Gardening After A Hip Replacement

[pip24]

I will probably be having a hip replacement in the near future and would like to know if any forum members who are keen on gardening have had this proceedure done and how they cope. My main concerns are digging, kneeling and bending and the amount of time required to get back to be able to do these motions . We have a small lawn/border garden in France that will not be a problem but I have a half plot veg allotment in the U.K that gives me concern as to whether I will still be able to maintain it or not.

[woolybanana]

Perhaps the answer may be to try and find out whether there are people with allotments in Uk who have had replacements and see how they get on, if they do. Or have raised beds.

[Patf]

I had a hip replacement, here in France, in August 2006. Before that I used to do quite a lot of heavy gardening (all gardening seems heavy here, with the clay, fast growth etc.)

But after I probably didn't do any until the following spring, mainly because we moved house in the Nov.

After the op. you are told to  kneel at first to pick things up, or do some gentle weeding . There was something about bending the non-op knee first.

I can't remember when I started digging again, but I still put the non- op foot on the spade.

If you are having the operation in the UK you might not get much physio afterwards, but they should give you instructions what to do and what not to do. If not I would go privately for a couple of physio sessions and advice.

Here you are given 2 weeks physio in hospital followed by 20 outpatient sessions. And lots of advice including the right and wrong ways to have sex [:D]

The main aim is to avoid dislocation of the prosthesis. Build up the muscles around it.

Hopefully you should still be able to work in your allotment after a few months , but maybe try to time your operation just before the garden is more or less dormant (as now.)

[pip24]

Hi thanks for the replies, I have asked the question on our alloment site (80 plots) also at another large site. There are people with various physical conditions heart, limb etc but nobody that has had a hip job. It seems that when someone gets to this stage they hang their spade up and call it a day.

Pat thank you for the information and advice that you have given, It is most helpful and has given me a bit of hope to keep the plot on for the next twelve months and see how it goes from there.

[Gardengirl]

Pip, maybe you can ask at your local horticultural group  for help(sounds very posh as I write it, but ours is very down to earth - groan!    [:)]). Sometimes there are people willing to take on tasks for people going through patches of ill-health. Paying someone to do your digging is another option. My father had a leg amputated in his mid-seventies, and being a very keen gardener, he didn't want to have to give it up. He paid a local chap to dig for him each autumn, and he then carried on with the hoeing, planting and harvesting himself, well into his 80s.

[pip24]

Thanks for your advice and encouragement GG. The way I manage at the moment is that I dig and plant and care for the plot from mid October to mid June.Then I go to France. My daughter and family take over and take the produce. Her two little boys enjoy picking the peas, strawberries and digging 'tatoes ' this is one reason why I would like to keep going.Unfortunatly they don't want to dig the plot.

I have talked to my neighbouring plot holder and he has offered to dig it for me or dig plant and crop it for himself for twelve months to see how I recover. So I am lucky enough to have people to help me through this period. I will then have to decide what to do.

[Patf]

Pip - if the operation goes according to plan you should be as "good as new" after about 6 months. A lot of it depends on your degree of fitness before the op.

Glad you've decided to keep you allotment. [:)]

[foxyloxy25]

Two years this coming February, my husband had his hip replacement done. Amazing, it was a super job, and he went directly to the the Centre de reeducation for four weeks. By the time summer came he was gardening on the vegetable patch. Obviously he followed the guide lines about not sitting on the haunches etc, but he has truly never had any problems, and does all the heavy gardening. Good luck with your hip replacement and I hope it all goes well for you.

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