Hemi-Arthroplasty 3 Weeks Post Surgery and Still Have "Slipping Feeling"

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Chani

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Hello there. My mother had a fall and emergency hip surgery. Her procedure was a Bipolar Hip Hemiarthroplasty - Socket and Ball. She is 72 and quite active.

From her first physical therapy day (which was a day after surgery) she felt a "slipping sensation" or "shifting" in the area of the surgery. We are 3 weeks and 3 days post surgery and she still feels this. She was worried it might be a dislocation but her PT told her she would be in extreme pain if it was a dislocation.

So, my question is, has anyone experienced this? Could it be her new parts? Her muscles? It's freaking her out that she can feel this shifting/slipping every time she takes a step. Also, we have a primary care appt today and an appt with the surgeon on Thursday. When asking questions about this issue, is there certain vocabulary words we can use to explain to the doctors better?

She's also feeling a great deal of anxiety since she was so active and now she really can't do much (yet). It was a traumatic accident and a painful road to the surgery. So the sensation she is feeling is being looped in her brain over and over. She's scared.

Okay, thanks for any advice. I'm going to see if I can get her to join the forum -- we'll see.

Best.
 
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I'm sorry your mother suffered a hip fracture. I had a hip fracture as well. It's a very traumatic experience, both physically and emotionally.

I agree with the PT that the sensation she is feeling in her hip is not a dislocation. It is common for the soft tissue around the hip to make little slips and clicks as it recovers from the trauma of surgery. It should diminish in the coming weeks and months.
 
Chani,
Welcome to Bonesmart, glad you joined us,
I agree with alexthecat, your Mom is still in the healing process, and it will resolve with time.

She can just describe her sensations to her OS as she has here. The OS usually takes an x ray to be sure the components are doing well at the first post op visit.

Please add your Mom's surgery date to your signature, hover over your username top right, click on signature and add her information there, Thanks!

Here is the post op reading for you and your Mom, the articles are short and will not take long to read.

First are the BoneSmart mantras ....
- rest, elevate, ice and take your pain meds by the clock
- if it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physiotherapist - to do it to you
- if your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again
- if you won't die if it's not done, don't do it
- never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can go to sleep!
- be active as much as you need to be but not more than is necessary, meaning so much that you end up being in pain, exhausted or desperate to sit down or lay down!

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
Activity progression for THRs
Home physio (PT)
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?

All the best to you and your Mom,
 
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@Chani so good of you to be there for your Mother after such a traumatic experience. I have had both hips replaced. It does indeed take a bit of time before muscles and soft tissues firm up around the joint again. Your Mom is very early out of surgery. Give this time - it will ease.
 
@Chani I am so sorry that your mom is feeling unstable. I have no advice because my THR was not trauma related. Just some help in communicating with PT and docs. You just might gather the exact location of the feelings on the body, and the circumstances. Long distances? On an incline? While sitting or standing? Twisting?
 
After about half my life in orthopaedics, I've dealt with many 'elderly' ladies who'd had a hemiarthroplasty for a fractured neck of femur. There are various factors of calamity at work here which you'd probably find helpful if I describe

1. Does your mother have any osteoporosis? Because many NoFs are as the result of that and very often it wasn't a case of "she fell and broke her hip" but that "her hip broke and she fell". Now people aren't altogether unaware of this though they may not actually realise it. But it can leave the patient with a sense of impending doom since unconsciously, she knew which way the event occurred and now she's wary of it happening again.

2. Either way, such patients are also traumatised by the entire event - falling, great pain, people fussing round her, arrival of paramedics, journey in an ambulance, treatment in ER and then being rushed to theatre for surgery that earlier that day, she had no idea was on the cards for her that day, sudden cessation of all her normal daily activities and desires.

3. So now she has something akin to PTSD and has been sent home to recover, out of the secure environment of the hospital and now having to cope with this new hip and all the strange sensations of it that she had no time to prepare for.

In my experience, this takes the NoF patient a lot longer to recover from than a regular THR which is planned. So she will be nervous, likely to focus on variety of minor sensations or symptoms and worry about the implications of them. She will need lots a reassurance and support for several weeks before she starts to get her confidence back and feel like a 'normal person' again.
 
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