THR Numbness & Zingers

[Crescent Girl]

I am very excited to have found this forum and I am finding it very helpful! I am 4 weeks out from posterior hip replacement surgery and I think (?) I am doing well. I am experiencing many of the same symptoms as others, hip pain, some leg numbness, feels like I’m sitting on a lump, hard surfaces extremely uncomfortable, and I’m just beginning to walk around the house without my crutch. I use it if I walk outside. I am doing the exercises twice a day that they gave me after surgery, should I be starting PT soon to do more advanced exercises? I have gone online to see what 4-6 week exercises should be and I could add them to my daily program. Your thoughts?

 

[Celle]

Hello @Crescent Girl - and

Please will you tell us the full date of your hip replacement 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 am doing the exercises twice a day that they gave me after surgery, should I be starting PT soon to do more advanced exercises? I have gone online to see what 4-6 week exercises should be and I could add them to my daily program. Your thoughts?

You don't need to be doing more exercises - see our BIG TIP in the articles below. We find that hips seem to heal themselves without a lot of exercises. Just using your hip during the course of your normal Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) is enough.

Here are our recovery guidelines - 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.

People are all different, as are the approaches to this recovery and rehab. The key is, “Find what works for YOU.“ Your doctor(s), physiotherapist(s) and BoneSmart are here to help, but you are the final judge as to the recovery approach you choose.
2. Control discomfort:

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rest​

elevate​

ice​

take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​

3. Do what you want to do BUT

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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

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BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy​

5. Try to 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.

 

[Crescent Girl]

Thank you so much for the helpful information! My surgery date was 2/2/2021 so I am a little over 4 weeks out. I had surgery on my right hip. I am so looking forward to getting back to stretching and yoga. I am 68 and very active with hiking, bike riding, golf, tennis, and yoga but I do know that rest is one of the most important factors in recovery. I have had my share of injuries in the past, being an ex-elite gymnast for 10 years, so I do know not to push to hard. From everything I had read prior to surgery I thought it would be a piece of cake and that I would be running by now! The reality check came around 2 weeks post op when I found it still difficult to walk with crutches! Looking forward to the continued support and helpful feedback! Thanks!

 

[Layla]

Hello @Crescent Girl
Welcome to recovery and congrats on your new hip! Thanks for joining us, I believe you’ll love the support found here. I know I appreciated it during my recovery.

Wow, an ex elite gymnast and an active hiker, biker, golfer, tennis and yoga enthusiast! I’ll bet you’re anxious to get back to some of the activity you love that became increasingly difficult as your hip deteriorated. It sounds like you’re on the right path and have the patience to take it slow and easy for the best result. I look forward to following your journey. May it be smooth sailing from here on out!

 

[Eman85]

No matter how active you were and had experience with injuries this recovery is different. I'd pulled plenty of muscles and even dislocated my shoulder in the past. It takes visualizing what they actually have to do to perform the surgery to realize why the muscles are taking so long to heal and why they don't like any PT. All of the injuries I had everything stayed inside of me so there was only so far the muscles had to stretch. This is a lot different!

 

[Crescent Girl]

Thank you for your information. That makes total sense! I did watch a posterior hip replacement surgery on YouTube after my surgery, (yikes) and it was pretty amazing how violent they had to be in order to get the prosthesis in place! I am close to 5 weeks post op and still on Tylenol regularly because of the constant hip pain (throbbing & ache) that radiates down the thigh. Any experience from anyone on how long the pain should last, or is everyone different? This forum has been very helpful and I appreciate all of your comments! Have a great day everyone!

 

[Eman85]

As the recipient of 2 THR's I can tell you that not only is each person different but each hip on each person is different. My right was very different than my left. I learned a lot with my left about doing too much and paying the price. My left was pretty strong from day 1 and leg lifts and everything else was doable from day 1. When I got to week 6 I figured I was good to go since restrictions were off and I could touch my feet. Didn't take long to see how much doing simple things around the house could cause pain the next day. I'm a slow learner and kept going pretty good until about week 12 and I really found the limit. My right was a lot weaker with a real case of log leg. I took it real easy this time so had no pain to speak of and never really overdid it. My right had a real problem with me touching my foot and tieing my shoes. Just examples of how different it all is.
What exercises are you doing? With my left I was able to do the basics easily but found anything beyond that caused lingering pain. I tried bridges, clamshells and side leg lifts. Didn't take long to figure out that it wasn't a good idea.

 

[Crescent Girl]

I am still just doing the basic exercises that were given to me the day of surgery. I thought I would wait until my 6 week check up and see what the surgeon says about PT and adding more exercises. I have found that the best relief is ice, so I probably ice 8 times a day. Can you over do ice? It is 4:00am and the throbbing in the hip has returned and I can’t sleep, so ice is my friend! I hope fellow hippers are finding some solid sleep tonight!!

 

[Layla]

Can you over do ice?

No, you won’t over do it.
Just make sure to always have fabric between your skin and the ice source. I fell asleep with ice also and would even grab a fresh gel pack from the freezer on my overnight bathroom run. Ice is an easy, inexpensive and surprisingly effective pain reliever.
I hope you have a nice weekend.

 

[Eman85]

I used an icing machine and used it constantly. What are the basic exercises? There's no penalty for doing nothing for a few days to see if the pain eases up, no one on here will tell on you. It's hard to change habits but this surgery does not respond to exercises and it doesn't speed the recovery. We all think that if we don't do the exercises we'll be disabled from atrophy and that's the thinking of PT's. I did nothing but walking and real simple things like ankle pumps to keep the blood flowing with my second THR and it worked out fine.

 

[Crescent Girl]

Wow, That is very cool that you really didn’t need to do exercises except for walking. We are so conditioned to think that we have to exercise in order to have the optimal recovery. The exercises I’m doing are ankle pumps, quad tightening, heel slides lying down bringing surgical knee up, leg rises with rolled towel, and sideward slides with toe pointed upward. I usually do 2 sets 20 reps twice a day! I’ve also been trying to walk 1/2 mile outside twice a day weather permitting with one crutch. I just started walking inside without crutches doing normal household activities. I’m focusing on not walking with a limp! I think you had a great idea of taking a day or two off! Tomorrow!! Have a great weekend!​

 

[FCBayern]

These are the week 4-5 guidelines from the article about activity for THR's in the list of recovery posts:
Weeks 4 and 5
Increase walks around, to 30mins, longer if you feel up to it.

Activity: now you can do some dusting and push a vacuum round the middle of the living room; do a little meal prep (for yourself not the family!), maybe fill and empty the washing machine

That doesn't mean you have to take a 30 minute walk either. Two 15 minute walks, three 10 minute walks, you get the idea. You are doing a lot of activity. That's fine if you don't have any pain or swelling afterwards, but if you do you need to slow down and listen to your hip. If it's unhappy you are doing too much for your baby joint. After I learned the hard way with knee replacement, all I did after THR is walk and my results have been amazing!

 

[Crescent Girl]

Ok, I should of read this previous post this morning before I decided it was a good idea to go out and do some gardening. It was a beautiful morning and I thought it wouldn’t be to hard to pull a rake through the gardens and turn over the soil? It still amazes me how simple tasks can be so difficult and put pressure on your unhappy joints! I did get the soil turned over, but I am in the recliner, leg elevated with ice. I think the rest of the weekend will be just relaxing and I will walk again tomorrow!

 

[Layla]

You’re right, it doesn’t take much to wear you out or cause an achy stiffness in the early weeks. I’m guessing with rest and ice you’ll be feeling good again soon. Sometimes the only way we learn our limitations is by pushing it too far. Since healing and regaining strength is ongoing, it’s a delicate balance to stay reasonably active, without overdoing it.
Have a nice evening! I hope your discomfort eases soon.
@Crescent Girl

 

[Mojo333]

It is really easy to overdo..
You will find your boundaries and be grateful for listening to your body and giving it the time it takes...
All temporary.

 

[Eman85]

It's those simple chores around the house. Yes a rake can do that to you, if you really want to do it try a weedeater or stand on a ladder. Take it from me they are killers.

 

[FCBayern]

Welcome to the Over Did It Club (ODIC) @Crescent Girl. Most of us visit at one time or another during our recoveries, the trick is to not be a frequent member!

 

[Crescent Girl]

I am 5 weeks post op today and have experienced quad and lower leg numbness since surgery. The past two days I have been feeling a lot of tingling up and down my surgery leg and what I call “Zingers”! There is an electric shock type feeling that shoots down my leg! There is no controlling it and last night they were especially bad waking me from a sound sleep. I have read some threads where numbness is very common but just wondering if the electric shock feeling is normal? I have been walking more so maybe I’m waking up all those nerves?

 

[Pumpkin]

@Crescent Girl
Those zingers that you are feeling are normal, your nerves are healing. It will go away as you heal.
Because they are waking you up at night, give your surgeon a call, they may be able to give you something to help with your zingers.

You'll notice that I have merged your newest thread with your original recovery thread. For several reasons, we prefer that you only have one recovery thread:

• That way, we have all your information in one place. This makes it easier to go back and review your history before providing advice.
• If you keep starting new threads, you miss the posts and advice others have left for you in the old threads, and some information may be unnecessarily repeated
• Having only one thread will act as a diary of your progress that you can look back on.

So please post any updates, questions or concerns about your recovery here. If you prefer a different thread title, just post what you want and we'll get it changed for you.
If you need an urgent response to a question, just tag a member of staff.

Many members bookmark their thread in their computer browser, so they can find it when they log on.
How can I find my threads and posts?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Mojo333]

I certainly experienced those intense but thankfully fleeting zaps and zings.
They certainly are disconcerting but mine got fewer and farther between as time went on.
Hope today is a Good Day