• My Experience

    An Update on My Hip

    Last week I talked about issues I was running into with my hip. I had surgery earlier this year on my left hip. I had extra bone which caused a tear in my labrum making it extremely painful to exercise. The significance of this tear was something they’d usually find in someone older, around 65-70. Now, after having amazing relief in my left hip, my right hip is causing me problems. I saw my orthopedic surgeon and they came up with a treatment plan. After looking at images of my hip, it’s clear there are abnormalities. Not only do I have extra bone on my femur and hip socket, my…

  • My Experience

    Running Into More Problems

    As you may know, I’m finally off my surgery restrictions and I’m back to running. It has been quite the journey thus far. I’m genuinely shocked at how much endurance I’ve maintained. It feels incredible to be able to run a mile without any issues. The other day, I managed to run two miles with a short walk in between them. My heart has struggled to keep up but it’s doing its best. I can’t fault it for needing a bit of help after just starting up again. Shockingly, my heart is not the part of my body that is struggling the most while running. Running has always been a…

  • Helpful Hints

    Tips For Running Successfully

    Running is one of the simple joys in life. At least it is for me. Running has not always come easy for me. When I first started out, I hated it. I mean, I really hated it. As it became easier, it was a quick way to release a lot of energy. When I was anxious, excited, angry, or all of the above my first instinct became running. How did I get to this place? I followed the simple and easy steps that I’m sharing with you! One Foot In Front Of The Other Keep going. If you don’t like it, keep running. It’s one foot at a time. When…

  • My Experience

    I'm Running a Marathon

    I’m ecstatic to share that I finally got the approval to run! It has been a long journey back. It’s been eight months since I last ran and these first few times have felt absolutely amazing. As I observe my body in its various states, it’s clear I have work to do to train my heart once again. I assumed when I started running again my biggest obstacle would be my hip. Unfortunately, my heart is having to work in overdrive to keep my body upright. My heart has never adjusted to exercise the way it’s supposed to. Even when I was at my peak of fitness, my heart would…

  • My Experience

    A Setback

    About two weeks ago, I wrote about the progress I was making with my hip. I was thrilled at the prospect of biking thirty minutes each day. I could take long walks without pain or issue. I was elated. Now, I’ve had a setback. It’s not major but any setback can feel like a blow, not only in my progress but to my confidence. I want to trust my hip and allow it to succeed but the more I worked, the more pain came along with it. I discussed this with my physical therapist and even my surgeon. A setback is to be expected here and there but I wasn’t…

  • Helpful Hints,  My Experience

    Exercises for After a Hip Arthroscopy

    Finding exercises that don’t include your hip feels impossible. At least in my experience. All abdominal exercises and even some arm exercises include the hip. Now I’m not a personal trainer or a physical therapist. I have absolutely no qualifications to tell you how you should or shouldn’t exercise. I’m simply putting this out there because it took around ten hours of google and youtube searching to find exercises. I wanted to recondition my body without involving my hip. Crunches Crunches are a great exercise when you want to work on your abs. It’s the only exercise that I’ve found to be applicable to my situation. I tried a sit…

  • My Experience

    Making Progress With My Hip

    After my hip surgery, I’ve had a lot of ups and downs. For the most part, everyone is excited to see the progress I’ve made. I’m ahead of schedule and my hip is recovering nicely. I was ecstatic to get off crutches but it came with a price. I started to have extra pain in my hip when walking, something I didn’t experience with crutches. This brought me to a difficult fork in the road. Suddenly, I had to scale back what I was doing to accommodate this new change. Even with that set back, I’ve started physical therapy and we can see new results everyday. Choosing to get this…

  • Helpful Hints,  My Experience

    What I Learned From Hip Surgery

    We all know that surgery, in one form or another, is not always an enjoyable experience. It’s not the worst by any means (at least mine haven’t been) but if given the choice, most of us would opt out. Orthopedic surgery is a whole new experience for me. It’s the first opportunity I have to jeopardize my health by trying to recover too quickly. It doesn’t matter if I want to walk, if I want to push through pain, or if I want to test the limits of what my new hip can do. I can cause damage. That scares me. Everyone who is close to me is aware of…

  • My Experience

    Preparing For Surgery

    I have a surgery date for my hip arthroscopy! This is exciting to me because I’m ready to start recovery. My surgery will take place the second week of February. Apparently, I like to recover during holidays because it’s the day before Valentine’s day. Getting to this point was a long journey and now it’s time to prepare. This means that I need to train Crush to work with crutches. This is new to both of us. I need to strengthen my body, specifically my abdominal muscles and my arms. Finally, I need to prepare for being somewhat immoblie. This means moving into a different room closer to surgery.The appointment…

  • Helpful Hints,  My Experience

    How to Love Your Body

    Three years ago, I hit a serious fitness craze. I was working out daily, eating healthy, and focusing on my fitness goals. I was more confident than I had ever been. I loved my body and people knew it. Now, I wouldn’t say I was cocky or overly self confident. I was proud of the work that I put into my body and how that work showed. When I got sick, I lost all control over what my body looked like. If you’ve ever been on steroids long term you know what it means to have prednisone puff. I was the same weight but it looked like I gained twenty…