THR I am worried, very worried

[Going4fun]

Really sorry that your surgeon didn't prepare you for recovery. Sounds like you really thought pain would disappear in a day or so.

Unfortunately there are people who write those stories of going ice skating after a week. Those are extreme instances ... exceptions ...

Tip: time to give up the high pain tolerance. That's an incredibly resilient trait--really is. FOR MANY SITUATIONS. Not for hip recovery. For good recovery, you want to complain early about pain. And get on the phone and call your surgeon's office when the pain knocks you back. Otherwise, you won't move and you'll slow the recovery down. Staying silent also risks creating anxiety ... and anxiety is terrible for recovery. Every ache and pain when you're in anxiety (not "you" personally but "you" as in patients in your situation) can lead to full-scale panic. You fear the surgery is a disaster. And when you panic, you miss the signs of progress. You can't really think clearly.

Next time, I say, you don't want to wait til a visit when you're in pain--physical pain or the pain of worry. You can get on the phone and your surgeon's office would have gotten back to you and in ten minutes phoned in new meds to your pharmacy. And a surgeon's staffer could reassure you and give you some feedback and encouragement. They are paid to do that.

Hang in there.

 

[Dduck1968]

Thanks for all the replies. It is good to hear from all of you.

 

[Dduck1968]

I want everyone to know that I am hearing them out and listening to their advice which makes me feel better. I finally went out to the store today with they withhelp and I bumped into a high school friend. He told me he also had hip surgery 5 years ago 5 years ago and immediately had no more arthritic pain. He said the only pain he had was from the cut and surgery but no more groin pain. Now I know as we discussed before everybody's different and don't compare yourself. I just kind of freak out because basically the only paint I have is in the groin area, especially when I put weight on it. I don't want to come on as a baby, I know I am being very repetitive so I am sorry. I just feel like I might have some other issue other than the the arthritic hip. Again I am sorry being repetitive and sounding so negative. Usually I'm very optimistic but I have to admit I feel terrible right now. I am also putting on this front with everybody at home that I am fine nothing's bothering me and I'm doing good. This is the only place where I can vent on how I truly feel. So sorry if I am overdoing it lol. All other pain that I had or have once in a while wow doesn't bother me it's just that groin pain that worries me.

 

[Dduck1968]

Sorry for the errors that was a voice please written text lol

 

[Going4fun]

I hear you. And I want to say see if you can do two things.

One, trust your intuition that something is wrong ... don't reject that ...
&

Allow some time for the the groin pain to decrease or go away, aware that your intuition could be wrong.

I was convinced at multiple points that my replacement was a disaster. I didn't walk without aid until about 9 weeks. I was expecting five weeks, six at the latest. Indeed I had an occasional limp even after about four months. I was at work and a colleague of mine noticed, "you're dragging your leg."

But turns out, my hip was fine ... all limping went away. Now, I just get sore on the side when I work out REALLY hard.

I think you can gradually drop the hide-the-worry thing with family. Hiding worry is exhausting. You're worried, which is scary and tiring, and now in addition you're working hard to hide the worry. That's way too unfair to you.

Your family can handle your worry. They're not going to melt and run away upon hearing it. And you'll get some much needed support until these symptoms hopefully clear up.

I do not want to dismiss your intuition. So hold onto it ... but also suspend it for a bit to see how things go in the next month.

Sorry to hear of the unexpected pain. That's very scary.

 

[Doglover7]

We are pretty close to the same surgery day. I am at day 8 and today is the first day my leg isn't swollen. I think PT was what made it worse. Today is the best it has felt and I haven't really done any of the PT. Just walking around and chilling. The swelling was hurting so bad when that went down so did the pain. I agree with subie2021 ease up with that PT. My doctor made a face when I asked about it and said you don't need it. Hope you continue to heal!

 

[Doglover7]

Oh meant to say I still have that same groin pain too...not as bad but its still there, I am thinking its where I walked so funky that the muscles and tendons need time to chill...it takes tendons 6 months or more to recover from a tendonitis..I worry about it too but I got a bit better today so I think its still so early!

 

[Dduck1968]

Oh wow. Keep me updated. It's good to know others are like as well. Thanks.

 

[Eman85]

Why not try something wild and crazy?? Like sitting and reading or watching TV with ice packs for a couple of days. There's nothing to lose and no one here will tell on you. The general recovery is broken into rough segments of 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks and one year. You're a little over 2 weeks now and it sounds like you're right on track.

 

[Snoopy55]

Why not try something wild and crazy?? Like sitting and reading or watching TV with ice packs for a couple of days. There's nothing to lose and no one here will tell on you. The general recovery is broken into rough segments of 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks and one year. You're a little over 2 weeks now and it sounds like you're right on track.

That is exactly what I wanted to say! I think you are doing things very early on and then suffering for it. I didn't go to the store for at least 6 weeks I think. I also think being in the car with all the twists and turns and having the seat belt be right on my right hip made it very uncomfortable. Just food for thought...take this long weekend and do absolutely nothing. Give it four or five good long days of rest and icing and pain meds and then see how you feel. If you feel better keep doing that and forget PT and all the other stuff. For what its worth you are not complaining too much-plus this is the right place to complain-about pain and if you're feeling anxious. Just let it all out here.

 

[Dduck1968]

Good advice

 

[myglasshalffull]

I'm over 4 months post op and still get slight groin pain time to time.
Relax, you are so early into this recovery, I know we all want to get back to our everyday life but your body is telling you to slow down.
Ice, Ice and a little more ice and chill...(LOL, all that ice will chill you for sure)

 

[Eman85]

While you're sittin and chillin take time and read recovery posts. You'll find that you are in good company with many of us that thought we'd be further along. Thought we'd be pain free, thought more activity would make things better and faster. Then you'll find that when we sat and iced and did nothing it got better. The pain we were concerned about slowly went away, and it's slow sitting for one day and going right back to overdoing is another cycle we go through.

 

[Boofit]

Therapist made me work a little and I had a feel good pain.

@Dduck1968

My two cents:
You are only slightly over 2 weeks in the recovery process. As a former PT (before I changed professions) I can say different PTs have different approaches to the concept of recovery but personally for a THR patient (and I am one myself at the 4 week mark), I would not recommend doing ANYTHING that causes or results in pain at such early stages of recovery.

The soft tissues and bony structures need time to heal, and at this stage I would say just walking would be fine.
If you must, then I suggest just do:

• very gentle abductions in standing position when holding onto something stable,
• some tightening of the buttock muscles whilst lying in bed or on the couch,
• some quadriceps tightening (with a pillow or rolled up towel under the knee)
• ankle pumping/circling with leg elevated (and preferably icing)
• and some standing on toes (to exercise the calves) when holding onto something stable

None of the above should cause any pain, but coupled with walking should, in my view, be sufficient for the first few weeks post-op. You could of course add upper limb exercises (e.g. resistance band traiining or weight lifting whilst in seated position). You may be ready for more "strenuous" exercises at around the 5 to 6 month mark, but even then, the golden rule is not to work up to the level of pain. Give your soft tissues and bones time to heal before you start working them! I plan on starting to push my muscles around the 3 to 4 month mark, but again that also depends on how my recovery goes!

One more thing: stay ahead of the pain and take your meds!

 

[Dduck1968]

Thanks for advice. The PT I have is doing very gentle exercises as you stated above. I will follow this advice. I do feel a tad bit better. However, I still am on Gabapentin for pain relief. Today I woke up with some groin, "inner upper thigh pain" and Buttocks pain on the surgery side. I have no other pain except for lower back pain once in awhile.

 

[Eman85]

Taking pain meds so you can do PT to put yourself in more pain so you take more pain meds just doesn't sound right.

 

[Dduck1968]

Taking pain meds so you can do PT to put yourself in more pain so you take more pain meds just doesn't sound right.

Lol. It doesn't sound right. I get so many different opinions from people about pt. But surgeon said I should do pt. As far as pain it has gotten better but I still have some.pt or not lol. I just hope within a few weeks I will be somewhat normal

 

[Snoopy55]

Sometimes surgeons say to do PT because obviously it does make the muscles stronger.The point is not that you should or shouldn't do PT. The point is at what point in your recovery should you do it. If you are still in pain then likely its still too early for PT. Your soft tissues hasn't healed yet and so you are just aggravating it when you do repetative excercise. But I am just going by my own experience here. I started PT once at 3 weeks post op and stopped at 6 weeks because I overdid it so much and I was about to travel. Then I started again at 3 months post op and It was going well but then I just stopped because just walking is doing the trick right now. No need for more PT. Just go with your gut. Even if the OS says do it and you are in pain then don't.

 

[myglasshalffull]

My OS said no PT, just walk, walk, walk.
Love that.
I broke my ankle 3 years ago and did PT and found it so repetitive and not that helpful. Plus it cost $35 every visit at 3x's per week is expensive especially when all I'm doing is being told go do this or that 10x's and then ride the bike for 10 minutes. So I stopped.
This is not a speedy recovery so be patient.

 

[Dduck1968]

Just an update. I feel like I am slowly improving, especially compared to the first few days.