The ins and outs of Hip Replacements
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The hip joint can develop a number of painful conditions, whether due to fractures, injuries, or degenerative disorders, such as arthritis. A hip replacement surgery is usually considered when a hip injury or disorder aggravates the sufferer to a point where it is either restricting mobility or causing debilitating pain. Most people who require a hip replacement are in the age group of 60 to 80 years. There are exceptions of course.
In our clinic at CoreWorks, we have had the pleasure of working with Jamie Holmes in physio Pilates before her bilateral hip replacement in July 2019, in an effort to strengthen her body before surgery. Jamie was 40 at the time of her surgery. That’s Jamie’s pre and post op ex rays above. Jamie is a circus acrobat and runs her own business, “The Circus Fix”, so she is generally very strong and flexible. However, in the year prior to her surgery she had lost all of her “circus flexibility and strength”, as well as what she calls her “normal human flexibility and strength.”
“Pre-op I hadn’t been able to do anything, let alone perform as an aerialist or teach my aerial classes at my studio. The only pre-op exercising that I was able to do was pilates and gentle aqua-fit.”
Before Jamie’s surgery, she was in so much pain that it was difficult to do much. We focused on core strength and worked on leg strength where we could. We focused on very essential exercises like knee drops, marching, pelvic tilts for core activation and progressed to hip lifts and slowly built up to side-lying footwork (sleeper) on a light spring to work on glute strength and begin to lay the foundations for more functional movement post-op.
Jamie did Pilates right up until two weeks before surgery and came back 8 weeks post-op. We started off slowly with the exercises we did before surgery and continued to progress. The good thing about her mobility after surgery was that she was able to fully extend her hips (she wasn’t able to before surgery) so suddenly supine footwork, feet in straps and leg press standing on the chair were all accessible to her.
Pilates has helped me access muscles that have been shut off for a few years now due to pain and compensation. My body definitely developed some horrible muscle patterns over the last while, so it’s amazing to be able to reorganize and tap into the support/stabilizer muscles that allow for more functional movement patterns that I was lacking before.
My goals are to keep working to stabilize, regain my old strength and flexibility….as well as my splits which have been non-existent for a few years. The real goal is to get back in the air performing and teaching.
(All quotes and images by kind permission of Jamie Holmes)
Follow along on instagram this month to see Jamie’s progress and some great exercises for post hip replacement strengthening.