Rehab after hip replacement surgery is typically easy enough, but Jeanne had a different experience. She was having terrible nerve issues after the surgery which made it very difficult to activate her hip muscles, walk without a limp, and just “live life”. These problems persisted for four years despite great attempts at solving them.
Finally, she came to Body Gears and it set her on a different path even after all those years. She came to us needing a cane to walk and had significant back and hip pain due to the compensations occurring while she walked. We typically see people who have had total joint replacements in the past develop compensations, but also having a nerve problem made her case unique.
Prior to treatment at Body Gears, Jeanne sought help at a specialized nerve center and then a traditional physical therapy practice but received minimal relief and still needed to use her cane, plus she continued to lose muscle tone.
“Just by luck I found Body Gears through a Pilates instructor I was going to and that was four years after my surgery. To me, it was a miracle because in two months I was off the cane.”
The progression was slow but steady. The first step was working on her mechanical restrictions in her hip, sacrum, innominate, lumbar spine, ankle, and foot that had developed due to her moving inefficiently for years. That was followed by a lot of manual neuromuscular re-education to train the proper muscles to work on command, particularly while walking.
By working heavily on the stability of her hip and developing her core strength, Jeanne learned to effectively load her gluteus medius and deep hip rotator muscles again. She was able to start walking without the cane and hasn’t used it since!
Jeanne was given plenty of exercises to strengthen her muscles and many of them she still does to this day. After therapy through her insurance ended, Jeanne continued coming to Body Gears every other week for at least a year through our Self Pay Program. Now she comes for tune-ups when she feels it’s needed.
“I accept that I won’t ever be able to do things the way I did, but I recently came back from Scotland and I was hiking very steep hills. With my walking sticks, I can do what I want, so I’m happy.”
Jeanne credits Body Gears’ holistic approach of looking at the whole body as interconnected pieces of a puzzle and not just treating the injured part, as something that sets treatment here apart from other practices. At Body Gears, we treat the root cause of the problem, not just the part that is hurting.
For Jeanne, if she had just been given exercises, she wouldn’t have gotten better. We used our hands to improve her mobility then used them again to retrain specific muscles. Every exercise she was given was specifically chosen to complement the manual therapy. Jeanne found that people who were accustomed to seeing her with a cane were amazed at the difference her therapy had made.
“I can do so many things I couldn’t begin to do before I went to Body Gears. I would call it miraculous; very wonderful.”
If you are struggling to recover from a surgery and you’re ready to get back to a more active lifestyle, click here to discover how we can change your story. We believe that freedom of movement is the foundation of a healthy and satisfying life. We look forward to serving you and we welcome your questions, comments, and enquiries.
As always, consult with your Licensed Physical Therapist for individualized advice. For those in Illinois and California, visit your PT immediately without a prescription or referral.
Give us a call at (877) 709-1090 for more information or fill out the contact us form and we will contact you.
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