THR Leg pain at night

[Rockys12]

I am 15 days post-op, after anterior, left THR. Surgery went well, went home the same day. I have been going to PT, faithfully doing my exercises 4 times a day as prescribed by my Doc. I quit taking pain meds, morphine, on day 5. Now I take Tylenol and Mobic. I have been able to sleep for about 4 hours continuously, at night. I wake up, take another Tylenol, and fall back to sleep.

About 4 days ago, I woke up with what felt like a muscle cramp in the back of my upper calf and lower quad. I can not find a comfortable position to reduce the pain. Tylenol helps for maybe an hour, I sleep, then it's back. I'm not a happy camper with only 4 or 5 hours of sleep.

Last night I tried stretching out my hamstring, which felt good, but didn't stop the pain.
So here's the weird part, as soon as I sit up or stand up, it's gone. Poof! Gone.

I have been reading some of the other posts, yesterday was a PT day. I was given some new exercises and was worn out the rest of the afternoon. I tried taking it very easy, gentle exercise, walking with my walker rather than my cane, more icing than normal; still couldn't sleep.

Have any of you experienced this?

 

[Jaycey]

@Rockys12 welcome to BoneSmart. Congratulations on that new hip.

Sounds like you are under medicated. Tylenol at only 15 days out is really not enough for most recovering hippies. And the four hour time slot that you are sleeping sounds like your meds are wearing off.

There are many other alternatives to control your pain. I would call your surgeon or family doctor and discuss better pain control.

In addition icing and elevating will help (see below).

I had major muscle spasms post LTHR and gentle stretches helped.

Finally - hips don't need all that PT and it does sound like you are over doing it. I would stop all that exercise and see if things ease.

Here are some articles from our Library about this recovery. Try the suggested method for icing and elevating - it does work.

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

2. Control discomfort:

rest
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
don't overwork.​

3. Do what you want to do BUT

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

the BoneSmart view on exercise
BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy​

5. At week 4 and after you should follow this:

Activity progression for THRs
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 a 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 history before providing advice.

 

[Rockys12]

Thank you for the information. I think I'm headed back to the Doctor this afternoon.

 

[zauberflöte]

@Rockys12 I also had cramp-like muscle pain post-op, and it sent me to the ER one Sunday afternoon dreading that it was a blood clot. It wasn't, and I decided I'd been undermedicating. My surgery was 5/20, and this was Memorial Day Sunday, so I would have been at about where you are now. So I "regressed" a tad, putting a bit more percocet back into the mix, and the pain miraculously disappeared! Weeks later, when my knee started hurting way worse than the hip did, some kind soul reminded me to ice it-- same thing-- pain disappeared.

Your vitals must have been very very strong to go home the same day! I was 61 for my first hip, and would not have been at all happy if they'd chased me out that afternoon.

 

[Josephine]

I quit taking pain meds, morphine, on day 5. Now I take Tylenol and Mobic

That's a bit early to be quitting pain meds. I would have thought that a another 3-4 weeks would have been better.

About 4 days ago, I woke up with what felt like a muscle cramp in the back of my upper calf and lower quad. Tylenol helps for maybe an hour, I sleep, then it's back.

That's because your medication regimen is inadequate.

yesterday was a PT day. I was given some new exercises and was worn out the rest of the afternoon.

Oh really? Check this out

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.

So NO exercises! And if you are not taking 1,000mg Tylenol 4 times a day, then you need to. If you are and this is still not managing your pain, then you need to get hold of some Tramadol or codeine and take 500mg or 30mgs once or twice a day, preferably last thing at night.

 

[dougie0216]

Yes, I had some pain in my calf after RTHR if I had my leg elevated for too long. After I had my LTHR, I had debilitating cramps in the hamstring for the first month. Get some more pills and welcome to the other side.

 

[Rockys12]

Yep, back on pain meds, night time only. Tylenol works great the rest of the time.
As it turns out, I reacted to the dressing too. I have blisters covering the area around the incision. hoping that heals soon.

This forum is awesome! Thanks for your responses .

 

[Josephine]

Oh my gosh! You poor thing. I know how that feels as I reacted to adhesive dressings like that too.