Return to work: post-hip surgery
Three and a half months post my hip revision surgery was time to return to work. I’m very fortunate that I can do my job remotely, but it does involve a lot of sitting. With my hip dysplasia, and especially post-surgery, this is of course better than a job standing on my feet all day. But as anyone with joint issues will tell you, being too sedentary can also cause problems and become painful.
The company that I work for is understanding and I’m also able to phase my return to work, to minimise prolonged sitting. I’m working four hours per day to start with, and after some trial and error in week 1, I’ve learned it’s better to split those hours rather than try and work just mornings. Two hours at either end of the day allows me to balance moving and resting between working, which helps stop my hip seizing up, and gives my arms and neck a rest as they get used to life with a screen, keyboard and mouse again (think about how you have to adjust back to that posture after a two week holiday!). My home office is also next to the bedroom, so I’ve found it helpful to be able to have some video calls sitting on the bed, with my legs out in front of me. This distributes the load on my hips differently and the variety of positions between chair and bed, makes it easier for me to focus on my work, not my body.
It’s been good to get back into the rhythm of working. There are only so many eps of Love it or List it that I can watch, and it’s good to apply my brain to something other than my own rehab. The best part has been meeting colleagues again, and especially my own amazing team of marketers; their passion, drive and humour has been energising. And I have a purpose each day. Plus the weekends are actually different from the weekdays.
So now, it’s about settling down into this new rhythm, whilst making sure that I use my ‘off’ hours, to keep up my exercises to improve my physical capabilities. The first week I worked on 3 days, which was enough! I slept a lot that weekend. By day three, my hands had started tingling, two fingers a little numb. We think this is a combination of thoracic outlet symptoms and the carpel tunnel being aggravated by my crutches. And so I’ve got some different crutches to distribute the weight across my whole hand, which is way better.
Last week I worked on 4 days, with Wednesday off to rest and do physio. Splitting the hours definitely helped with the tingling. And…drumroll…I finally made it back to the swimming pool - yippee!!
Swimming has always helped my upper body, which I over-use to compensate for my weak hips, glutes and quads. So when my upper body symptoms started, I knew I had to try and get in the pool. The staff at the local health centre know me well, and were brilliant as ever. As was my partner who came for moral support/backup the first time.
Amazingly I could get in and out of the pool via the ladder (relying on my right leg to take most of the weight). The only challenge is where to put the crutches, and more importantly, how to pick them up when I get to the the top of the ladder. The answer is to ask another swimmer or lifeguard.
Being in the pool made me smile from ear to ear - literally. And as I took those first few strokes (strictly front crawl) my neck, arms and lateral muscles were smiling too. Finally they get to move freely, not hold solid. I alternate between swimming, and doing hydrotherapy exercises. Which also means my partner no longer has to drive me to hydro sessions, which saves a couple of hours a week. I can walk to and from the pool and because my return to work is not yet full time, it doesn’t matter it takes me 25 minutes each way (ordinarily it’s about 7 minutes) in the middle of the day. I can also swim and navigate the changing rooms when it’s quieter, instead of early morning.
It’s still going to be some time before I see the full benefit of this surgery (a whole year according to my surgeon).
So what can I do? I can now sit on a normal height dining chair, as long as it has arms, for about 30 mins. I still can’t consider a sofa. I’m back to sleeping upstairs my own bed. And with the help of a bath board and an extra grab rail fitted above the bath, I can make it into the shower. I am not missing the daily flannel washes! I can walk around the ground floor of the house with one crutch, so I can carry a cuppa from the kitchen to my armchair (important for a tea addict). And when I’m out I am much more confident walking with reciprocal crutches, taking a bit more weight through each leg, and using a more ‘normal’ gait.
What can’t I do, yet? I still need a slightly higher loo seat with arm rests, so I can’t brave being away from home for long enough to need a pee. It’s definitely easier getting into the passenger seat of the mini, with only 2 cushions now needed not 4, and I can lift my own leg in and out rather than needing help. But I can’t close the door behind me as I have to have space to open the door really wide. And I can’t sit well enough to drive even the automatic car. A train or bus trip feels some way off. So no singing in carol concerts this Christmas, alas.
But still, I am making progress. I have come a long way since my hip revision surgery. And with the bilateral hip dysplasia and other odd joints, it was never going to be a speedy recovery. But returning to work, and to swimming, are both big steps on the hip revision rehab journey.
Thanks for being with me and sharing my progress.
Love, Jill x
Jill Pringle was born in 1971 with bilateral hip dysplasia and has had various orthopaedic surgeries as a child and adult. She writes this blog to share her experiences of living and walking with DDH to raise awareness of this common condition. Jill had a full revision in 2025 of her hip replacement from 2003.
Hip Dip Hooray! 100 lengths for Steps Charity in Hip Health Awareness Month
This morning I switched my walking shoes for my swimming goggles for a single 2.5km swim (100 lengths of the pool). I completed my Hip Dip in 1 hour and 7 minutes!
If you have hip dysplasia, or someone in your family does, then you’re more likely to know that June is Hip Health Awareness month. Every year, to mark it, Steps Charity hold a Hip Dip Swimathon. This encourages those of us with different hips to take to the pool and raise money for others with hip issues.
Swimming helps me walk. The days that start with a swim are the days I walk better. If I’m having a bad joints day, or I’m in pain, then getting in the pool is the best way to realign myself. I think I was really designed to be more of a sea mammal than a land mammal!
Swimming is particularly good for people like me, born with hip conditions, as it emphasizes upper body activity whilst supporting my body weight. It avoids any load on the hip joints. For me swimming is fun. I have really fond memories of swimming with my parents and group swimming lessons at school. For the first time I found something sporty that I could do as well as other kids in my class. Despite my hips, knees, ankles and feet all being deformed.
I had a hip replacement when I was 32. This was after my old hip - which was actually just a femur resting on the edge of my pelvis as I was born with no socket at all on the left side - finally gave way. I had 18 months of significant pain, commuting to work on crutches, before I finally got my bionic hip. It wasn’t a straightforward replacement as, to this day, part of my pelvis is still missing which made grafting a metal socket onto it hard. Yet it transformed my pain levels and I’m so grateful to have had it.
After my hip replacement I recovered first with some hydro-therapy, and then with regular swimming. I took some swimming lessons to get my face in the water to learn front crawl, and from there I’ve always found the water the most natural place for me and my hips.
I normally swim for 30 minutes and don’t count the lengths. But this morning my lovely partner was there to count me up to 100, watched over by the lifeguards. I’m so thankful to the Elmbridge Excel Leisure Centre in Walton for their practical support, as well as the regular the swimmers around me in the pool who took time to say well done! And I can’t believe I did it in just over an hour.
And from you, well, if you get chance to pop £5 in the JustGiving page pot, I’d appreciate it. £5 would allow Steps to send out a full information pack out to someone who is newly diagnosed, or their family. It will give them the community and support they need to know there are other people out there with different hips, and they are not alone.
Most of all thank you for reading. That’s what Hip Health Awareness Month is all about J
Love to you all, Jill xx
DONATE HERE NOW for Jill’s Hip Dip on her JustGiving page.
You can follow @WalkingJill on Facebook or Twitter, or learn more about hip dysplasia from Steps Charity here.