This has given me something to do while laying flat on my back. I’m 5 days out from a repair for a full thickness tear of my right gluteus medius tendon. The pain hasn’t been difficult and I didn’t need any meds at home. So far the most difficult things have been using the toilet and showering, and my arthritic hands are already tired of the crutches and walker. I am also in my head a little, worrying about damaging the repair. My restrictions are no load bearing, a brace to limit hip movement to 60 degrees, and no abduction or adduction.

I’m 57 male and managed to tear this while doing PT for the left hip. I cannot imagine having the strength and stamina for recovery at a more advanced age.

I had the repair done by Dr. Devon Myers in St. Louis. He has been fantastic, but the hospital seemed vastly unprepared to care for me after. The nurses simply underestimated the difficulty and weren’t going to let me talk with occupational therapy. Heck, they were expecting me to walk to the car and I was weak and unsteady, having never used crutches. By then I was more than 24 hours out from any nutrition, having had nothing aside from ice chips and water. I guess my advice is to be sure both the surgeon and post-op care team are prepared. I think the procedure is uncommon enough that the nurses simply hadn’t experienced it,

Edit: In my case, the tear was found to be a little less severe than believed from MRI. I had significant calcification that had to be cleaned out. It made the tear more difficult to assess without going in. Dr. Myers also cleaned out the calcification, which is now believed to be responsible for my left hip pain that started this mess. I hope to get that taken care of also. I did not respond well to one year of PT.