I have hip dysplasia & ligamentous laxity resulting in chronic pain (labral tear & overloading the joint space) to work around, so my routine is adapted for that. It’s pretty light.
Goals:
- longterm pain management
- hip preservation surgery “prehab” strengthening to support myself properly through recovery/recover faster overall
- longterm health
I don’t go to a gym; I use what I have at home: stationary bike, gym mat, dumbbells, a kettle bell, & resistance bands. Routine was originally set up by my physical therapist. I’ve been doing this routine since early 2017, initially 6 days a week. Then that decreased as my hip got a lot worse. Hip arthroscopy 2019 there was another drop off as I recovered from that (it didn’t resolve everything, but did improve some pain/range of motion). Built back up to my current routine over 2021, with another break for almost all of March 2022 after re-tearing my labrum in a different place (injury not related to exercise; I helped my friend move & carried stuff I really shouldn’t have).
My routine:
4x a week
minimum I do the following in one session:
*with my 30-60 counting, basically if I spend an hour on the bike, that’s my “long” workout day, & all exercise reps are 60. 30 min bike is a short workout day, & all reps are 30.
Then I do some stuff on my gym mat:
30-60 of each:
Off mat, 30-60 of these:
On days I’m not working out, I’ve tried to utilize my friend’s condo complex pool this summer, whenever possible. Just freestyle laps for 20-60 min, broken up. Also side leg raises in the water/holding the side, 60-count. I’ve managed to do that at least 1-3x a week since the end of June.
Overall I’m happy enough with my progress, but my hip pain does slow me down, sometimes. It can be really demotivating, but I always feel better once I’m moving for a bit. “Motion is lotion,” as they said in PT.
The pool has helped a
ton with pain. I’m a month away from PAO surgery, so I’m really gonna try to do something
every day at this point to strengthen, no matter what.
Within 30 min of my longer workouts, I try to make sure I consume at least 20g protein of some kind. I recall reading somewhere that it can help with muscle development/recovery to do so, but I may have misread. I’m usually hungry afterward, anyhow.
That post^ was from the end of August 2022.
I continued that routine, increasing my workout days to 6-7 days a week as much as I could til I finally had my periacetabular osteotomy on my hip in mid-December.
I’d prepped all my meals in advance before surgery for at least my 1st month, to be as healthy as possible recovering:
https://www.typologycentral.com/threads/what-did-you-bake-cook-today.21633/page-156#post-3373604
I was non weight bearing on my left hip/leg for 4 weeks, then allowed to start physical therapy 2x a week. I also started riding my stationary bike at home & doing isometric exercises, as my left leg atrophied pretty quick.
(Anyone who reads my private forum blog has already seen the leg atrophy photos below)
So, I’ve been working really hard in PT in-office & at home to undo that. I started my bike back up on the 2nd week of January, & started formal PT on Jan 18th.
This is my daily (every single day) routine, now:
(the “yoga” is not actually yoga— stupid myfitnesspal just doesn’t know certain physical therapy exercises, so I just log it there as yoga)
I’m 8 weeks post-op now, & off crutches earlier than expected because of this. I started weaning off them by the end of week 5 (transitioning to 1 crutch for a couple wks). I couldn’t do a straight leg raise laying down AT ALL after surgery, until maybe last week. The muscles just didn’t listen to me.
My leg is still smaller than the non-op one, but that’s improving.
I’m having an issue with my weight, though. I’ve been losing weight unintentionally. I’m burning off more than I take in, with the exercise every day. And, apparently, your BMR increases following bone fracture (technically my pelvis was fractured in 3 places, but by a surgeon & not an accident). So that’s eating some calories.
I’m 5’9” & weigh 124 right now. BMI 19. Body fat approx 21%. Before surgery I went between 127-135. I’d go up & down if I got busier/added to my workouts, & didn’t add more food to my day. The loss was unintentional then, too, but I’m more concerned about it now in terms of recovery from surgery/bone healing, etc.
My PCP gets on me about my weight when I go under 135. And, I’d
prefer to be 130-135, but I want that mass to be lean muscle gain, not adipose.
I
feel like I eat a lot, though. I don’t feel hungry or weak or deprived. So, I am struggling with trying to figure out how to increase my caloric intake with healthy, protein-dense foods. I refuse to eat garbage (high sugar &/or high in saturated fat foods) to gain weight. I’m not sure what to add that fits that criteria & is affordable.
This is just one of the meal ‘plans’ I have in a given day. I do not eat takeout often, maybe like once a month, if that. I don’t eat fast food
at all. You can see on myfitnesspal that each day that I’m not meeting the calories, & that I’ll keep dropping weight, apparently:
This imgur post of mine has more examples of my meals (just this week so far, plus some other tracking stat things in there). -
LINK
I’m at a loss (pun intended?) as to what the hell else to eat. I really want to make sure I keep healing properly.
I’m open to suggestions, as long as they’re fairly protein-rich, low in sugar & saturated fat, relatively shelf stable or freezable, & relatively affordable. And please don’t suggest beans. I hate them.
