you were the support person, what do you wish you’d had prepped ahead of time so you didn’t have ‘one more thing’ to manage?

Has anyone actually found a zero resistance/free spinning exercise bike? My PT specified fully upright, not folding, not a spin bike (for me, because I have back issues as well), and surgeon specified both upright and zero resistance. But that doesn’t seem to exist? I’m not strong, so low resistance definitely does not feel like no resistance to me, even pre-op.

Curious if anyone has found something, or if I’m going to have to roll the dice with something on Amazon and hope for the best.

How bad are stairs immediately post op?

My bedroom/main bath is on the 3rd floor of my townhouse. The kitchen/living room is on the 2nd floor, with a half bath 2 steps down. (first floor is just entryway). How long will the 2 steps be a barrier for me to do repeatedly every time I need the bathroom? It would be awesome to have access to the refrigerator and microwave (and freezer!), plus the living room gives me the opportunity to change positions for the day (couch, recliner, or whatever), but…those 2 steps. Big deal, or no?

First, does anyone do tai chi? How long post op before you could do the movements uninhibited? (I do Chen style—a lot of hip twisting, weight shifts, lower stances, etc. Flexibility is so important to me—these movements keep my low back feeling good. Without it, I struggle.)

Second, I have surgery in a couple weeks and am concerned, since my low/mid back muscles are my most painful symptom. During the day I’m mostly good, but night is hard because I can’t lie on my back. I flip from one side to the other, with and without a pillow between my knees, sit upright, sit slouched, flop around like a crazy person, try the floor for a bit, get up and walk around, do a bunch of stretches, etc. I usually wake up around 3-4 am and that is the end of my sleep for the night.

If anyone is similar, how did you manage post op? What low back stretches are safe/not painful in the early days? How hard is it to shift and reposition in bed?

I’m pretty flexible, so I have to move a lot to get meaningful relief. I do seated cat/cow (mostly cat), child's pose, standing and sticking one arm up then stretching to the side (a C stretch, plus a variation called apple picking where you don’t bend to the side much, it’s more reaching up with some arm twisting), hamstring stretch, putting a yoga ball on the bed and stretching forward or to the sides with my hands on the ball…and many others.

For daytime, I sit on a wedge cushion sometimes if I need hip relief, I imagine I’ll need to do that post op, but it isn’t great on my low back—sitting very upright with perfect posture and my spine stacked/feet flat on the floor with no wedge cushion feels best. Or slouching sideways on the couch, but slouching all day is painful. Getting up and walking around helps.

No idea how this is going to go when I’m less mobile.

(TLDR: What back stretches were safe in early post-op to manage crazy low/mid back muscle pain? And when post op could you do Chen style tai chi uninhibited?)

My ortho offers either the Game Ready rental ($400/2 weeks I think) or the Proventus wrap ($100), which is a hand pump for compression with gel ice packs (no idea how long they stay cold, or if they are mushy or solid). Another ortho I saw recommends the Breg Polar Wave ($389 with a hip pad), since it is like a cheaper version of the Game Ready that you actually get to keep. I’m leaning towards the Breg, but the Game Ready has some nice adjustment features and I hear it gets colder. Spouse was like ‘rent the good one and then buy the Breg!‘ and I’m like, ‘uhh, whyyyyy?!’ Lol

Would be interested to hear what people thought of any of these, particularly if you are noise sensitive, or a skinny woman (no idea if body type matters, are these even sized?).

Can any musicians on here recommend a casual community (ie. non-professional) orchestra to join? I’m a violinist who was once good (all-state musician, played through college, etc.), but now kind of stinks lol.

Specifically, I’m looking for something super low-key with minimal/no auditions and shorter rehearsals that is very convenient to Alexandria. I get terrible visual fatigue from music reading and night driving, so nearby and shorter rehearsals is key. I’d probably need to enlarge my music, but am happy to sit in the back with my own stand or memorize. Basically looking for a group to test this out with, since I haven’t played in an orchestra in years and not since my vision got flakey. I know there are a number of groups around, but given my limitations, recommendations appreciated.

I have a very large organic community garden plot in zone 7b (mid atlantic) which I’m currently using for veggies and some easy flowers/herbs. It’s my first year and the weed situation was a little nuts when I inherited the plot. It is an ongoing battle that I win (sort of) by not neglecting it for too many days in a row. But…I am having surgery later this summer and the ‘season’ I need to maintain the plot for goes into November. It needs to show signs of use/not total neglect if I want to have rights to it again next year (which I do, since I’ve put in so much work!). My surgery will limit my mobility and has a very long recovery time (like a year), so I will need a VERY low maintenance plan for next year as well.

Any ideas what I can do with the plot in late summer and just kind of leave on its own for long periods? And what will be super low maintenance for next year? I don’t want to plant anything that will invade other plots or be hard to remove. I’m going to have very limited mobility for a long while. Any advice for this newbie gardener are welcome!

Anyone else have a sudden insane improvement this week with the crazy hot weather? I usually can’t walk more than half a mile without my hip pinching/pulling/hurting, and stairs set off my quad/glute/tendons…but today I walked about 2.5 miles, ran up and down my stairs repeatedly without even thinking about it as I was doing stuff around my townhouse, and even did a couple test minutes on an elliptical with no issue. It’s a total mind f*ck and is really making me second guess surgery! But I suspect once it isn’t 110 degrees things will revert to their usual. Anyone else?

I asked about getting one to check for version issues prior to cam/pincer/labral tear correction. I was told surgeon would put in an order if I wanted one, and would look at the results, but didn’t think it would change their approach because they had all the info they needed from xray/mri.
Would you get one? It’s more radiation, but there is disagreement between surgeons on some of my measurements and I’m paranoid they’ll overcorrect and make me unstable. I have mild acetabular retroversion, possibly slightly low femoral anteversion, lcea 31-40 ( depending on who measures), and alpha angle 59-64 (depending who measures).

edit: also, do people usually get both hips scanned or just the operative one?

When did you all schedule your first PT appointment (protocol A)? They said within the first week, but I’m guessing not the first couple days. Should I just schedule for 1 week after surgery? Also, did you find it useful to do a session beforehand to learn crutch technique or PROM stuff for your partner to help with?

edit: On an unrelated note, anyone have instability pre-op (with labral tear/fai) that improved post-op without a capsular plication? Wolff seems not to do them very often, so I’m kinda nervous it’ll get worse. My leg shakes if I stand on one foot, and seems to collapse inward when I walk (not out of joint or anything it’s just unstable/difficult to walk on uneven ground or change directions as seamlessly as I used to).

I have bilateral labral tears with both cam and pincer impingement (alpha 59, lcea 31, tonnis=0 on the bad side). Dr. Google tells me this lcea is in normal range, but my records note a pincer divot. How nervous should I be that my lcea is already ‘normal’ prior to surgery? Is overcorrection a big risk? This is based on xray/3T MRI.

My ‘good’ side, which I am not treating, has the same alpha, same tonnis, but lcea 25.2…does it matter that it is so close to borderline if that isn’t the operative side?

(edited to be less long winded. Ha!)

Anyone use a hip brace after their surgery? How awful is it on the lower back? I have really bad low back pain and can’t sleep on my back at all, so I’m super nervous about how I’d manage this. Elevating my legs or pillow under my knees doesn’t help, I’d have to be kind of sitting up to make it work I think? Or side sleep. No idea if either of those will be possible.

Considering Ochiai as my surgeon and I think he requires it for 4-6 weeks, though not sure if it is 24/7. I expect it probably is except for PT and showering. :/

Has anyone had more than one type of procedure? Do they feel different once fully healed, assuming nothing fails? (or has anyone been told anything about this by their surgeons?). Feel free to comment on how ‘normal’ your hip feels if you’ve had only one procedure as well.

I had a PT tell me recently that their patients with labral repairs felt more like their pre-op selves after healing, while those with reconstructions or augmentations felt an oddness that took some getting used to after healing, even if their pain and function was totally fine.

Super curious about this if anyone can comment!

(I have different surgeons making different recommendations, so who I choose will likely determine which procedure I get—one said 99% sure will do augmentation, the other said either repair or replacement).

I’m going to rent a 3 wheel electric scooter from Gold Mobility. I am 5’5” and 105 lbs, so I’m inclined to rent the Go Go sport, but am worried about battery life. Should I just rent the Victory 10? It looks huge so I’m worried it’ll be uncomfortable for someone my size, but the battery life is much longer...so maybe I just need to bring a back cushion and suck it up lol. Has anyone rented these models?

For my fellow FAI/labral tear friends with non-excruciating symptoms (particularly if you are over 40), how are you after surgery? What procedure did you have (debridement, repair, replacement, augmentation, bone shave, etc), post or postless, and how long ago was your procedure?

I initially had the telltale impingement pinch when walking, but after nearly 2 years of PT, prp, prolotherapy, lidocaine, etc, it has lessened and my remaining symptoms are side of hip pain (and often snapping), sore tendons just under my hip bone in the front, soreness in very top of quad just under my hip, and mild soreness in the top of my glute. Also a lot of lower back pain, but I’ve always had that it’s just worse the longer this goes on. Just sitting around pain is 0-2…BUT I can’t walk more than .25-.5 miles or pain bumps up to 4-5 and sticks around a long time. Even walking short distances I am focused on the mild discomfort most of the time. It hurts to lie on affected side, lower back has gotten bad enough I can’t lie on my back, and getting down on the ground or putting on socks is a headache. So basically, it isn’t excruciating, but I’m constantly calculating how far I’ll need to walk, where I can sit down, I‘ve become a couch potato because normal activities make me really sore, and my sleep sucks.

With all that said, I’m not in constant excruciating pain like a lot of people on here, so I feel like my standards for surgical outcome are pretty high. Curious how it has gone for others in this ‘not excruciating but impacts normal daily activities a lot’ crowd. I’m sick of living a disabled life…and yet I’d hate to make it worse.

I just got a new Cal King mattress with low profile (5-ish inches) split box spring. It is more or less an equivalent replacement for what I was using previously on my universal metal bed frame. The frame does have a center support rail running from head to foot, but the frame itself isn’t really long enough to support sitting at the foot of the bed—it collapses. For whatever reason it wasn’t an issue with my previous mattress and box spring, but clearly I need a new frame now. I like a low frame with no footboard, that allows for a headboard to be attached. Any suggestions for a brand that ‘really’ accommodates a Cal King (ie. long enough to support under the foot of the bed?). I’m having trouble finding something long enough since everything claims to fit and then doesn’t support well enough for Cal King. TIA

BLUF: need frame suggestions that support foot of Cal King, because my universal is too short. Must include center support rail, have ability to attach headboard, and be fairly low.