3 months post op issues

[mepammy]

Hi!

I am so glad I found this message board and the posts have been helpful/informative.

I had a minimally invasive THR 11/28/06. All went well (relatively). Some set backs occurred since...before Christmas, I experienced excruciating back pain during one exercise that the physical therapist was having me do (leg lift). I do have a spine condition (lumbar spinal stenosis) but long story short -I now have an annular tear which has caused episodic pain and decreased mobility in my lower back.

Still, I had many good days and I had improvement in the hip each day. But then in mid-January, I slipped and fell down the stairs - landed right on the hip. Until that time I had virtually no pain and had walked a mile earlier that week. After the fall, my leg/hip felt weaker and I was in a lot of pain...almost as much as I had been right after the surgery.

A couple days after the fall, I followed up with the surgeon for this and fortunately there was no damage to the joint. Most of the pain and weakness has since gone away, but I still feel as though I'm still not as well off as I was before the fall, which is almost 2 months now!

I've been doing most of the exercises that the PT gave me (at home and outpatient) and have been working out at a fitness center (upper body as well as recumbant bike [15 minutes] and treadmill [15 too]) for the past 3 weeks, 2-3x's a week.

I walked a mile last Saturday...I walked steadily but still it took me 15-20 minutes longer on this walk than before the surgery. And I had leg pain afterwards.

In fact, after every walk or workout, I have leg pain (upper thigh) immediately after and the next day...sometimes even a couple more days. And I don't feel as though I'm gaining more strength in this leg/hip!

Saw my surgeon this week and he said this has nothing to do with the hip and also, he said I should be farther along than I am. Before the fall, the surgeon, PT's and nurses all thought I was progressing quickly and far better than most patients [I'm 44].

I feel very discouraged and I would greatly appreciate any advice! I honestly don't feel I can do much more than I'm doing currently - I do exercises nearly every day and also walk up and down stairs (carefully) at home several times a day.

Should I go back to physical therapy maybe? Maybe I'm doing too much? What do you think?

Thanks!
Pam

 

[Bakerboy]

Pam

You are not alone! I have pain in my legs after working out to! Although I have not fallen ( thank God)! I 'am 9 weeks out THR Surgery and seem to have hit a brick wall ( after what I though was very good progress the first six weeks)! My P/T advice is keep working and have faith things will gey better!

 

[Josephine]

Oh, I can't believe I missed this post - last March. How shaming! Thanks for bumping it up, Bakerboy.

I think your surgeon is right, mepammy, your pain is nothing to do with your hip. From what you have said, you were doing well until the fall. But I think it was the fall that worsened your spinal condition. "Annular tear" is another term for disc protrusion (more commonly if incorrectly referred to as a slipped disc!) which is illustrated here ...

As you can see, the annulus here is the fibrous wall of the disc and when it ruptures it allows the jelly-like nucleus of the disc to ooze out and press on the nerve roots which you can see in the diagrams labelled protrusion and prolapse. This is what causes the pain and weakness. The thing is, the nucleus material can ebb and flow so it may be more one day than another, thus accounting for the episodic pain.

If you haven't already reached a resolution in this, I suggest you visit a chiropractor who will be able to help.

 

[Josephine]

Pam

You are not alone! I have pain in my legs after working out to! Although I have not fallen ( thank God)! I 'am 9 weeks out THR Surgery and seem to have hit a brick wall ( after what I though was very good progress the first six weeks)! My P/T advice is keep working and have faith things will get better!

Bakerboy, you are still in a very early stage of your recovery. Your p/t is right and you are continuing to improve even though you don't see it. What you need to remember is that there comes always comes that platuea where you're getting fed up with the slow progress and begin to think nothing if happening. But it is. Deep inside your hip, there is healing going on that you cannot see, healing of bone and muscle and ligament, and it takes time. But within another month or two, you will be seeing change again. And in 6 months time, when you get up one morning and suddenly realise that your hip or your operation what not the first thing on your mind when you woke up, then you will know you have turned a significant corner! And that will come sooner than you think.