I realized today just how strong my commitment is to trying to heal my hip (or rather, strengthen the area and hopefully avoid surgery) by the pool physical therapy program. I got a late start on the morning and can't even put into words how much I didn't feel like going to the pool. I wanted another 10 minutes of sleep. A large coffee. Anything but having to actually go through the exercises... much as I love being able to do some exercise, I still don't particularly enjoy pools because the process to exercise at our public pool takes forever.
But I did it anyway. I went to the pool, later than I had planned, but I got there and started my routine. I was doing pretty well 17 minutes into the exercises when a lifeguard came over to me and said that the pool was closed. Closed? Yes, I know I was running a bit late, but it's 9am on a summer day. "When do you reopen?" I asked. He said at 11. So I had to stop my exercises and leave.
I decided that I really needed to finish my exercises, so I went back to the pool during my lunch hour. It was swamped with children of all sizes. It never ceased to amaze me how people so little can make such enormous waves, kick the water so hard, and displace so much water. But I found a "safe" little corner in the deep end and finished my entire set of exercises. I didn't start over from the beginning because I didn't want to overwork the muscles, but I did my first set again to warm up my body. I think that was a good idea. I started to have some pain while I did the exercises, so I backed off of the intensity and I focused hard on my form and squeezing the correct muscles.
I got a lot of curious stares but nobody pestered me. Of course, people don't tend to approach people who are wearing headphones. The music in the water is a good thing and a bad thing. I have a tendency to want to push harder when certain power songs come on. I have to fight that urge. BUT, it keeps the pool exercises a little more enjoyable, and that helps me actually get going. Yay for fun!
I'm proud of my commitment. At the end of all of this, if I ultimately have to undergo surgery, I want to look back at my effort and know that I did everything I could do to the best of my ability to help get better. Beyond that, it's out of my hands.
Showing posts with label hip exercises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hip exercises. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
I tore my labrum AND my jeans
Before you start with the fat jokes, please realize that my jeans were actually quite baggy. But sadly, the universe decided that I dress too sloppily and ripped my jeans. The damage is irreversible :( Why do I think it's a message from the universe? Well, I don't really. BUT, I had been shopping most of the day to replace my horribly tattered and size-inappropriate (for once, too baggy) wardrobe. I found some very sharp ensembles and felt quite sophisticated when trying on what became my new purchases. But the contrast of what I purchased with the way I was dressed was actually somewhat funny (and sad). So, I just happen to have an unwearable pair of jeans and a whole shopping bag of fashion. I guess I'll just have to wear the classy looking stuff! :-)
I had a great weekend and somewhat of a semi-local, semi-vacation. I did my pool PT exercises on my own at the pool at the hotel in which my hubby and I were staying. I had purchased my very own floatation belt for the occasion (and future ones) so that I could do my exercises without having to sacrifice form while trying to stay afloat. It mostly worked. The deepest portion of the pool was only 5 feet. I'm approx 5'3" so I did scrape the bottom once or twice. But I got through all of the exercises. And if I thought I got stares during my electric cart ride through the airport a few weeks ago, ha! Everyone stared at me with looks that said, "hmmm....should I keep my kid away from this nutcase or not?" Whatever. I had fun and felt pretty good. I had some pain later in the day when I was sitting in my car for a while, but the pain was primarily in my left hip. Weird.
I had PT again this morning. This was the first time that I've done the exercises in the pool that I've felt real pain when I did them. But the pain was a little unusual for me. It felt like it was in my right groin and front of the leg, but it also felt like it traveled down toward the knee. It wasn't the sharp awful pain I'm used to, but rather, was like that horrible feeling you get just before you get an horrid muscle cramp. Pervasive and all I could think about. We stopped the exercises and Jenn helped me stretch my quads and that helped the pain dissipate, though not dissapear completely. She also spent some time on my extremely tight IT band. Thankfully. The pressure on it hurt so badly but in that good sort of way that tells me it's effective. And I reduced the intensity of all of the exercises I did. But then I really felt like I wasn't doing a whole lot of anything. She assured me that I am, but I shouldn't feel any pain from these exercises.
I did get a couple more exercises to add to my list, including a quad stretch, and the best glutes exercise. For that one, you grab the wall and extend your body, front down so you're floating on the water. Then you do a sissors motion with your legs, straight, moving slowly and strongly and squeezing your butt. The legs press down through the water, so you work through all of that resistance. We do a bunch of sissor motions -- but this one is the only one I've done face down rather than "standing" and I think it's much harder to do. But that's probably because I have not developed these muscles as well as others. That's the coolest thing about doing exercises in the water. It really shows you where you're weak. It's obvious because you'll literally spin toward the side that is stronger. It feels like I'm canoeing with one paddle sometimes. And when I'm trying to move my leg straight and forward, sometimes I'll bend, or swing it outside of the frame of the body before I can get it realigned. It's weird because I do that when I walk also, but because the motion is so much faster out of the water, it's hard for me to really notice it or correct it. I wish I had learned these water-based exercises before I had even started to learn how to run. I would have been so much stronger. It's the best cross-training I've found yet.
I heard back from Vail. Dr. P wants to meet with me and have me do another MRI before he decides whether or not to operate. I suspect that he'll also do that injection thing to isolate the problem and see whether it's just the hip or if the back side pain is coming from something else altogether. But he can't get me in before December. AND, that's only tentative until October when they finalize his December calendar. So my date might get moved (so no purchasing airplane tix quite yet). BUT, I have 14 pages of forms to fill out and return in the meantime, and I will definitely have an opportunity by then to see what kind of progress I can make with the pool PT. Fingers crossed!!!!
I had a great weekend and somewhat of a semi-local, semi-vacation. I did my pool PT exercises on my own at the pool at the hotel in which my hubby and I were staying. I had purchased my very own floatation belt for the occasion (and future ones) so that I could do my exercises without having to sacrifice form while trying to stay afloat. It mostly worked. The deepest portion of the pool was only 5 feet. I'm approx 5'3" so I did scrape the bottom once or twice. But I got through all of the exercises. And if I thought I got stares during my electric cart ride through the airport a few weeks ago, ha! Everyone stared at me with looks that said, "hmmm....should I keep my kid away from this nutcase or not?" Whatever. I had fun and felt pretty good. I had some pain later in the day when I was sitting in my car for a while, but the pain was primarily in my left hip. Weird.
I had PT again this morning. This was the first time that I've done the exercises in the pool that I've felt real pain when I did them. But the pain was a little unusual for me. It felt like it was in my right groin and front of the leg, but it also felt like it traveled down toward the knee. It wasn't the sharp awful pain I'm used to, but rather, was like that horrible feeling you get just before you get an horrid muscle cramp. Pervasive and all I could think about. We stopped the exercises and Jenn helped me stretch my quads and that helped the pain dissipate, though not dissapear completely. She also spent some time on my extremely tight IT band. Thankfully. The pressure on it hurt so badly but in that good sort of way that tells me it's effective. And I reduced the intensity of all of the exercises I did. But then I really felt like I wasn't doing a whole lot of anything. She assured me that I am, but I shouldn't feel any pain from these exercises.
I did get a couple more exercises to add to my list, including a quad stretch, and the best glutes exercise. For that one, you grab the wall and extend your body, front down so you're floating on the water. Then you do a sissors motion with your legs, straight, moving slowly and strongly and squeezing your butt. The legs press down through the water, so you work through all of that resistance. We do a bunch of sissor motions -- but this one is the only one I've done face down rather than "standing" and I think it's much harder to do. But that's probably because I have not developed these muscles as well as others. That's the coolest thing about doing exercises in the water. It really shows you where you're weak. It's obvious because you'll literally spin toward the side that is stronger. It feels like I'm canoeing with one paddle sometimes. And when I'm trying to move my leg straight and forward, sometimes I'll bend, or swing it outside of the frame of the body before I can get it realigned. It's weird because I do that when I walk also, but because the motion is so much faster out of the water, it's hard for me to really notice it or correct it. I wish I had learned these water-based exercises before I had even started to learn how to run. I would have been so much stronger. It's the best cross-training I've found yet.
I heard back from Vail. Dr. P wants to meet with me and have me do another MRI before he decides whether or not to operate. I suspect that he'll also do that injection thing to isolate the problem and see whether it's just the hip or if the back side pain is coming from something else altogether. But he can't get me in before December. AND, that's only tentative until October when they finalize his December calendar. So my date might get moved (so no purchasing airplane tix quite yet). BUT, I have 14 pages of forms to fill out and return in the meantime, and I will definitely have an opportunity by then to see what kind of progress I can make with the pool PT. Fingers crossed!!!!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Feels like dessert
Physical Therapy this morning was mostly familiar this morning, with a few key distinctions. 1) I got to work out in the middle of the deep end, tethered to the wall so I wouldn't float all over the pool, 2) I got to work with ankle fins for additional resistence, and 3) I got to experience dessert! No, they didn't feed me. No, I didn't burn enough calories to actually justify dessert. BUT, when I was finished with all of the PT exercises, Jenn strapped some weights around my ankles, gave me additional floatation devices, and send me to relax in the deep end. She said I had earned some dessert. Now, back in the day when I actually used ankle weights for working out, probably the last word I'd use to describe them was dessert. BUT, in the water where my top half is kept afloat and my bottom half is pulling down, it gave me the most marvelous stretch and opened the hip joints. I got to hang out like that for 10 minutes! Initially my muscles in my butt and thigh were trying to hold on tight and were tense figuring out what was going on. But I finally relaxed into the stretch and it felt soooo good. I just wanted to stay like that all day. Sadly, I couldn't. The transition to gravity was dramatic, just like it was on Wednesday, but a little less jarring because I was expecting it. Since PT, my hip has been a little twingy, but no severe pain. Fingers crossed!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Pool Therapy First Session
Today I experienced my very first pool physical therapy session. Let me preface this post with the fact that 1) I've never seen, let alone been in, a therapy pool before, and 2) I had previously looked at some exercises in a book for water workouts and after completing these exercises, ended up in quite a lot of pain for the following week.
I had to shower before getting into the pool, which I think is pretty typical, except that I was early, so once I was wet and freezing, I had to go sit in the waiting area by the side of the pool for 5 minutes. Next time I'll try to time it better. But then I was invited into the water to do a quick warmup. There was a waterproof wheelchair that I didn't need to use, but that I was impressed was even made, and a ramp with a handlebar that gradually let you enter the pool. I used the ramp and was very pleased to find 92 degree water. Fabulous.
Along the perimeter of the pool were two handlebars which reminded me of the bar on the wall of a ballet studio. My physical therapist, Jenn, had me "warm-up" by walking forward, backward, and side-to-side across (and back) the shallow end of the pool. Then, she secured a floatation belt around me, and taught me a whole bunch of exercises to be done at the side of the pool in the deep end. I started out with a "deep run" for 2 minutes, followed by a "power walk" for 2 minutes, followed by "flies" (hello adductors and abductors!) for another 2 minutes. I did three rounds of these exercises, followed by a minute each of "quick scissors," "abdominals" (i.e., keeping my body steady with the bar and bringing my knees into my chest), "bicycle" "straight-leg deep" (i.e., similar to the challenging exercise I've been doing on land), and "scissors" which is like "flies" but I'm at a 90 degree angle and can't let my butt fly away from the side of the pool. Then I do some stretching, (hamstring and thighs). Then I moved into the shallow end to do some leg raises (lateral), leg swings (forward), leg circles (lateral), knee swivels, quad extensions and hamstring curls. That was a lot to remember, so I got a laminated card (so it can get wet and I can bring it with me to the pool) with pictures of the exercises and instructions on how many of each to do.
Basically, it took me 45 minutes, but without the instruction in the future, I think it's about 30 minutes of actual work. There were a few exercises that I felt immediately, and a few more that were somewhat challenging, but I asked Jenn a few times if I was doing something wrong because I didn't really feel it. She checked my form, chuckled and said I am doing it right. She told me that we'll eventually add resistance, but she wanted to make sure I learned the exercise and had the right form during this session, and see how I do. But I didn't fully comprehend her chuckle until I got out of the pool.
YOWSERS!!! Gravity hit me and I felt like I had just finished boot camp. I got a phenomenal workout. And apparently, when I had previously tried to do exercises on my own, I did them completely wrong. And, given that I have difficulty gauging my effort level in the pool, I had completely overdone it too. So working with Jenn was VERY helpful and in order for me to not do anything stupid on my own, I made sure to check and double check what I'm "allowed" to do on my own, and how often. Here's what I get:
I had to shower before getting into the pool, which I think is pretty typical, except that I was early, so once I was wet and freezing, I had to go sit in the waiting area by the side of the pool for 5 minutes. Next time I'll try to time it better. But then I was invited into the water to do a quick warmup. There was a waterproof wheelchair that I didn't need to use, but that I was impressed was even made, and a ramp with a handlebar that gradually let you enter the pool. I used the ramp and was very pleased to find 92 degree water. Fabulous.
Along the perimeter of the pool were two handlebars which reminded me of the bar on the wall of a ballet studio. My physical therapist, Jenn, had me "warm-up" by walking forward, backward, and side-to-side across (and back) the shallow end of the pool. Then, she secured a floatation belt around me, and taught me a whole bunch of exercises to be done at the side of the pool in the deep end. I started out with a "deep run" for 2 minutes, followed by a "power walk" for 2 minutes, followed by "flies" (hello adductors and abductors!) for another 2 minutes. I did three rounds of these exercises, followed by a minute each of "quick scissors," "abdominals" (i.e., keeping my body steady with the bar and bringing my knees into my chest), "bicycle" "straight-leg deep" (i.e., similar to the challenging exercise I've been doing on land), and "scissors" which is like "flies" but I'm at a 90 degree angle and can't let my butt fly away from the side of the pool. Then I do some stretching, (hamstring and thighs). Then I moved into the shallow end to do some leg raises (lateral), leg swings (forward), leg circles (lateral), knee swivels, quad extensions and hamstring curls. That was a lot to remember, so I got a laminated card (so it can get wet and I can bring it with me to the pool) with pictures of the exercises and instructions on how many of each to do.
YOWSERS!!! Gravity hit me and I felt like I had just finished boot camp. I got a phenomenal workout. And apparently, when I had previously tried to do exercises on my own, I did them completely wrong. And, given that I have difficulty gauging my effort level in the pool, I had completely overdone it too. So working with Jenn was VERY helpful and in order for me to not do anything stupid on my own, I made sure to check and double check what I'm "allowed" to do on my own, and how often. Here's what I get:
- I can swim!!! (No breast stroke, that'll hurt my hip). BUT, I don't HAVE to use the pull buoy as long as I don't have any pain (though I can use it if I want). No pushing off of the side of the pool though. No swimming on days that I do my pool PT exercises.
- I should try the pool PT program on my own 1x this week. (That'll be Sunday or Saturday probably). I shouldn't do it every day, and since I've got PT again on Friday, that means tomorrow is a swim day or rest.
So, I'm pretty excited. She told me to take it easy on the duration, but pay attention to how I feel. I think that given how hard I worked my legs today (and my abs, wow), I will probably go ahead and focus on my upper body tomorrow and use the pull buoy tomorrow so I can be at top form for PT on Friday.
YAY!
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