Labral Hip Surgery

[brittshailaja]

Hello deare Bernie
I have torn the Labrum in my right hip extensively beginning december. Thought i would be able to heal trough Yoga (im a yoga teacher and im pretty good with my body and feeling boundaries etc) . The pain started getting worse and I've started to become very limited in movement as well as clicking of my hip even when walking so i had an MRI done which showed extensive tear of the labrum and cysts which are result of still using the hip with the tear. I have looked into everything and apparently there is no way around surgery for me this time. I am seeing my surgeon on Monday 5th for details. I am wondering if you have experience with recovery and yoga poses post laproscopic surgery?? i am a very active person and i can't possibly imagine that i will take this long to recover and feel as yoga will extremely benefit me. Really value your feedback and experience .
Best wishes and blessings

[Bernie]

You have obviously researched this area well, and as a dedicated yoga teacher, you know your body well also, but for those who aren't familiar with labral tears - a short explanation is in order. A labrum is a cuff of cartilage that lines the shoulder and hip sockets. They extend the socket so that the ball of the humerus or femur can be more firmly connected in the joint, and the labrum also increases the area over which lubricating synovial fluids flow and ease our movements. Unfortunately, either through slow degeneration of this cartilage (called arthritis) or through a sudden trauma or injury, the labrum may be torn. The symptoms are pain and a feeling of restricted movement.

It used to be considered that the only way to really fix this problem was through surgery: the surgeon would trim away the torn part of the labrum. However, many patients were advised to simply live with the problem, because the complications of the surgery were too much. With modern arthroscopic surgical techniques, the after-effects of the surgery are not as severe as they once were, but still many months of rehab await those who undergo surgery. Also, today, another option exists to cutting away the torn labrum, and that is to reattach it, which in the long run is much better for the joint. This process is called labral refixation. I wonder if you have discussed this possibility with your doctor? [You may want to look at this article discussing the various options before your next appointment.]

Your question, however, was - what to do during recovery? The most important thing to do is to listen to your surgeon and see a competent physiotherapist. The surgeon is the one who has seen what is going on in your hip and knows you the best. (However, when I had my knees operated on, I asked my surgeon to give me a local anaesthetic, so that I could stay awake and watch the video monitor too! I found the experience and the “tour” my surgeon gave me fascinating! You may as well.) Modern medicine now recognizes that the best thing we can do to speed up healing and minimize scar tissue is early mobilization. As soon as you are given the all clear, you need to start moving your joint, but gently. I have talked about the trade-off between too much and too little movement in several newsletter articles (see The Goldilocks Principle and Yin Yoga is not Restorative Yoga.) While you can do too much too soon, the answer is not to not do anything. You need to get active as quickly as you can.

Which activities? Again listen to your health care team! What do they say? Do they advise rebuilding muscular strength? If so they may recommend core stabilizing movements like Crocodile/Plank poses, Boat poses, Bridge, etc. Do they agree that some connective tissue strengthening also is in order? In which case, some Yin Yoga poses may work well for you: See the flows for the Hips described in YinSights or in my videos on YouTube or MyYogaOnline.

Again, don’t do too much but do move daily as soon as you have the all clear. Now, to reduce the inflammation that accompanies the operation, and prevents movement, check out Earthing! This will also speed your recovery.

Good luck!
Bernie

[brittshailaja]

Dearest bernie

Thanks so much for your amazing Reply! Really helpful and will treasure it!
Yes, i have researched about the different techniques and i also read that with an extensive tear they can't shave it off anyways , which is my case.
I am seeing the surgeon on Monday and will ask all the questions.
If it helps people, i can also post how things are going with surgery and recovery as i have learnt that this injury often happens with dancers and also some yoga teachers..

Really appreciate your advice and reply immensely!
Blessings and sparkles
Britt

[Bernie]

Hi Britt - yes, it would be great to hear about your post-op recovery and how your yoga practice effects it. If you are willing to share, I am sure there will be many wanting to learn!

Good Luck!
Bernie

[E-Bush]

Hello,

So glad to see this subject here! I have had some serious pain in my body for the last 9 months. Finally got and MRI and the results are -
'Non-displaced full thickness chondrolabral junction tear anterolateral acetabular labrum with trace of iliopsoas and small joint effusion"
(so many big words)
AND
Disc bulge L5/S1, disc protrusion L4/L5

I have been referred to a hip surgeon and have an apt in 3 weeks.
My osteo has advised me not to do any hip openers… I start my day in butterfly… it gives me so much relief and can't believe that something that makes me feel so good is doing any harm…? Im also a yoga teacher and am now very aware of my bodies boundaries.

Britt, did you have surgery? How did your recovery go?

Thanks Em

[brittshailaja]

Hi all

so sorry its taken me so long to post here.. its been a Rollercoaster ride the past few months and didnt want to post till i knew more

So Surgery went really well, it was worse than they though from what they had seen in the MRI pre Surgery so it was a good desicion to have the surgery.
I made sure i ate super healthy and drank coconut and green juices every day for optimat recovery as well as Eucommia Bark Tincture from Dragon Herbs to supplement and help recover and grow the damaged tissue , bones, cartilages and ligaments.
I had a really amazing Physio which i saw 2 -3 times a week and was on top of it all..did my 2 times daily on the hometrainer as ordered by my doctor and after a month i was able to start with a gentle Yoga again..To bear in mind certain positions. I was supposed to walk on crutches for 2 weeks but ditched them after 5 days as i didnt feel the need anymore.
I started to be able to walk again really well after about 6 week and my surgeon was really impressed and could hardly believe how fast i healed after my 8 week post surgery check up. So everything was going amazing.
I then travelled to Burning Man and had the most amazing time dancing and being..(no problems at all anymore, so dancing was no issue and didnt result in pain) Day 5 of burning Man i dislocated my hip (the operated one)all of a sudden. They couldnt get it back in there so they had to transfer me from Black Rock City to Reno Hospital (2 hours Ambulance) then tried again for the 4th time to get in in without success..they had to get the orthopaedic surgeon in at 3am and i had to go into theatre with a GA. Sucess this time after the Hip being out for 7 ,5 hours.. i was lucky as the cut off time for loosing a limb is 8 hours approx.
Anyways, most painful thing i have ever experienced in my entire life.
I wasnt able to walk straight for 3 weeks and was on crutches..due to the man attempts popping the hip back in they had broken the head of my Femur bone too, but luckily enough the operated part was all still in one piece which was pretty impressive and none of the Doctors could believe what had happened.
Debriefing with my Surgeon (i was so scared he would yell at me for dancing 3 months post surgery), he appologised to many times as this is not supposed to happen and said i didnt do anything wrong. He said he most likely took to much of my hip bone off during surgery. Usually not a problem but maybe my natural anatomy was just different and made to have more bone than the majority of people. (when they did the labrum repair he took some of the hip bone of the hip socket off)
Its been a rollercoaster and definitely a massive learning curve..i wasnt able to do ANY yoga or anything for a long time...i couldnt even sit properly (not even crossed legged) so i started to meditate just in savasana instead..working on positive mind set, on motivation , on power of manifestation in positive thinking.
It was extremely frustrating and i still dont quite understand what it is the universe has given me to learn..i do know that is was total detachment of my ego..even though i thought i had detached post surgery i was to eager with my practice i think..even though all went well..so now after this, i had no other choice than to fully let go of all ... and something really precious to mention, which has nothing to do with the actual hip, but due to all of this i now am engaged to the love of my life whom i met at burning man on my first night:) if i wouldnt of had the accident we wouldnt of ever seen eachother again. now though, i had to stay in Reno 3 more weeks due to not being able to fly and we could continue to unfold and experience our burning man love:)

Its been 7 months since the Dislocation now and only since 2 weeks i have been able to start with a yoga practice again and am going to classes .. I feel that i slowly slowly am improving but i still have an awful lot of problems and mostly pain..(not since ive started yoga again) I do have to be VERY concious of my ego during my practice and not over do it.
I have another MRI and check up in 3 weeks so will give you all an update.


So my lesson and opinion and advice for all of this: If you have a tear, try healing it with a concious Yoga Practice and Physio first, really resting that Hip thats injured (so no warrior poses, no backbends, no Hip openers, no crossed legged sitting etc). if its not better after a few months then surgery is an option but really communicate well with your surgeon on what he is doing and see if your ok with it all, do research, ask people. Listen to your intuition, to your heart.. you are the only person who knows whats right for YOU.
If you do have surgery, take the surgeons advice for recovery and also follow your own intuition and heart as long as you can leave the EGO away..you will know what is good for you and what is not. and most of all POSITIVE THINKING, motivation and BELIEF!!! You will need to strengthen those muscles and ligaments but first they need to rest and recover after surgery before you use them again..

If you would like any advice or any questions you can email me at any time on sacredoomyoga@gmail.com:)

Hope i could help those whom read this Thread..

Blessings , Sparkles and gratitude to the universe for the lesson it gives us

Britt

[Bernie]

Hi Britt

What a journey you have been on. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your adventure. It is interesting to hear that your biggest challenge turned out to be a big blessing: if it was not for your re-injury, you would not have met the love of your life! So strange how the universe works sometimes.

Best of luck!
Bernie

[EmmaM]

Great article! Awesome and so helpful for me to read now before my next hip surgery on the 29th.