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THR Pain in hip after nine years.

8 months post op LTHR update:

My new left hip feels great. I have no more left groin pain and my range of motion continues to improve. I still get an intermittant radiating pain that goes down my lateral thigh when I have been putting full weight on my leg and then lift my foot up. The clicking/clunking in the hip joint that I was experiencing regularly is almost gone just in the last month. I get it occasionally, but nothing like the first 7 months.

I was in Waikiki the first week of November. We were on a Segway tour. A Segway is one of those two wheeled things that you stand on and they move forward and backwards just by shifting your weight. I was doing great, having lots of fun, following our tour guide. Unfortunately, I turned too sharp, hit a curb and down I went. I tried to protect my hip, causing me to land hard on my left arm and left lower leg and foot. My husband, who was behind me, tried not to hit me and jumped off his Segway. He stopped but the Segway kept going, and continuously tried to run over my now battered body! Then, our tour guide, who was all off 25 years old, kind of freaked out and said "I know CPR!", pulling a tiny little first aid kit out of his bag. It was really quite comical. To make a long story short, my hip and I survived. But, I ended up with a huge bruise on my lower leg, a bloody knee and a sprained foot. I am still limping around 2 weeks later, but I'm slowly getting better. It was a bit of a setback.

Another thing I am dealing with is a horrible stabbing pain in the heel of my right foot with every step I take. This developed about two months ago, but has really been bad this last week. I am seeing my GP about it tomorrow. I also am experiencing alot of right groin pain. Between my right heel and groin pain and my left sprained foot, I am having alot of trouble walking. So, although my new hip is doing great, these other things are making it hard to walk and are not allowing me to feel the full benefit of my new hip.

I have a follow-up with my OS next month for my 9 month check-up. I am having him re-evaluate my right hip to see how much it has deteriorated. I really don't want another surgery and I'm going to try to put it off as long as I can.

All in all, I am still questioning my decision to have had this surgery. Would I be having all of these problems if I had decided to not have it? I will never know the answer to that question. I can't work out like I did before surgery because it hurts too much. I've gained about 10 pounds and I'm having to take Tylenol or Motrin for pain on a regular basis, whereas it was intermittant before surgery, just on my "bad" days. I still have hope that I will get better in time. I do see very slow improvement when I look back. I am keeping my hopes up!
 
Hi@Dmcfad2, great to hear from you! I am pleased to hear the strange noise is almost gone that must be very disconcerting!

I think I am slowly accepting all recoveries are different and mine is a slow one. I too share the anxiety about having the second hip done. Although in my case it's a when not if. But reading other accounts there is no reason that you wouldn't have an amazing recovery next time around.

I hope your heel gets sorted...sounds painful when combined with a sprained ankle.. I've taken a few tumbles myself in the past although not quite as dramatic... A side street in Greece on an uneven footpath and a shower in Italy... why never at home where at least I could be understood... I too still take the odd painkiller. This has been a good week so I'm hopeful that my improvements stay steady....If slow. I'm still so still trying to get out of a chair with no arms. It's like my body can do what my brain wants it to do...

Keep in touch and I hope the OS visit answers a few questions.

RTHR May 27th 2014
 
Hi, @NoraJ Thanks for your post. It is nice to see a familiar name. Yes, this recovery is quite slow. The last few days I am noticing increased pain in my thigh and am wondering if I might have loosened or fractured the stem in the fall I had when I was on vacation. I see my OS on December 3, so will have an X-ray then and will know for sure. I am hoping I didn't do any damage to my implant. Oh, I always assume the worst! Hang in there and I will, too! :ok:
 
Hello there Debbie @Dmcfad2...... Just caught up on your earlier post about your fall.... Do hope that you can get some reassurance from your OS ..... Just when things were getting better & that clunking had abated.
I had a fall about 3 weeks ago.... Managed to twist & fall on unoperated side but badly bruised my ribs, very painful but no other damage. I do think though Debbie that these hips are much tougher than we think... Let us know how you get on! Chrissie xx


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@Hoppy Nanny Hi, Chrissie, my friend! How are you? I am doing okay. It is a slow go for me, but I am getting there. I need to quit falling! LOL. Nice to see you here and your positive attitude always makes me smile!
 
Hi Debbie @Dmcfad2
I'm sure your implant will be just fine.... But some reassurance from the doc is always great!
I have to say that it wasn't until 9 months post op that I started 'forgetting' my hip..... I was a very slow & steady person in recovery.... Kept having all sorts of different aches/pains .... Had plantar faciitis about 8 months out in my foot too.... But they are all long forgotten.... I still maintain that full recovery takes a year plus.
So my hip is great.... Some days .., cold/wet if takes take a couple of stiff, bambi steps to fully accelerate but... Off I go!
If the test of my body was as good as the hip.. I'd be 1st Class... Lol .... But hey..., life's not perfect... But I can still enjoy it to my capacity! In my mind I'm still 19........ If only the body was the same!!!!
Keep going Debbie.... & keep in touch my friend!!!! We miss you xxxx


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Debbie, my holiday wish for you is that you turn that corner where you just absolutely know that you are better than pre-surgery. I so hope you will get there!

Over the summer, someone posted about looking forward to pain free holidays. I was still struggling making my decision. I was not sure what I was more afraid of: second surgery and recovery, my crazies, or allowing myself to get as bad as I was and losing more months/years with increasingly avoiding life. Even as good as my recovery was going, I had many days where I was certain I could do none of those choices and therefore life just wasn't worth living. Now I can't believe I'd give a moment to such thoughts.

When I think of all I avoided because of my left hip, I am so envious of those of you brave enough/smart enough/lucky enough to get surgery before being debilitated. I am beginning to realize I feel so good now mainly because I compare with feeling so bad for so long.

My right hip, your surgical hip would not have gotten better and very well could have gotten much worse very fast. And no you'll never know but odds are very much that you did the right thing at the right time. I am not back to normal activities and I don't know for sure how long it will take. I am trying to be patient. (Lol)

I know I will be able "to do" these holidays much much better than I have for years. Be very glad you are steps closer to not losing this precious time of life to hips.

Off my soapbox.

Happy holidays my friend!


Sheryl from Pittsburgh
LTHR on 4/2/2014
Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart®
 
Hey @Dmcfad2 !
Good to hear from you Debbie... You and your segwey! Oh my goodness... You are so
fearless. I wouldn't dare get on one of those things.
I hope your hip is fine; I am sure it will be.
All your previous adventurous events have been okay in the end.

I hope you are feeling well and happy.
I am back to PT, to use my free funds at the end of the year.
My OS is saying I have Lumbar issues with L4/5, and would benefit from stretches.
Trying that out now...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
 
@Josephine I am a little over eight months post op LTHR and am still experiencing a radiating burning pain in the lateral thigh on my operated hip side. This pain happens when I have been putting full weight on my hip and then let off. For instance, if I am standing in one place talking to someone and then start to walk away, as I lift my foot, I will get this pain that starts about mid thigh and then radiates down my thigh towards my knee on the lateral part of my thigh and it is quite painful. This has been going on ever since surgery. There was a short period where it seemed to go away, but it has come back. If I grab my thigh and push on it as it is happening, it helps to relieve the pain. This does not feel like muscle pain and is deep inside my leg. It does seem to happen more after I have worked out in the gym, but I am familiar with the way muscles feel when they are sore from working out and this pain is nothing like that. It is a kind of pain I had never experienced until after my surgery.

When it happens, it is always right after putting full weight on my operated hip and then letting off. If I do it again right after the first pain comes, it isn't quite as bad and continues to get better if I put weight on my leg and then take it off. I had a fall recently, but my OS has looked at my X-rays and sees nothing wrong. He also said there is good bone growth. I just can't figure out what is causing me this pain this far out from surgey. Could micro motion cause this type of pain? Again, this is something that has been going on since surgery on a pretty regular basis. Would micro motion always show on an x-Ray? I. Would appreciate any insight you could give me. Thanks.
 
@Poppet can you change the name of my thread to "11 months post op still in pain" ? Thank you.

I will be 11 months post op in 2 weeks. I am still dealing with the pain in my thigh that comes between mid-thigh and my knee when I have been standing and then lift my leg to walk. It is a deep, intense pain that begins and then intensifies and then backs off. It takes my breath away sometimes. As I continue to walk, it lessens and then subsides. Then, when I sit down and stand again or stand still and then begin to walk, it will start again and then subside as I continue to walk.

I have been to see my surgeon's assistant who says my x-rays look fine and thinks it might be tronchanteric bursitis. But, I am convinced he is wrong and feel he didn't really listen to all of my symptoms. I have no pain or throbbing at rest. The pain shifts between the front of my thigh and the back of my thigh and starts right about where I believe the stem ends and goes to right above my knee. I have done extensive research online and have not really found anything that sounds like what I experience. I also have a tender spot on the back of my mid-thigh that is always there. Anti inflamatories and pain medications do not seem to help at all.

Has anyone experienced this type of pain or have any idea what this could be? I have not done any kind of physical exercise in the last two months to see if it made a difference, but I still am having this pain that has been going on since about 7 weeks post op when I gave up using my cane and started full weight bearing. I am so discouraged. Any insight would be appreciated!
 
I changed your thread title for you @Dmcfad2 . So sorry you are still in pain. I'm tagging @Josephine as it looks like she may have missed your earlier tag.
 
Debbie, so sorry you are still having pain. Hope you find out what is causing it and it gets resolved. Hugs!!
 
So sorry you are still dealing with this. :bawl:
Maybe if you met with your surgeon directly, he would have more answers than the PA?
 
I'm going to ask you some questions and it would be very helpful if you would answer each one individually - numbered as I have done - in as much detail as you can then I'll come back as see where you are ....

1. what are your pain levels right with this? (remember the 1-10 scale: 1 = no pain and 10 = the worst you can imagine. And don't compare this with the bone-on-bone pain you had before surgery!
[Bonesmart.org] Pain in hip after nine years.
) Also don't forget to include other forms of pain such as soreness, burning, stabbing, throbbing, aching, swelling and stiffness

2. what pain medications are you taking for it, how much (in mg please) and how often?

3. what is your activity level? What do you do in the way of housework, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc., and

4. what kind of PT exercises and exercises at home are you doing? How much and how often? (and detailed details would be appreciated, please! **Reps, sets and sessions** and all that)

** If you're not familiar with this, it goes like so:
1 lift of your leg = 1 rep (repetition)
5 reps and then a brief rest = 1 set
5 sets and finishing = 1 session.

Can you tell me the exact site of your pain using these charts?
Please note the instructions in the smaller image

[Bonesmart.org] Pain in hip after nine years.


[Bonesmart.org] Pain in hip after nine years.


[Bonesmart.org] Pain in hip after nine years.
 
Thank you, Jaycey.

@Josephine, thanks for your reply.

1. The tender spot on the back of my thigh is usually a 1, but can go as high as a 3. It is always there.
The thigh pain I experience, when it happens, can be anywhere from a 6 to a 10. When it hits 10, it makes me cry, it is so intense. When I am at rest, I have no pain. When I am walking, I usually have no pain if I have been in motion for awhile. The pain most often comes when I stand in one spot for awhile, then lift my leg to take a step. It floods my thigh, gets very intense and then slowly backs off. It gets better with each step. But, if I stop, stand, then walk again, it comes back the same way.
If I have been doing a lot of walking or have climbed stairs or some other weight bearing activity, then shortly thereafter I will have the same pain in the same pattern, but the intensity of the pain increases. But, even if I have done nothing but sit around, I still get it. I was recently very sick for 2 weeks and did nothing but lay on the couch and I still had it. It happens every day, some days more often than others.

2. I am not taking anything for the pain and haven't for a month. Before that, I was taking 500 mg of Relafen twice a day and Norco 7.5 mg. as needed, but neither one seemed to help and I was starting to get stomach aches, which I think were from the NSAID, so I quit taking it. Since quitting it, my stomachaches have gone away. I also tried taking 2 Tylenol 500 mg when the pain was very bad and it didn't touch the pain, either.

3. For the last 2 months, my activity has been minimal. I have purposely tried to do very little in the hope that it would get better. I make the bed, do the dishes, just light housework. I have a housekeeper who does my floors, windows and my bathrooms. I do the grocery shopping and drive around town to do errands on a regular basis. I occasionally take a walk around my block, about half a mile.

4. I don't do any PT. I do some light stretching a couple of times a week. I lay on my bed on my stomach, bend my leg back at the knee with a strap around my foot and lightly pull to stretch my quad. I hold it for about 30 seconds, then do it again. I also bend forward at the waist and touch my toes and hold it for 30 seconds.

Before December, I was going to the gym about 3 times a week to ride the stationary bike for 35 minutes.

5. The intense thigh pain is at about GL5f, HL5f, ALf4, and continues down on the line of BLf4 and CLf4 about to the knee.
The tender spot on the back of my thigh is about on the line between GHL2b. I can also get the intense pain back there sometimes, too, but it is most often in the front of my thigh.

I have read about stress transfer from stem to femur and wonder if that is a possibility.

I hope I have answered all of your questions and would really value your opinion. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Debbie ....so sorry to hear that you are still suffering with pain....had hoped to read a better update from you.
Hoping you can get an answer and move on. Thinking of you....Chrissie xx


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So sorry to find you still in pain. I'll watch with interest to see what Jo says

(((Hugs)))
 
Oh, Debbie, sometimes life is just so unfair! It is just so not right when you do all your supposed to do and are not rewarded with good healthy pain free body! :tantrum2: I share your :kickedout::blackcloud::hairpulling::groan:
 
Debbie, I'm so sorry and it's my fault I haven't identified to two charts more clearly, but can you do the chart references again for me? Can you say 'on the hip chart it's ..' and 'on the knee chart it's ... ' just for my clarification? That's muchly.
 
Dmcfad2 said:
The thigh pain I experience, when it happens, can be anywhere from a 6 to a 10. When it hits 10, it makes me cry, it is so intense. The pain most often comes when I stand in one spot for awhile, then lift my leg to take a step. It floods my thigh, gets very intense and then slowly backs off.
Click to expand...
That sounds an unhappy place to be in.
Dmcfad2 said:
2. I am not taking anything for the pain and haven't for a month. Before that, I was taking 500 mg of Relafen twice a day and Norco 7.5 mg. as needed, but neither one seemed to help. I also tried taking 2 Tylenol 500 mg when the pain was very bad and it didn't touch the pain, either.
Click to expand...
Have you tried ice, heat, moist heat? There are more way to deal with pain than pills.
Dmcfad2 said:
3. For the last 2 months, my activity has been minimal. I have purposely tried to do very little in the hope that it would get better.
Click to expand...
I can understand that and while it's most likely a good way to go, on the other hadn it may or may not be making much difference.
Dmcfad2 said:
4. I don't do any PT. I do some light stretching a couple of times a week. I lay on my bed on my stomach, bend my leg back at the knee with a strap around my foot and lightly pull to stretch my quad. I hold it for about 30 seconds, then do it again. I also bend forward at the waist and touch my toes and hold it for 30 seconds. Before December, I was going to the gym about 3 times a week to ride the stationary bike for 35 minutes.
Click to expand...
How strongly do you pull on the strap? It needs to be gentle, not even extending into discomfort.

I'll say more when You're clarified the charts!
 
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