3.5 years post open surgical dislocation

Lately I have been getting a lot of emails from hip patients as well as comments on the blog which makes me wonder if it is coming up higher on search engines than in the past. The multitude of emails has reminded me that it is only fair to continue to update my readers to my progress. Well, here I am, 3.5 years later, and I am RUNNING. Yes. Running. I decided that it was time to once and for all take my life back and get back into shape. A lot of my friends and family members had been talking about a gym/ workout called Orange Theory Fitness. If you don't know what OTF is then I highly recommend you google it. It is a form of high intensity interval training involving a treadmill, rowing machine, weights and straps. About half of the 60 minute class is spent doing cardio and half is spent in the weight room. Throughout the class, your heart rate is monitored and the goal is to spend greater than 12 minutes working at 84% of your maximum heart rate. I started almost 4 months ago. It was a very timid start as I still had trochanteric pain and at times other parts of my hip would flare up. I began with only walking on the treadmill and avoiding high impact activities in the weight room including jumping. After a few weeks, I was feeling good and honestly I wasn't being challenged like I wanted to be. I decided to jog for part of the treadmill time. I jogged when we were to increase the speed and walked when we were to do a slow jog. Well, 3 months later my jog is a run and my walk is a jog. I feel better than I have in years. The trochanteric pain has disappeared almost completely. I can comfortably sleep on my right side, something I haven't been able to do in 3.5 years. In hindsight, my body needed to get strong and I was holding back out of fear. I don't recommend that anyone jump on a high intensity workout when they are still recovering but for me, the time had come. Enough was enough. I am now enjoying OTF 4-5 times per week, my husband comes as well. We are having a blast getting into shape together. When I am having a tough day in the class, I flash back to my post-op X-Ray, and remind myself how far I have come and much I am capable of.