THR THR Post OP 2 1/2 months

Idahoguy

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I had THR on my right hip November 2, 2020. I still have a lot of pain that is a deep aching around the hip replacement. I don't walk with a cane and do not really limp. But I still can't walk more then block or two without it just hurting too much. I am doing physical therapy. Lifting my right leg up into my truck is very painful. Is this normal at this stage? Am I overdoing it with Physical Therapy? They have me doing leg presses on my workout. My pain is about 5 out of 10 when pre surgery a was 9 with osteoarthritis.
 
Hello @Idahoguy - and :welome:

But I still can't walk more then block or two without it just hurting too much. I am doing physical therapy. Lifting my right leg up into my truck is very painful. Is this normal at this stage? Am I overdoing it with Physical Therapy? They have me doing leg presses on my workout
Yes, I do think you're overdoing it, by quite a lot, and your pain is an indication of that.

It's still less than 3 months since you had this major surgery, which is less than a quarter of the way through this year-long recovery.
Yes, complete recovery does take a full year. Even though you look recovered, heling is still going on beneath the surface.

Normally, hips don't need a lot of PT and they certainly don't need as much as your therapist is having you do. On top of that, you're already back to driving a truck. That's really overworking your new hip.

This recovery is more like a marathon than a sprint, so slow down and try to pace yourself.
It's your hip and you have the right to say when you will not do painful or over-ambitious exercises, so speak up in defence of your hip.
Saying no to therapy - am I allowed to?

Here are our recovery guidelines, with lots of helpful and informative articles:
Hip Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​

3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you​
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​

4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these

5. Try to follow this

6. Access these pages on the website


Pain management and the pain chart
Healing: how long does it take?
Chart representation of THR recovery

Dislocation risk and 90 degree rule
Energy drain for THRs
Pain and swelling control: elevation is the key
Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

BIG TIP: Hips actually don't need any exercise to get better. They do a pretty good job of it all on their own if given half a chance. Trouble is, people don't give them a chance and end up with all sorts of aches and pains and sore spots. All they need is the best therapy which is walking and even then not to excess.

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in the majority of BoneSmart’s forums, we ask that each member have only One Recovery Thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
 
They have me doing leg presses on my workout

Ugh! The thought of leg presses makes me cringe.
Please step away from PT. With rest and some dedicated icing you’ll probably be feeling better soon (refer to the article above on ICE under Number 2) Ice several times per day, for 45-60 minutes, no less, each time you ice. Ice any / all areas that are causing pain or discomfort. It may take a couple weeks, so don’t give up. Consider using OTC pain relievers, if that helps, until you get back on track. Maybe you can manually lift your leg while accessing your vehicle (temporarily) until you can do it freely without pain?

Wishing you comfort and speedy relief.
 
One more echoing voice @Idahoguy. I did no formal PT and have had great success with less pain during recovery. A year into recovery and I'm doing things I haven't been able to do for 10 years or more. Follow the advice Celle left above and I think you will be a lot happier with your recovery.
 
Thanks You FC Bayern, Layla, and Celle.
Also is it normal to feel like your doing better and then feel like it gets worse.
I haven't done anything but walking since my last Physical Therapy last Wednesday, today is Monday, and I still have that deep ache and some sharp pains if I move my leg up, like getting into my Pick up truck. It seems a little swollen in the mornings and I ice it. Really doesn't hurt that much to walk though, just can't go real far.
But at just over 2 1/2 months maybe I expect more and have read cases where people are doing everything they used to do, like say hiking.
I cant see myself doing that yet.
 
But at just over 2 1/2 months maybe I expect more and have read cases where people are doing everything they used to do, like say hiking.
Very much an exception!

Sounds like physio might be causing you that pain? What exercises are you doing and now many reps?
 
So my physical therapy is always 2 sets 15 reps
Bike 6 minutes to warm up.
lay on back straight leg lifts
lay on back bridge (lift pelvis) right leg straighten and back then left then down.
standing heel raises. Like standing on tip toes.
Marching in place.
Standing in place right leg straight out to the right
Standing in place right leg straight back
Standing on right leg only for 60 seconds on soft foam pad
Step up right leg. On a stair height platform
Yoga ball against wall with my back squats.
Leg press machine both legs 100 pounds
leg press machine right leg 35 pounds
Then ice for 15 minutes
 
Well - given the list you just posted it is no wonder your poor op leg is complaining. My friend you are not in training. Your hip is trying to heal. There is plenty of time for strength training once that hip has recovered from all the trauma.

Every one of those exercises are brutal. Bridges are for core strength and do nothing for hips. And all those straight leg raises! Then you add leg presses.

And by the way - icing for 15 minutes does nothing. That's the amount of time you ice if you have a muscle injury. Ice for 45-60 minutes to help reduce swelling post surgery.

The decision is yours of course. Having had both hips replaced I can't even imagine doing all that before the one year mark.
 
Also is it normal to feel like your doing better and then feel like it gets worse.
Yes indeed.
This recovery isn't a straightforward linear progression.
It's much more like two steps forward and one step back, or up and down like a roller coaster.

I think this illustrates it best:
Recovery chart drawn.jpg


And I agree with Jaycey - all those exercises are far too demanding and they're doing more harm than good. Please stop doing them.
This article refers to knee replacements, but it applies just as much to hip replacements:
TKR recovery and an analogy to athletic training

But at just over 2 1/2 months maybe I expect more and have read cases where people are doing everything they used to do, like say hiking.
It's a year-long recovery and people who recover faster are very unusual. I think some of them genuinely forget how long it actually took them - and then there are the urban myths, usually about someone's first cousin's great-grandmother, who jumped off the operating table, ran down the theatre corridor, and was competing in a dance festival a month after surgery.
 
I have a true story about a friend of mine who insists he had a fast recovery:

My friend, Will, boasts that he went back to work 2 weeks after a knee replacement. He genuinely believes now that he had no problems and no complications - he isn't trying deliberately to deceive anyone.
The truth of it is this:
  • Although he did go back to work so early, he did it in a wheelchair.
  • His wife helped him get up, washed and dressed, and she drove him to and from work.
  • He stopped taking pain medications, saying they were "for Sissies".
  • Consequently, he was in pain and was grumpy all day.
  • His colleagues wished he had stayed at home.
  • He rested in bed all the time, except when at work.
  • His wife waited on him, hand and foot.
  • By the time he was really recovered, his wife was a worn-out wreck.
He doesn't tell the full story, because he doesn't remember it.
He thinks he had a fast, uncomplicated recovery, and that's what he tells people.
 
Just a guess from my experience but I think you're causing your own weakness and pain. What if you did nothing but walk for a week to see what happens? I don't think icing for 15 mins will do much, much higher time in the guidelines.
 
Yay! :happydance: You’re stopping the madness. A huge step in the right direction toward feeling better. I hope your visit to the ODIC (Over Did It Club) as we refer to it here is a short one. Please keep us posted on your progress. Wishing you comfort as you dial back, rest and heal.
@Idahoguy
 
Wow, man, that PT regiment sounds like way too much--not a little too much, but way too much. None of those exercises, in my understanding, speed up the healing of the tendons, muscles and soft tissue that was cut and stretched and banged around. In fact, doing them too soon, from what I understand, only slows down recovery of the soft tissue. I certainly threw myself backwards several times by pushing things.

Remember, over time, you'll naturally do more. You don't seem like a person who is in danger of sitting too much. So you'll just naturally do more over time. You don't have to push it! And when you walk a long distance one day, consider walking a shorter distance the next. Too often I would set a new "record" in a walk or an exercise, and I'd make the record the new expected minimum. Bad mistake.

Any chance you feel comfortable carrying a cane with you? You may also be walking too far too soon. Consider taking a cane with you and using that for ease for a while (at least for parts of the walk) until your pain calms down. You'll still be building up muscle with the cane.

But wow, man, that PT seems way out of control. It's regimens like that that I think led so many joint replacement surgeons to stop recommending PT after surgery. Oh, I did a variation of the exercises you're doing, and they hurt like heck afterwards. So I stopped. Took me six months for some of those exercises to stop hurting. And the healing continued long after six months.
 
I had 2 thr and tried therapy both times. Didn’t help the leg to get stronger faster it walk better . The third surgery a revision after 6 years from primary surgery. I just walked . And worked on staying strong eat well . Walking when it was appropriate for good blood flow .

of course it hurt, leg swollen and knee messed up foot to ankle very swollen. Couldn’t get my foot in my hubs shoe. In time following the recovery as presented by this forum it all eventually worked out.
Usually in most cases after 6 weeks walking became easier and I could concentrate on a good gate.
After a year or so it’s like it was just a memory ... And the agonizing pain is gone.
 
Thanks everybody.
I Ended my Physical Therapy Monday Jan 18. The physical therapist did say the routine was aggressive. I guess because I had told him I was active in my normal life, (Hiking and Biking), and he wanted to build my strength.
Anyway I am just going to rest a couple weeks just doing normal life, and then just start walking farther and maybe go on a bike at the gym. But not going to push anything and just see how how it goes.
 
I had my surgery on 10/16/20. That is the same PT regime I had. It felt pretty good while doing it, then get home and my leg would hurt, and swell. I've stopped PT as well 3 weeks ago. I hope you feel better quickly!!
 

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