Hip Arthroscopy 20 Weeks post Hip Arthroscopy - still lots of pain

[Eils1202]

Hey guys,

I had a hip scope 20 weeks ago to fix a Labral tear after a 1.5 years of daily pain and trying to treat with physio/yoga/pilates. The surgeon said the surgery went really well and that when he got in there the tear wasn't too bad and there was no bony lesions he needed to remove. He did say that there was a large area of my hip joint covered in soft tissue that is very rare to see in hips and usually seen in shoulders.

I am still struggling a lot at the moment with pain every day. I can't walk or stand longer than 20 mins and every time my physio tries to progress my exercises it totally flares up. I've noticed now by the end of the day my lower back and calves are so tight I am walking funny cause it hurts so much. I am trying not to take pain meds every day but wondering if I should?

I had my 3rd review with surgeon last week and he's agreed that I should be feeling better than I am. He's asked me to give my new physio 3 weeks and if I see no change he'll get a scan done to see what else could be happening.

I just wanted to post to see if anyone has had similar experience? I was told I would be pain free after 3 months but I think that was overly optimistic. Should I be waiting until 6 months to panic? It is effecting my day to day badly and my mental health is suffering massively because of all this as it's been 2 years now of just constant pain.

Any words of wisdom on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Celle]

Hello @Eils1202 - and

Please will you tell us the full date of your hip arthroscopy and which hip it is, so we can make a signature for you? Knowing the exact date will help us to advise you appropriately in the future.
Thank you.

I'm sorry you're still in pain. I hope it improves soon.
Don;t forget that,as well as a keyhole incision, you also had work done inside your hip and that could have been more extensive than what you can see from the outside.

I think you need to go very gently at the physiotherapy. As the Big Tip says in the articles I'm going to leave you, normally hips don't meed much PT at all - just your normal activities of daily living.

Here is the post-op reading we give to people with a new hip. Most of it also applies to your surgery.
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​

elevate​

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

​

BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy​

5. At week 4 and after you should follow this

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Activity progression for THRs​

6. Access these pages on the website

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Oral And Intravenous Pain Medications​

Wound Care In Hospital​

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.

 

[Jaycey]

@Eils1202 Welcome to BoneSmart! Unfortunately recovery from a scope can be long and complicated. Since you limped around for years before the op it may take awhile for all the to settle.

I was told I would be pain free after 3 months but I think that was overly optimistic.

Totally unrealistic expectation. Recovery from hip surgery can take 1 year or more.

To be honest, I really think all that PT is aggravating that hip. If you stop the exercising does the pain ease? Are you icing and elevating the op leg?

And yes, I would taking something for the pain. You need your pain managed so that you can increase your mobility.

 

[Eils1202]

Hi guys,

Thank you so much for the response. Really helpful. I just don't understand why the surgeon would then recommend PT weekly for it? I guess they are seeing that I need to strengthen it (as I am very weak on my left side) but it makes sense that it would aggravate it.

@Jaycey Is taking NSAID's over a pro-longed time bad for me? That's what I was worried about that I was going to end up doing damage to my stomach or something.

@Celle I had my surgery on Sept 17th 2019 and it was on my left hip.

Thanks so much guys!

 

[Jaycey]

Is taking NSAID's over a pro-longed time bad for me?

NSAIDs can be very hard on your stomach. And there are studies that point to heart problems in people who take them for a longer period.

Here's an article from our Library on medications and their differences.