I’m day 29/week 5 post-THR. I have gone to the cane, then back to the walker for a few days, back to the cane, then to no cane and now I need the cane today. Why? Because I overdid it. I overdid it not by going outside for a purposeful walk, but instead just by doing stuff around the house. I have found that lifting anything causes me pain afterward. I have not yet been able to go out for a real walk. Its still too much for me.
Like you, my expectations after surgery were completely inflated. Honestly, my OS said I’d be up and going after 3 weeks. Bull!
It’s just something we have to accept. I’d rather take more time to heal, go back to the cane or even the walker if it means that long-term I’ll be in better shape. This is not about my ego or comparing myself to where someone else is in their recovery. I read something that resonated with me, it said that a THR is literally an amputation of your femoral head and placement of a prosthesis that your body then has to accept and heal with. Its a trauma and then some.
I also read that it takes 4-6 weeks for a bone to heal with a prosthesis and until this happens you will not be able to put full weight on your surgical side without some sort of pain. My experience thus far seems to give some truth to this fact.
I gauge my gait to determine what I need. If I start limping, I start using my supportive gear. One step back so I can move forward in a day or 2.
If you are limping you are not healed ( and there is no way at 6 weeks you are healed) or you are hurting your hip flexors and continued activity may result in tendonitis which is a very real threat and extremely difficult to get rid of.
I was an avid hiker too! Lord, I miss it so much. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go back to the aggressive uphill hiking I was accustomed to, especially because I fear my good hip will need to be replaced. I have had to rethink my past activities because, I have to be honest with myself, my activities led to the injuries in my hip which ultimately led to the deterioration of my labral tear and subchondral bone and then to bone on bone, very rapidly too, within the course of 6 months.
I think the fact that you are questioning if you overdid it, then you already know you did.
The good news is that you WILL be able to hike again. You WILL. Be patient, be gentle, be kind to yourself. Rest, rest, rest and then rest again. 6 weeks post is so early. Remember this is a marathon that takes a FULL year to completely heal from. As much as you probably don’t want to (I get it), find yourself a new show on Netflix or Hulu and put your legs up, relax and enjoy the process. I’m telling you this as I am, myself, learning to do the same thing.