It’s been a few weeks since I have posted an update and I passed the 5 months post-op mark! I’ve been pretty busy and a lot of things are coming up, so here is what has been happening!

I’m back with my original physical therapist since she has returned from maternity leave, and she has really been amping up with more impact and dynamic movement exercises, working to emulate things I do in Jiu Jitsu class. My therapist has researched and improvised various exercises in order to make them more specific to Jiu Jitsu movement patterns. We start each session with a check in for any tweaks I’ve felt during the week while training in class, a physical assessment, and she makes any necessary adjustments to my program for the day.

I will be seeing my surgeon for a check in next week and PT agrees that he will be very pleased with my progress overall and thinks it is very possible that he will release me entirely from physical therapy sessions (10 days shy from my official 6-month post-op mark). I am scheduled to see her immediately after my appointment with him, if he says I’m free to go I can just come downstairs and bring the good news and cookies.

This past week I had a great class where I rolled as close to all out as I have since surgery. I still feel some rotational restrictions that I’m going to mention to my surgeon, but I think that will just take some more time to work through carefully. It was a good contrast to the previous week where my hip got twisted pretty abruptly in class and I yelled – that caused some inflammation that made me take a few days away from the mats and some anti-inflammatories along with extra home care. My PT checked it of course and agreed that it was just inflamed from the abrupt movement. This was the first tweak/inflammation issue I’ve had of any kind during my entire recovery process – which is pretty stinking good for this sort of surgical recovery.

The only movements still giving me discomfort are quick external hip rotation and compression across the midline. All other movements are fine with a proper warm up before training. I do need to improve comfort and stability at the end of my range of motion, and if I sit for hours without a stretch break it will start aching as well. These are all things I expect to improve in the coming months.

Here’s how training is looking right now:

• I’m doing most moves in class, just avoiding high impact takedown drills (judo trips and such are ok)
• Positional sparring rounds in class after drilling: if my pre-selected partners are not available when we change partners I sit a round. Otherwise I proceed like usual.
• Sticking with familiar training partners for sparring. Since they are partners whose movements I can trust, I don’t have to guard my own self so intently and can therefore progress my own movement confidence safely.
• I do my own specific warm ups before class which usually overlaps into the group warm up time as well. I do joint mobilization and muscle activation exercises that I use in my PT sessions before getting into strength training.
• This past week I have started adding more evening stretching before going to bed – in addition to my red light therapy sessions. As training and impact amps up I need to increase recovery measures to make sure the load stays balanced.

Latest PT Session (mostly self-reference):

• Started with PT check in and warm up on elliptical
• Stretches: leg box drills adding lean forward over front leg, then back leg clamshell, heel lift, then leg lift (new); kneeling quad/flexor/psoas stretch, tabletop hip isolated rotation (new)
• Decompress hip by using heavy band anchored to wall around bent leg while lying face up on floor. Pull knee toward chest to decompress joint
• Activation: Free standing clamshells with band, leaning wall runs with band around feet, squat with soccer ball between knees (hold until feel burn then hold for 10 more secs), hip airplanes on wall, banded sidesteps one foot anchored to the wall at the time, Sidesteps anchored to wall by torso,
• Strength: hold bear crawl position and slide small plate with toe forward and back 10x, single leg box bridges, 45# v-bar single leg RDL, 45# v-bar squat, Single leg shuttle squat kickback, 45# sled push/pull
• Other exercises done in previous sessions: Back lunge with cable row at top, Heel elevated kettlebell squat, medicine ball slams (start on two feet, end on one), step off 20 inch box and catch weight on one foot lightly, hop with feet 2 to 1 off and on 20 inch box.

Coming Up

I see my surgeon next Wednesday and am compiling a list of questions for him. Most pressing is to let him know I booked the flights to compete at the European Championships and Tokyo Grand Slam in January since at our last visit he said it was a “reasonable goal”. I’ve also registered for the Europeans and am waiting for registration to open for the Tokyo event – I’ll be flying from Lisbon to Tokyo and doing both events in one big trip.

I have other planned events lining up as well for the year – at least one major event a month (2 more in Feb). The first 6 months of the year I will be competing in 7-9 countries depending on final tournament schedules. I want to be able to enjoy training and learning Jiu Jitsu for the rest of my life, and don’t want to be the stereotype of the old black belt who is too broken to do anything but sit in the corner of the mat with their broken everything. I however do want to get out there and enjoy competing as much as I can while I’m still physically capable of making the rounds at this high frequency. I know with my chronic joint/connective tissue condition I need to be extra cautious about wear and tear on my joints if I want longevity for training, so it’s always a constant game of push and “check in”.

When and if I am released from physical therapy sessions, I will have to continue a structured rehab protocol on my own in order to maximize my full recovery. It will also keep my other hip stronger and useable as my initial assessment done indicated I have the same issue in my other hip (labrum tear/impingement), it’s just not giving me as much difficulty as my right hip was so my surgeon said we would just leave it alone unless it became a functional problem for me.