Revision THR Leg Length Discrepancy

[lynnsfave]

I had my right hip revision this past Wednesday. Everything went well. So far, I think my legs are now even! Recovery seems to be going faster this time. I've gone to rehab so I can recuperate as well as get my physical therapy there for a couple weeks, six days a week. I'll get my staples out in another week. Things are so much better this time around!

 

[caroline2]

Well, I hope all the best for going thru this surgery again. My hope is that I'll get thru the rest of my life as things are now as I can't bear a surgery again. C

 

[lynnsfave]

Caroline, have you gotten a second opinion about your hip and the length difference? I try to mention to everyone ... do you know the width of your femur neck and the size that your doctor put in? Would a revision solve your problems? I was a little leery, but when my surgeon asked how I was feeling after the surgery and I told him I thought my legs were even, he high-fived me! He was thrilled that it worked. He put in a much larger head (I kept the old head!) and did something with the position, but it worked. And my tailbone doesn't hurt any more! I still have sciatica on the left side, but I think now that the right hip is fixed, another injection should fix the sciatica.

If you get all your records, reports, X-rays, etc., take them to a different surgeon outside of the group who did your hip replacement. I got the name of my second doctor through his supplier when I was trying to find out how many sizes the different manufacturers made. After researching my surgeon, I found he was a highly respected surgeon. I made the right choice of doctors and the right decision to have the revision. There's no way I could have gone through life with the 1-1/2" difference and all the aches and pains I had as a result of the wrong size being put in. At least get a second opinion. For your sake. No one should have to suffer because your surgeon may have screwed up.

 

[caroline2]

I was going to go for a 2nd opinion and it's over 4 yrs post op for me and MAYBE I've just learned to live with this....I'm weary of it all and the thought of another surgery makes me bonkers....I've learned to build my shoe up to about an inch give or take and just do that and my activities are limited.... I deal with a mess of lower back OA and so I'm forever stretching my body out etc.....good thing I had a busy hectic fun life as I am not unhappy with my much quieter life....I have to look at my whole picture..... There is one MD here that I'd like to meet, he's a surgeon too so I'm kinda thinking on that.....when I get upset too much I want to scream at the surgeon who did this anterior.....

As an MD here on our radio who does prolotherapy talks every weekend and when people call in with their issues after a surgery, he talks about how we flipped and flopped all over those Operating Tables....I was on that Hana table and looking at pictures it looks like a machine from outer space....

I remember being wheeled in the OR, saying "oh that's the table".....yikes.....

 

[copsham]

@caroline2
I really think that I understand how you feel. I spent 4 years avoiding my hip op. I was so, so , scared that I just couldn't do it (phobia). I tried everything under the sun in terms of alternatives. It got a little bit better then a little bit worse with almost everything I tried! Finally weirdly when i could barely walk 10 metres and could barely do anything I just decided in the middle of the night to have the op and did it.

You said that "the thought of another surgery makes me bonkers" not surprising - I think for some of us the experience is really traumatic either in the short or the longer term. I think that this trauma needs to be dealt with. I used EFT last week, 2 weeks after surgery which helped me "let go" of the horrific traumatic experience that it was for me.

I say go for the prolotherapy, give it a try, it may work! I really hope so for your sake. X

 

[caroline2]

copsham, you know I was raised with a "no surgery mindset" from my mom....she was always saying, no one will cut me open. So it starts there. I'm one of the people who do not jump to a surgery and seek and seek alternatives to fix an issue if I can....unless an emergency of course. I can't fix a broken leg, etc etc.

I run across so many on health boards who do so many surgeries and now the latest is this carpel tunnel surgery, there are many alternatives that WORK to treat this CT. B6 supplement is one that addresses this too and a special technique used by chiros to open that tunnel.

I tried so much to not do this replacement, even gave LDN a 6 month try and it just did not work. Did some prolotherapy but the GROIN mess was what put me over to the hip job. The xray showed a crumbled bone/cartlidge mess at my right groin. It was shocking to see that so I figured the hip job would fix it all.

Well, the groin pain is gone, whatever the surgeon did that pain is no more, but the rest of my body, oh brother.

So my outcome has been very disappointing, wonder if my mom and her sisters all had this crumbled mess, they all had OA back in their days. Today, it's xrays, mri, scans, etc....it's everything to tell us what we have in our bodies..

I've had 2 surgeries in my 76 years, a hysterectomy back in the early 80's and deal with sciatic nerve damage from that surgery, 30+ yrs ago. It's never gone away and I stretch it out daily with all my stretching I do.

So, yes, I'm more and more close to PRP or Stem Cells for this knee, just wish I had a rich uncle to help me....thanks again. Caroline

 

[copsham]

Well done Caroline - it is expensive going for alternatives but you would not be you if you didn't try everything else first LOL!!

 

[diterese]

Lynn, this thread is too close for comfort! When they go over the risks there is always this 85 to 90% success rate. So those are good odds! However there are real people that make up the 10-15% "problems" and when it's you it no longer seem rare. I had a spine surgery in 2005. As a result I have CES (Caudia Equina Syndrome) an incomplete spinal cord injury (I can still walk) that leaves one with all kinds of fun problems. The problems are REAL. Unless one lives a bad outcome one can just not relate. I had to quit talking about it after so many suggestions of well intended people that didn't get it. Like eat more blueberries! LOL. Everyone was well intended but could not really understand. That's okay. Fast forward...I am scheduled for hip replacement Feb 25th. Yikes the date is closing in. My past has ghosts and monsters are surfacing as I prepare. It's tough. Real tough to face another surgery. If I want better mobility and less pain I need the replacement. My x-ray shows the joint is gone. I stared at the x-ray in disbelief. It took a few moments for my husband and I to figure out why it looked so different from the left hip. I kept blinking thinking it was my eyes and that I needed to adjust them. LOL There is a part of me that worries I will cancel the surgery. I am that worried. I can't bear another problem outcome. The previous surgery left the damage to my left side which is one reason I think I wore out the right hip. Who knows. I only know the joint is gone and I can barely walk and I am in a lot of pain. I appreciated reading your posts as I am one that gets it. And when it happens to you it changes you and changes how you view the medical world. Eyes wide open. On the flip side I feel blessed to live in such a time that we have medical options that more often than not help.

 

[caroline2]

Reading your comments sounds like me, that's why I'm doing all to save my other joints, knee and foot/ankle...I am left with a mess from hip replacement and can only think back to 2010 when I did it, I had to be in horrible painful mess....right groin was crumbled mass of cartlidge/bone and this was waking me up at night and I remember how painful it was getting into my car. I was 72 at surgery and you are much younger....well, whatever you decide HOPE that you come out improved....these surgeries are very hard on our bodies. C

 

[Jamie]

@lynnsfave ... congratulations on your revision surgery!!! You may noticed that I changed the prefix on your title for you, I hope that you continue to feel good and make progress. Remember to take things slowly and listen to your body. Here are the recovery articles again for you so you can refresh yourself about the recovery process:

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 therapist (PT) - 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 lie 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?

 

[caroline2]

Talking to another health friend on this leg discrepancy, she put me on to the NUCCA protocol. Here is what she said:

"Caroline, just one more thought to share, as a matter of interest, the NUCCA chiropractor I go to has told me that the highest percentage of his patients come from people who have had replacement surgery...... and then come to him for help. This was not why I ended up in this office, though."""

When I called the NUCCA chiro in my area and left my number for a call back, I asked his receptionist IF they see a lot of people with leg discrepancies from replacements and she said YES......I'm waiting to hear back from him, I think he takes Medicare but not sure, but I'd consider this work anyway. C

 

[calikat]

Hi Lynnsfave. It is good to hear about your successful revision. Did they have to replace your stem too? I am going to have a revision this summer.