Onto the Next Phase

Believe it or not, it has been 9 months since when we think the injury occurred. I’ve been back on the bike for three months, gradually getting some fitness back. Ever since Mitchell, the injury has improved quite a bit, but still is not fully recovered.

Today was my follow-up doctor appointment. I was looking forward to some good news, and more or less got some. The hip is definitely improving, and we can move onto the next phase in my recovery.

Beginning next week, I will begin physical therapy. The idea is that I begin putting a little more weight on the hip, which will be guided by the therapists. My guess is it will be low weights, high reps, probably similar to what I did this offseason, but not as intense. That’ll be a good way to test the hip, and also strengthen the muscles that hopefully will aid in my recovery.

Surgery is still not out of the question, but with every new step of improvement, it becomes less and less likely. The next few months will determine the course of action, and if I continue to improve, I’ll probably be spared the knife.

Overall, the healing process has been disappointingly slow, which prompted me to ask about typical recovery times in other patients. The answer was not what I was looking for. My recovery speed is not out of the ordinary.

Eric, my PA, told an interesting yet frightening story about a runner trying to qualify for the Olympics. She suffered the same injury while increasing her training, and lost out on her dreams for London 2012. It has been 13 months since she suffered the injury, and she is still far from recovered. Ugh, I thought. Does that mean I’ll be looking at a similar recovery time? He said that my injury could actually be worse because it involves the labrum.

He wants me to get to the point where I don’t even think about my hip while riding — a tall order from now. It might take the next few months, perhaps the rest of the year.

The good thing is that I am a cyclist, and I can continue doing what I love. I may even be able to increase my training somewhat. I’m still going to stay away from standing on the bike unless absolutely necessary, and will try to work in plenty of recovery between big rides. The most important part for me is to enjoy what I’m doing even with the physical limitations. In time I’ll be in beastmode again.