twosea2003

I wasn’t aware of SAMe as an inflammatory. I will give it a try. Thanks!

Bopper876 and Tiffani … I had my surgery on July 9, 2010. It’s been 11 weeks. I am still experiencing quite a bit of discomfort. But it is getting better. I only have to take a painkiller at night about once a week now, but am still taking Aleve during the day.

I think it’s going to take a long time, as in several more months, to get back to normal, or to not feel discomfort most of the time. I also have wondered at times if it will ever be healed again, or anything close to normal. It will be nice to get to a point where pain is not the uppermost thing on my mind. I can walk now, but if I overdo it, I pay for it. Any activity usually results in some discomfort for a day or so, but I think it’s part of the healing process.

My labral tear was ‘significant’ I was told. It was excised and bone was shaved that was irritating the tissue. I am finally at the point where it’s not waking me up in the middle of the night, though I still am having to ice it frequently, especially after walking, exercise or yoga. Ice helps tremendously. I have slept with a pack off and on it all night at times.

I did do PT for about eight weeks. My PT did trigger point therapy for the first 15 minutes and that was a tremendous help. Then we did some exercises and stretching after, which was usually pretty painful for a couple days after. I find allowing myself to recover after exercise to be very, very important, otherwise it prolongs the pain.

I am back to yoga now, but starting with gentle beginner’s classes. I went to a couple of viniyoga classes, which I absolutely love. I definitely recommend doing much, much less and easing back gently and very, very slowly.

I just got back from Florida and had access to a pool for a couple of weeks and spent an hour a day working with the hip in the pool. If you can do that, it’s worth the time. I made more progress in that time than I did in PT. I was able to move the hip in it’s full range of motion without having to deal with gravity. I used a foam noodle for flotation and doggie paddled and anything else I could think of to get the joint moving in all directions. I found walking in the shallow end, water chest high, was the best thing for it. I really focused on my gait and walking normal.

I can now walk with only a slight limp now because I was able to stretch the quadriceps muscle enough so that my gait is more normal. For some reason, I have been having a lot of pain in my quad.

I also find a foam roller to be essential(Walmart – $15). I use it on the glutes, quadriceps and IT band areas specifically and anywhere else that is tight. I carry a tennis ball around with me and massage out the glutes against a wall and that helps a lot also to loosen those muscles. It’s like constant self-administered PT!

I’d be interested in hearing about how you are both progressing, and from anyone else, and any things you discover that are working well for you.

Mary Jane

I’m wondering how minimaxwell is doing now? I live in the Boston area and am three days post-op acetabular labral tear surgery. I haven’t had my post-op appt. yet, so am not totally sure what they found or what was done, aside from a significant tear and some arthritis. We didn’t know there was a tear until he actually got in there to see what was going on. I found this site scouring the internet for information about the rehabilitation protocol. This is the only site I have found that relates a hip labral tear to yoga or have read of anyone else who has actually experienced this!

I believe I injured myself a year and half ago. I had tried cortisone shots, physical therapy, rest, an MRI – which showed nothing. I gradually, drastically modified my practice prior to the surgery. I couldn’t do many, if any, standing poses. The only thing that gave me any relief was the supta padangusthasana series as it stretched the rotators, glutes, etc. that were contracting around the injury.

I was told I should stay on crutches for 3-4 weeks and the rehabilitation will be 3-4 months. Previously my yoga practice and studies were a large part of my life. I’m not sure when I will be able to return to a yoga practice or what that will include. I don’t think it will include much in the way of pigeon or other intense hip openers. I’m a little gun shy about even going back to a yoga practice at all at this point.

I started out doing yoga at Baron Baptiste in Boston, moved on to Iyengar with all the props, which I loved, then went on to Anusara. I missed the Iyengar props but love the Anusara philosophy, though I was concerned about the heavy emphasis on hip openers, and in retrospect, justifiably so as it was shortly after beginning Anusara that the hip problem showed up. I also was unable to pinpoint what exactly was causing the problem because it wouldn’t hurt in classes, but would be painful later. I was in a year long immersion program (which consisted of six weekends over the course of a year) and it got worse it seemed each time I went. We kept thinking it was an alignment issue in the poses and proper alignment would alleviate the problem.

It doesn’t seem that this thread is being viewed that much lately, but I am interested in talking with others who have experienced this, what you are doing now, how you are coping. Letting go of my practice, asana practice that is, is a tough yogic exercise in itself, but it is a great opportunity to deepen a meditation practice.

Looking forward to hearing from you!