AustraliaHi everyone. I’ve never posted on a forum before but have been diligently reading the supportive posts over the last couple of months and felt it might help others to tell my story.
At 51 years of age, I’ve played sport all of my life and have always lived with “discomfort” in both hips - for as long as I can remember. As such I felt that it was normal and that I just had tight hips.
Little signs along the way should have been noticed that all was not good with my hips.
I was learning to ski with my son about 10 years ago and could not snow plough - requires a certain degree of internal rotation which I didn’t have.
About 6 years ago I was riding a borrowed bike which had a very low seat. After riding for an hour I could hardly walk.
Fast forward to today and I’m 11 weeks (surgery on 28/9/20) into my rehab from bilateral hip replacement - one directly after the other with a cup of tea by the surgeon in between I‘ve been told. I have since found that he is one of the top surgeons in Melbourne. Dr Andrew Shimmin is his name and he has been exceptional. He made a comment while I was in hospital that has really stuck. I eagerly wanted to know where my progress should be after 4 weeks. He said, “Don’t worry about the next 4 weeks, it’s all about the next 40 years”.
My recovery follows many of the stories recounted here.
Starting on crutches and keeping them for about 5 weeks I thought my recovery was slow - I envisioned I’d be doing my old 6km walk after a month. I really had to learn to slow down and treat my recovery as totally separate from everyone else’s. I’ve never been one to take medication and stopped taking panadol after the 2nd week. I felt most of the pain where the surgeon made the incision (posterior for both) and then made his way to the hip joint. Still have slight pain on both sides but it is negligible.
Hips are the real hero of my story. After 11 weeks I am walking without discomfort - only pain in the right calf after a brisk walk. Where I’ve been amazed is in the range of pain free motion that has returned - if it was ever there in the first place. It’s a great feeling to step legs double hip width apart and not notice anything except the inside of the thighs tightening - the simple things in life!
I know my progress will not be linear and so many of the stories here have confirmed this and given me a sense of relief and hope. I still have a fair way to go to meet my expectations but know with alot of patience I will get there.
At 51 years of age, I’ve played sport all of my life and have always lived with “discomfort” in both hips - for as long as I can remember. As such I felt that it was normal and that I just had tight hips.
Little signs along the way should have been noticed that all was not good with my hips.
I was learning to ski with my son about 10 years ago and could not snow plough - requires a certain degree of internal rotation which I didn’t have.
About 6 years ago I was riding a borrowed bike which had a very low seat. After riding for an hour I could hardly walk.
Fast forward to today and I’m 11 weeks (surgery on 28/9/20) into my rehab from bilateral hip replacement - one directly after the other with a cup of tea by the surgeon in between I‘ve been told. I have since found that he is one of the top surgeons in Melbourne. Dr Andrew Shimmin is his name and he has been exceptional. He made a comment while I was in hospital that has really stuck. I eagerly wanted to know where my progress should be after 4 weeks. He said, “Don’t worry about the next 4 weeks, it’s all about the next 40 years”.
My recovery follows many of the stories recounted here.
Starting on crutches and keeping them for about 5 weeks I thought my recovery was slow - I envisioned I’d be doing my old 6km walk after a month. I really had to learn to slow down and treat my recovery as totally separate from everyone else’s. I’ve never been one to take medication and stopped taking panadol after the 2nd week. I felt most of the pain where the surgeon made the incision (posterior for both) and then made his way to the hip joint. Still have slight pain on both sides but it is negligible.
Hips are the real hero of my story. After 11 weeks I am walking without discomfort - only pain in the right calf after a brisk walk. Where I’ve been amazed is in the range of pain free motion that has returned - if it was ever there in the first place. It’s a great feeling to step legs double hip width apart and not notice anything except the inside of the thighs tightening - the simple things in life!
I know my progress will not be linear and so many of the stories here have confirmed this and given me a sense of relief and hope. I still have a fair way to go to meet my expectations but know with alot of patience I will get there.
Welcome to BoneSmart 
It sounds like you are doing very well with your recovery! It's good to see you here at BoneSmart.
Sounds like you are doing extremely well! We all like to put some kind of measurement on our progress but it really does put undue pressure on us. Just continue to take one step at a time and listen to your body, you'll eventually get back to your normal 6 km waljs. Remember, just because you can kneel down to the ground, doesn't always mean you can get back up! And can tell you from experience with only one THR that it's not always pretty getting back up! 
