United KingdomHi, I have read a lot of the recent threads and I’m in awe of how you support each other and wondered if someone was able to give me a reality check.
I started having a problem with my right hip a year ago when I noticed it was difficult to get my right leg onto the opposite knee to put a sock on and getting out of the bath was more difficult. I had some pain and felt that when I walked I was not putting my right foot down normally. Also I couldn’t straighten my leg when I was lying on my back.
I tried some physio (self-referred) and after a couple of sessions was sent to my GP who ordered an x-ray. This showed no reason for the pain. The GP then gave me exercises and suggested swimming as he thought my hip was tight due to lack of exercise. The exercises increased the pain and made it difficult to walk.
Moving on a couple of months, I talked to our insurer who sent me directly for an MRI scan (the most painful 30 minutes ever, due to the position I was put into) and then to an OS in December 2016. This is the scan report:
“There is a moderate right hip joint effusion. Moderately severe osteoarthritic change is demonstrated in the antero-superior aspect of the right hip joint where there is full-thickness articular cartilage loss and subchondral bone marrow oedema in the acetabulum. There is also patchy subchondral bone marrow oedema in the femoral head with more geographic oedema in the femoral neck.
The anterior acetabular labrum is degenerate in signal with a tear at the base of the labrum at 3 o'clock and also further tear at 5 o'clock inferiorly.”
The OS, who is highly-regarded both privately and in the NHS locally, showed me the scan and suggested a steroid injection as pain relief and also as a diagnostic tool to see if it helped the mobility of the joint. After 3 days (Christmas Day!) I had almost complete range of movement in my hip and was almost pain free. The latter lasted 3 weeks and then after walking I was suddenly in agony again. It took over a week to calm down enough to put weight on it. I could only get upstairs by going on my hands and knees.
I had a big trip planned to New Zealand in March/April and the surgeon and insurer agreed another steroid injection to tide me over because episodes of pain made me fear I would have to cancel a trip of a lifetime. I coped (and had a wonderful time) but found sitting on long journeys painful.
I saw the surgeon at the end of April and he is now talking about a hip replacement in September this year. He says it is inevitable and although I could wait I would be modifying my lifestyle to cope. I am a keen walker and already have reduced the type of walking I do and the length. I’m still swimming but very short sessions and I do spend some of the time walking in the water. Gardening has to be done in 30 minute sessions now. I’m self-employed and now 60, so gradually reducing my hours to start doing all of the things I love so it’s disappointing to be limiting how much I do.
In reading the threads on the forum I sense that my OA is possibly quite mild compared to others because I don’t have chronic pain all the time. At the moment the pain is managed with paracetamol and occasionally co-codamol, with 20mg amitriptyline at bedtime. The acute episodes are unpredictable and therefore difficult to manage. Stepping off a kerb and walking faster to cross the road is enough to cause pain to rip through my hip. Not a good time for it to happen.
I would be grateful for anyone who is able to interpret the scan report to comment on the severity of the OA and the option of surgery later this year. The insurer has already authorised it.
Can surgery be too soon? Is there an optimum time?
Thank you for reading this,
EmEm
I started having a problem with my right hip a year ago when I noticed it was difficult to get my right leg onto the opposite knee to put a sock on and getting out of the bath was more difficult. I had some pain and felt that when I walked I was not putting my right foot down normally. Also I couldn’t straighten my leg when I was lying on my back.
I tried some physio (self-referred) and after a couple of sessions was sent to my GP who ordered an x-ray. This showed no reason for the pain. The GP then gave me exercises and suggested swimming as he thought my hip was tight due to lack of exercise. The exercises increased the pain and made it difficult to walk.
Moving on a couple of months, I talked to our insurer who sent me directly for an MRI scan (the most painful 30 minutes ever, due to the position I was put into) and then to an OS in December 2016. This is the scan report:
“There is a moderate right hip joint effusion. Moderately severe osteoarthritic change is demonstrated in the antero-superior aspect of the right hip joint where there is full-thickness articular cartilage loss and subchondral bone marrow oedema in the acetabulum. There is also patchy subchondral bone marrow oedema in the femoral head with more geographic oedema in the femoral neck.
The anterior acetabular labrum is degenerate in signal with a tear at the base of the labrum at 3 o'clock and also further tear at 5 o'clock inferiorly.”
The OS, who is highly-regarded both privately and in the NHS locally, showed me the scan and suggested a steroid injection as pain relief and also as a diagnostic tool to see if it helped the mobility of the joint. After 3 days (Christmas Day!) I had almost complete range of movement in my hip and was almost pain free. The latter lasted 3 weeks and then after walking I was suddenly in agony again. It took over a week to calm down enough to put weight on it. I could only get upstairs by going on my hands and knees.
I had a big trip planned to New Zealand in March/April and the surgeon and insurer agreed another steroid injection to tide me over because episodes of pain made me fear I would have to cancel a trip of a lifetime. I coped (and had a wonderful time) but found sitting on long journeys painful.
I saw the surgeon at the end of April and he is now talking about a hip replacement in September this year. He says it is inevitable and although I could wait I would be modifying my lifestyle to cope. I am a keen walker and already have reduced the type of walking I do and the length. I’m still swimming but very short sessions and I do spend some of the time walking in the water. Gardening has to be done in 30 minute sessions now. I’m self-employed and now 60, so gradually reducing my hours to start doing all of the things I love so it’s disappointing to be limiting how much I do.
In reading the threads on the forum I sense that my OA is possibly quite mild compared to others because I don’t have chronic pain all the time. At the moment the pain is managed with paracetamol and occasionally co-codamol, with 20mg amitriptyline at bedtime. The acute episodes are unpredictable and therefore difficult to manage. Stepping off a kerb and walking faster to cross the road is enough to cause pain to rip through my hip. Not a good time for it to happen.
I would be grateful for anyone who is able to interpret the scan report to comment on the severity of the OA and the option of surgery later this year. The insurer has already authorised it.
Can surgery be too soon? Is there an optimum time?
Thank you for reading this,
EmEm
I'm a musician, with permanently compromised hands and wrists from playing, and from a couple of spectacular wrist sprains from falling on my face down stairs....so the very thought of crutches makes my wrists/hands very unhappy. I was required to use first a rolling walker, then cane, for both my replacements. I was completely amazed after my first hip (at your current age) to find that the walker was really only for balance and moral support! I'd practised walking in it pre-op, so was able to walk head up, steady walking, immediately. This only works if one is comfortable weight bearing, which I have been for both hips. Perhaps your surgeon would allow the walker? 
