Tuesday, May 29, 2012

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.


3 comments:

Pamela Greshock said...

HI! Its me again! So maybe I didnt read enough of your blog...but are you doing therapy with a PT? Or are you just doing things on your own? I mean, how do you know how far and how NOT far to push things?

THANKS again!
Pam

Adam said...

Pamela, I'm going to answer your question with my next post, it's a pretty lengthy answer.

Pamela Greshock said...

AWesome! THANKS! <3