The Calf Pumps and The Barrel

Here are the famous Calf Pumps and the anti-rotational barrel that I keep talking about. After surgery, you are not allowed to let your leg rotate externally because it affects the healing of the joint capsule. So, you are given a green band to tie your legs together, a barrel with velcro, and velcro boots that stick to that barrel. Personally, the boots are a pain in the butt and are incredibly uncomfortable because they make you sweat. So, since my mom has done this surgery twice already, she discovered a way to use the barrel without the boots.

So, as you can see in the picture, we get Shae's foot straight and comfortable, then put the barrel in between her legs, and then use the strap to keep them together.

On top of all of that, Shae also has to use calf pumps. These are used in order to prevent blood clots. Anytime Shae is still for more then 20 minutes, she has to use the pumps. It pushes a burst of air through the wrap. It isn't too bad, but if you are having a bad pain day, it can be uncomfortable because the pump of air, sometimes radiates up towards your hip.
But Shae is lucky, because when I had my first hip surgery I was given foot pumps, and those are the worst. They are really uncomfortable and they sent more pain up my hip then what the calf pumps have ever done.

A nice tip when using the calf pumps, is to make sure that you put the wrap over a pair of long pants because if you don't then they make you sweat.