...Post massage part two

...I've also realised that after the massage I did not feel the psoas tighten up immediately after getting off the table.  So that instability that causes the psoas to tighten has been reduced.  As I sit here typing this my hip pain is gone. However, I'm not doing cartwheels yet because Dr. Hauser said that the swelling from the treatment will last about two weeks, and the swelling will provide some stability.  So in order to  see if there is any real improvement I will have to wait another two weeks.  Again, time will tell.

Ok well that was interesting.  While Bobby was working on my hip he commented that "there is definitely a party going on in there". However, things did seem to release a little faster than normal, there were just more things needing release.  When he worked on my glute he commented that it released way faster than normal, probably because I'm now sleeping with my knee up rather than letting it fall to the side (which would open up my hip).  He also worked on my abs, and that was extremely painful, and I think it was related to the injury back in August.  ...I feel different, and kind of wrung out, but I think this was a good thing.

Again, time will tell.  

Almost a week now

It's been six days since I had my first treatment, and the hip is starting to feel much more normal, which is nice, but it also has me worried that nothing has changed.  It still feels... different, but I can tell that my psoas is still really tight.  However, a tight psoas doesn't really mean that much because it was tight before the treatment, and there's not much reason why it still shouldn't be tight.

I guess I'm concerned that all the cracking and clicking my hip has done means that whatever help the treatment provided as been has been undone or greatly lessened.  Dr. Hauser said I should not manipulate the hip, and to avoid doing anything that makes it click.  Well, you can't put your hip in a sling, and every crack and click has been the result of doing something exceedingly normal, like walking around a corner or putting on my pants.  I use my hip all the time, it's something I can't avoid.  I just hope progress is being made.

I am about to go see Bobby for some work on the psoas, I'm looking forward to getting some feedback from him, as well as the hope that my psoas won't tighten up immediately after getting up off the table.  This should be very interesting...

Will have the update later today.

Day three: Update

First of all a Merry Chrsitmas to everyone!  This has been a wonderful year for me, and I hope it has been for you as well.

The stiffness in my hip is pretty much gone, I'm now walking without any gimp.  It seems like dancing will be an option, so that's really, really good news.  I was told that I need to let the labrum heal (duh) so I can't let it click.  That clicking is the labrum tear opening and closing, so obviously if I keep doing that it won't be able to knit together and heal.

In order to prevent any clicking, I basically can't let leg do more than 20 degrees flexion.  First day it wasn't a problem, mostly because I was asleep for the whole day.  But yesterday I accidentally raised my leg up just a little too high and it made this really loud thunk.  It also happened again doing something else, can't remember what but it was very casual. 

The hip also popped twice, again just me walking around.  I think it might have to do with the swelling around the joint, I don't know.

But back to the clicking.  Today it clicked when I got out of bed, and the thing is I know it tends to do that so I figured out a way that doesn't click.  Yet I moved my knee just a little too high and "Thunk".  I then tried to put on my pajama pants, I raised my leg to step in to them and felt the pinch that precedes the click.  Stuck, I tried to slowly lower my leg so that it wouldn't click.  "Thunk".  Both of those were so loud that Kristin could hear them.

I'm nervous about undoing the healing that is trying to take place, but hopefully these four clicks don't do too much, and am able to keep this from happening again.

First Prolotherapy session finished

Nervous as hell, I showed up to the doc's office at 8:45, 15 minutes ahead of time.  I had already taken my vicodin and xanax, and I was starting to feel a little woozy.  Still lucid, I filled out some sheets and then was taken to a room.  They had me gown up and applied a topical novacaine ointment to my hip/thigh area.  After waiting a while for the drugs to set in Dr. Hauser showed up.  I was handed two squeeze balls laid on my back, and he got to work.  I could feel some of the pricks of the needle, but just barely.  Then he had me lay on my side and started going at it from there.  I don't think the numbing agent had been applied there because I could definitely feel that more, but I just focus on something else, like those stress balls.

But then it was over.  It probably took like 2 minutes, max.  Apparently he gave me 60 injections, but I could have sworn it was like 15 at most.  My hip definitely felt some swelling, but it was discomfort and not pain.  They put a heat pack on me and let me just lay there for a while.  Eventually I got up and dressed.  I was pretty tired and I think the drugs were making me woozy, so shortly after Kristin started driving me home I passed out.  When we got home I laid down on the bed and then slept for six hours.

My hip definitely feels different, it feels swollen and like I'm stretching my glute or something.  There's not really any pain though, and the pain from the psoas being too tight doesn't seem to exist right now.  I don't know if it from the drugs or the swelling has allowed the muscle to relax.  I don't know.  All I know is that I now have to be very careful with what I do, to make sure I don't make my hip click.  If I do, I'm preventing my labrum from knitting together, and that is the last thing I want to do.  It will be tricky, all those little habits like crossing my legs will be tough to not do, but this is definitely worth it.

If I can beat all of this without surgery, I am going to be a very happy man.  The thing that I like most about this prolotherapy is that although I can't really exercise like squats or Pilates, I can walk around and be independent.  This is not like what I would experience if I had surgery, where I would be on crutches and my body would be recovering from the stress of putting my hip in traction.  Surgery really should be an option of last resort, and if this works I am going to be very, very, happy.

It's been such a long journey

If this really does work, and in six weeks time I'm pain free, or at least a heck of a lot better, I know there will be a part of me that will regret not getting this sooner.  But then I have to remind myself that I did try to get this done, over two years ago when I met with Dr. Wagner who was a supposed "expert".  And then I get angry.  The man just looks at an MRI and figures if he doesn't see it then it can't possibly be there.  I mean, who cares that my hip still clicks even though everything is in alignment.  Who cares that you can feel the joint move around.  Who cares that another doctor diagnosed a torn labrum without an MRI.  Because it certainly wasn't Dr. Wagner. He just looked at a picture and figured he couldn't do anything to help me, and I couldn't do anything, literally (except for swimming and yoga).  If he would actually look at the whole patient, then maybe I would already be fine.  Maybe I wouldn't have to worry about fixing my hip versus getting ready for our first dance at our wedding.

But then I think about it a little more, and if Dr. Wagner had treated the labrum, I wouldn't have discovered I have tight hip capsules, which in turn led me to massage, which seems to have healed my FAI.  If I had repaired the labrum without treating the FAI, that impingement would still be there, and would possibly tear the labrum again.  There are people out there who get surgery or PRP treatments and yet still have pain.  I think that's because even though the underlying issue (joint instability) is fixed the muscles have become so patternized that they will remain tight even though they don't need to be (being tight is all they know), and it is the tight muscle that is causing the pain.

So, in fact, I just have to accept that this is what the universe has presented to me, and I take solace in the fact that I have kept searching, learning about my hip and what might be the issues at hand.  I have not resigned myself to a life of pain and/or inactivity.  In life there is always a choice, and I choose to be better today then I was yesterday.  Whether that be stronger, faster, smarter, wiser, or some combination of all the above, I try to make the most out of each day because that's a day I'll never get back.

Now if you excuse me, I need to get back to taking on the day.

Getting excited for the treatment

As painful as this is going to be, I am starting to get excited about this.  I feel even better about trying this before getting surgery, because I've realised that if this works I will have a healed up labrum.  Not a labrum that's been stitched together, or one that has had peices removed, but a healed labrum that is whole and working as it should be.  And as one article points out, when you have surgery to remove peices, you're probably not really helping with anything.

Also, I think my psoas an illium are so tight because of looseness in my hip.  That could be directly caused by my torn labrum, but perhaps not.  If not, then this prolotherapy should help with that instability and allow my muscles to relax.  This could be a really good thing!

Has my FAI gone away???

The fact that Dr. Hauser couldn't detect any impingement has really got me thinking, is it actually gone?  I really need to check with the results from the MRI I had a couple of months ago to see if my cam and pincer impingements are gone.  If this is the case, then I'm proof positive of the importance of mobility work.  I always wondered if the extra bone growth would go away on its own.  I mean, it's no longer needed because the femur is no longer banging into the hip socket, so it could go away.  On the other hand, it would seem odd that the extra bone would realize it's no longer needed and would go away.

...I will call the doctor's office later today and see if they could help me out on this one, since I don't have the images for myself.

Met with Dr. Hauser

The meeting was... interesting, to say the least.  He did a few, quick tests and felt that I really didn't have an impingement of the hip (this would kind of make sense since I've been working on my stretching my hip capsules for almost two years to the day now.), but he definitely felt some instability in the hip joint as well as that laberal tear.  This is almost completely opposite of what the PRP Dr Wager diagnosed like two years ago (no laberal tear, but FAI). Perhaps all the stretching and stuff has made the impingement a non-issue, that would definitely be ideal as well as the hope of getting all those massages. 

He told me that he felt he could help, and if I wanted to he could do a procedure in like 30 minutes.  ...He gave me the option of taking some painkillers before the procedure, as I will get poked by a needle 30+ times.  That is a ridiculous amount of needle, so I felt I would be best served by some vicodin.  However, I have a lot of work to do, and I can't really afford to take today off so instead I scheduled an appointemnt for the 23rd.

There is one thing that really, really bummed me out though, and that's the recovery.  One of the main reasons why I wanted to try prolotherapy before surgery was because of the recovery.  In the clip of Dr. Hauser getting an injection of stem cells (the stem cells come from the marrow in his own tibia) for treating his knee he talks about how he was running three days later.  Well, appearently with a labral tear I would have to be inactive to let the labrum knit together.  I can swim and walk,but anything that causes my hip to snap would be bad (so no more than 20 degree movement), and I wouldn't be able to do any external rotation as well.  ...That last part may mean I might have to hold off on dance lessons (have been learning how to dance with Kristin in preperation for our wedding). 

It's that last part that kills me.  I've really been enjoying dancing with Kristin, and that I would have to hold off on dancing for like eight weeks is sad news.  The recovery time for prolo is almost the same as surgery, so it makes the idea of prolo less appealing.  However, I know that surgery is not always the answer, in various forums there are people who are months post-op and are still expereincing pain just walking.

So I think I've decided to try at least one prolo treatment, but I swear I'm not as near as excited about this as I was when I thought I could immediately get back into squatting and stuff.

I will keep posting about this, as well as some other things.  I apologize for the lack of posts, but since I've become more inactive there hasn't been too much to write about.