Rehab is slow going. Literally

Ok so I've been rehabbing the hip for a while now, and I thought I should share what I'm allowed to do and (more importantly) what I'm not allowed to do.  The important thing is for me to work on strengthening all the stabilizing muscles.  If I work them too hard too quickly I can undue some of the healing that has taken place.  Alright, here are the rules for my rehab currently:

• Begin SLOWLY AND GRADUALLY
• Begin with more reps at a lighter weight and slowly increase the weight. I need to gain endurance before I can increase how much I lift so that my hip will be stronger and less likely to become injured.
• When doing my lifting it has to be in click free range of motion. If I begin or continue to get pain or clicking/clunking during high activity it may mean that I need one more treatment.
• When I first begin lifting weights it has to be a slow smooth motion. Do not rush into the exercise. Slowly lift the bar and do more reps.
•  Do not do anything that causes a sharp pain
• Having a little pain during exercise is ok but the pain has to go away within 2 hours of my exercise.
• No triple extension of the hip yet.

So I have to start doing things slowly, gradually increase the ROM, and build up to high reps (like do sets of 15 reps) and then increase the weight.  It's a little annoying that I can't work on speed/explosion strength but all in due time I guess.

So here is my lifting routine right now. I'm only listing the leg workouts since that's what I'm rehabbing, but I'm also incorporating upper body exercises as well (want to look buff for the honeymoon). 

Day A

Quarter squats

Hip Adduction

Day B

Modified Deadlift

Hip Abduction

That's it for now.  I'm doing 3 sets of 8-12 reps, if I can do 12 reps then I up the weight.  It's not sexy I know, but for now it's all I can do in terms of strength training.  I've also been given the green light to use an elliptical machine, so now I can work a little on cardiovascular endurance.

Looking forward to being able to squat and sprint, really hope this happens within a couple of months.

Arm/Shoulder getting better

On my last visit to Dr. Hauser, I told him about the residual discomfort I experience in my shoulder/arm.  He did some manual tests on my range of motion and said all I need to do is to hang on a bar for at least 10 seconds a couple of times a day and the situation would resolve itself.  …I thought he was crazy, but I do trust him and so I’ve been doing it for a while now, and I have to say it is working.  I feel much, much better in the neck and shoulder area.  So simple, yet so effective.  I appreciate that Dr. Hauser’s first move is to tell me I can fix the situation on my own, rather than use his help.  That helps me feel like I can trust him, that he is looking out for my best interest, not trying to line his wallet with my money.

Done with Prolo, at least for now.

So this past week has had its ups and downs.  When I felt my hip go clunk I really had worried that I had taken a step back.  But the thing is, the pain has not worsened.  I met with Dr. Hauser yesterday and we talked and after he felt my labrum his opinion was I could use another treatment, but because I was so close to pain free he had no problem holding off until a later time.  For the past two months I’ve had Bobby completely ignore my hip and focus on my neck (which I’ll get to in a minute) instead.  But when he was working on my hip in conjunction with the prolo, I got down to very little pain very quickly.   …I wonder if having Bobby switch over to the shoulder/neck was a mistake.  Regardless, I’m going to see Bobby Saturday and will have him work on the hip.  I want to see how the hip feels after having it worked over at least once.

I hope that I’m done with treating my hip, that everything is fine.  But I am mentally prepared for the idea that I may need to see Dr. Hauser again.

In the meantime, I’m excited about rehab.  I’m going to gradually increase the range of motion of the exercises, and am currently working with the Caring Medical staff to figure out when I can start doing exercises that involve quickness/power/explosiveness.  For the longest time I’ve missed running and rowing and other endurance type exercises.  I also hope to be able to do squats again soon.  Hopefully I will be able to include those exercises again real soon.  Then the next step on my wish list is to be able to return to Olympic Lifting.  Then, someday, I would like to be able to do WODs again.  A man can dream, can’t he?

Concerning the neck/shoulder area.  Yesterday, I did not feel the need to do anything to my neck.  It felt perfectly normal.  For the first time I never had the need to foam roll anything.  It was amazing.  I figured since I felt perfectly fine, why ruin it with 60 injections in the neck?  Again, if what I have received so far proves to not be enough, then I’ll get another treatment.  The nice thing is that there is no harm in not getting a treatment right now, the condition won’t get worse if I leave it alone, it’ll just stay the same.

I’m always hesitant to declare victory over my hip, but I feel like this is the beginning of a new chapter of my journey towards healing.

Feeling foolish

I'm still thinking about the other day where I made my hip go clunk testing it out.  Like I really, really worry that I offset any healing that has happened over the past two weeks.  If that's true it means I just pissed all kinds of money and time away.  Ugh.

I want this to be over with.  I want to be 100% again.  I don't like the fact that this is a wait-and-see approach.  Like now that I'm with Plan B (PRP) does that mean I should expect another 4 treatments???

I should report though that in terms of pain, I've been seeing all kinds of results.  I forget that I have a hip issue nowadays, it's only that damn clicking.  ...I've also wondered if the clicking is actually from a tear in the labrum.  Sometimes my other hip clicks, and it's never given me problems.  Maybe I don't have a tear anymore and it's clicking for some other reason?  I can hope against hope.

Obviously, I will have more answers when I see Dr. Hauser tomorrow.

Reason for having oxygenated blood

So last time when I went to see Dr. Hauser and he had my blood drawn the nurse mentioned that my blood was bright red, this meant it was highly oxygenated and “whatever it is that you’re doing, keep doing it.”  Well it just so happens that I came across this article that explains why my blood is so awesome.  It’s not diet, it’s not exercise, it’s the fact I get a massage every two weeks.  Basically, the study found that massage helped boost mitochondria in the muscle’s cells, and “…mitochondria help the cell take up and use oxygen. The muscle’s ability to extract oxygen is proportional to the amount of mitochondria that are present.”  So my muscle cells are using up all kinds of oxygen.  Wonder if that’s why I get so winded so quickly, lol.

Hip Report

Since my hip hasn't been clicking at all, I decided to test it out and raised my knee to my chest and lowered it.  I got a loud "Clunk"

I felt stupid and really, really sad.  Perhaps I've just wasted all kinds of money on prolotherapy?  I've been thinking to make this next treatment my last, but if I see another dramatic improvement I don't know, maybe it will be worth it to get another treatment?  I've come this far, now I kind of feel committed to prolotherapy.  I'm still scared as hell about getting surgery, so many things can go wrong.

Now, the really hard thing is I don't feel the pain anymore.  So with regards to pain Prolotherapy has been a success.  However, I have to think that if I go back to my old activities with the labrum still torn I will just end up right where I was before I sought treatment.  Think I will email the doc to ask his opinion on the matter.

I still believe prolo, especially PRP, will get me completely healed, I just wonder at what cost.  Two treatments plus the use of the machine to spin out the blood is just over a grand.  That's no small chunk of change especially with the wedding/honeymoon to pay for.  Thankfully I am in a position where I don't have to give up anything yet in place of these treatments, but I still don't want to sink in such a ridiculous amount of money and not have the result I want.

Adam's Gym, Part Two

Here's a real quick thing to add to the client intake procedure for my imaginary gym.  I think it's something that all gyms, especially crossfit gyms, should do when they get a new client.  It's simple, easy to do, and can prevent a potentially disastrous result.  All it is, is a blood pressure test.  That's it.

If you take someone with hypertension or pre-hypertension and make them try a crossfit workout, you're just asking for trouble.  Let's say that you have high blood pressure, and then show up for your first free/demo WOD.  You start hammering through it, and your already high blood pressure is going to go up even further, not something you want.

The thing that makes hypertension so dangerous is that it's so hard to spot without a blood pressure test.

Thus, when you have your new clients filling out forms, give them a blood pressure test as well.  It very well may save a life.

For more about the dangers of strenuous exercise with hypertension check out these links:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/384446-is-it-safe-to-exercise-with-high-blood-pressure/
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/health_articles.asp?id=701

And an article from Crossfit Santa Cruz:
http://www.crossfitsantacruz.com/crossfit_santa_cruz/feeling-faint.html

Hip seems to be getting better still

Until this week there have been certain everyday motions that have made me weary because sometimes my hip would click.  Putting on shoes, getting into the car, stuff like that.  Now, after the PRP session, that stuff doesn't catch my hip anymore.  I'm still a little too scared to hope, but it is possible that my labrum has actually fully repaired.

I'm going to have Dr. Hauser check it the next time, and maybe he won't have to work on it.  ...That would be amazing.

I haven't cracked my neck in over six weeks now I think, and it really has been improving.  There are still issues, but the problems with the scalenes have lessened a lot, and now the problem seems to be more in the mastoid and lavator area.  Things are definitely looking up.

Getting better, but am I going to be 100%?

So it’s been almost a week since my first PRP treatment, and I have to say things are feeling… better.  I’ve lifted my leg a couple of times and have felt where I think it would’ve cracked before, but now does nothing.  …This could be from the swelling still going on in there, that in a couple of more weeks the swelling will die down and I’ll still feel that click when I raise and lower my knee.  But maybe I won’t.  Maybe this PRP is what is needed to put me over the top.  Coming into this I really couldn’t imagine that this whole process wouldn’t work, but now doubt is starting to creep in.  It hasn’t happened since the PRP injection, but whenever I felt my hip click during this process I would think “Son of a bitch!” and realize that nope, I haven’t healed completely yet.  …Even if this doesn’t work out I don’t think I’ll get surgery because other than the clicking I’m no longer in pain.  …I have also wondered if the hip clicking is something other then a torn labrum, that perhaps my labrum has healed and it’s just something else that is simply clicking and not causing any harm.  So many doubts, so many unknown variables in this process.  I just need to keep asking the good dr. questions as they come up, and see what he says.