THR Shin pain RTHR

Lovemypup

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I had a THR on June 3rd. Prior to surgery I had severe pain in my lower leg which kept me out of work and from my normal activities. My surgeon said it was due to the compensation from the bad hip. (My surgery was delayed several months due to COVID)
The THR was a success. I was released the same day and walking unassisted at 2 1/2 weeks. I’ve been told best therapy for my hip is walking. The deep aching pain in my shin is preventing me from doing just that. What should I do? My surgeon is not big on PT before 4-6 weeks post op. I’m so distressed and frustrated. Thank you so much.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum! Congratulations on your new hip! First of all, I am going to leave you some great articles about your THR recovery.. hopefully you will find them as useful and helpful as I did.


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
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​


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


5. At week 4 and after you should follow this


6. Access to these pages on the website


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 the at each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.
 
I had quite a bit of lower leg soreness after my most recent LTHR.. it was surprisingly very painful. Mine extended down into my foot and ankle too, so I understand your concern and frustration.
I hope your OS let you know that it's not required to take huge long walks, just to get up every hour or so to walk around should suffice, you are still in the very early days and your leg underwent some deep trauma.
My gait was so skewed before surgery that I think every single time I walked and walked with a more normal gait that it put stress on shortened muscles, ligaments and tendons and it takes a good bit of time to get that reconciled, but it DOES get better!!

I'm wondering if you have a good bit of swelling, maybe? I would ice my entire leg, or at least it sure felt like it, I had an ice pack on my ankle and on my shin and then the knee and hip.

We will make a signature for you that will show when you post here. It's very helpful for anyone reading your thread.. I see your surgery date, would you mind telling us if it is your right or left hip?
 
P.S. :heehee: lf it's exceptionally painful when walking, you are almost to the 4 weeks timeline and maybe going to a PT who offers some hands on therapy could help?
A good Therapeutic Massage Therapist could help, too, if that is allowed in your area (Covid), esecially if they are further certified in Manual Lymphatic Drainage.

So! There's a good bit of information left here, I hope it is helpful and not overwhelming. Again, glad to have you here on the forum, it's a safe place of great support.
 
@Lovemypup at only 20 days out of surgery sounds like normal post op pain. Ice the leg - anywhere you have pain. They grab you pretty aggressively during the procedure. Bruising and pain in many areas is very common.

Crickethip has a good idea about massage. I had deep muscle massage post LTHR. It really did help.

Please keep us updated!
 
I had a right THR. I am only at 20 days post surgery. Ice and elevation do help. I just worry I’m not walking enough. Thanks so much for your feedback! I kept thinking I was crazy that my lower leg hurt so much when I had a degenerated hip replaced.
 
No! Not crazy at all, it’s fairly common. I’m glad that relieves your mind some :roseshwr:
Thank you for the info and we will get you a nice signature set up.
 
I had a right THR. I am only at 20 days post surgery. Ice and elevation do help. I just worry I’m not walking enough.
You don't have to walk a lot, especially in the first month after surgery. All your tissues that were wounded by surgery need time and gentle treatment, so they can heal. If you walk too much, they will remain angry and inflamed.

Hips don't need a lot of exercise to recover. They know how to do it just with ordinary, everyday use.

As your recovery progresses, increase the amount of walking gradually.
 
I had a right THR. I am only at 20 days post surgery. Ice and elevation do help. I just worry I’m not walking enough. Thanks so much for your feedback! I kept thinking I was crazy that my lower leg hurt so much when I had a degenerated hip replaced.

I will agree, you don't have to walk long and far, and in fact, you shouldn't! Three weeks for me was a couple of walks up the road a few houses and back per day. If I was up for it and it wasn't 95 out...the walking amount kind of comes naturally if we let it. One day we feel fantastic and determine to walk around the block, and love it. The next day we realize (due to soreness, or fatigue) that was fairly optimistic, and only walk halfway to the nearest corner. This goes on for awhile until you "get the range" of what your hip is up for any given day.
 
Walking is the best therapy and as others said it's not about how far you walk. It's more walking correctly. For most of us any muscle building PT really doesn't work out well until after a couple of months. For many of us it just causes more pain and setbacks. As for walking you have to be careful about walking too far. With my first THR I would walk down my road and try going a little further each day. All well and good until I went too far down the road. I spent quite a while leaning on a fence post before I felt I could make it back home. With my 2nd I went to the local park walking track where there are benches to sit and rest and you're never too far from the car. I found walking on flat ground to be better also in concentrating on good heel toe form and walking slowly.
 
@Lovemypup another thing occurred to me last night-- have you ever had shin splints? I had a couple decades ago, and aching was part of the experience.

I have two ODIC stories like Eman85's! One was, as I mentioned, walking around the block for the first time. One of my challenges was low BP on hip 1, and it was very hot out that time of year. I stood in front of the house of my back yard neighbors (but couldn't cut through!), leaning on my cane, for quite a while before moving on. The second was my first solo grocery shop at about 5 weeks, when I was just beginning driving. Picked up my 3 items, went to my favorite cashier, who told me I looked pale. That was exactly how I felt-- so pale I might pass out! Got out to the car and sat there talking on phone to DH for about 15 minutes before I was feeling confident enough to drive (all of 5 minutes) home. It was nerves combined with the low BP and the heat. Second hip was completely different-- no nerves, and BP never dropped, dang! First hip, I'd been able to stop my med for a year, and go back on half dosage. No such luck second hip.
 
I just worry I’m not walking enough.

Hi @Lovemypup
I often referred to the Activity Progression for THR in the early weeks of my recovery as I never knew what was too much, or not enough. It worked well for me as a rough gauge, following it loosely. Take a peek and see what you think -

I hope you have a nice day!
 
Thank you!
Day 23 here
I had been doing extremely well walking on my own. Shin pain was subsiding. I was elevating and icing a few times in the day.
Then later in the evening I was applying oil to my scar and I twisted my leg somehow and I felt a sharp pain. Now I cannot put any weight on the leg again because the pain in my shin is so severe. It’s awful. What do you think this is?
 
Oh goodness,, that is so frustrating, isn't it? Many of us had a misstep or errant movement like that.
I did it with my most recent hip and it set me back for at least a week... I only mention that so you don't worry if it remains sore for longer than you expected. Jaycey is so right, new hips hate twisting and various other errant movements that we don't even know we are doing.
Hopefully you have upped the icing game again and can rest a lot for the weekend.

I'm so sorry,, I can imagine your frustration with this.
 
Thank you. I’m still having severe pain in my shin. It throbs and burns and has sharp pain. I’m back to using my walker to get around. I feel like I’m never going to get better . Sure my hip is great but will this shin pain ever go away?
Dr messaged me to continue ice and elevation and try taping the shin which I haven’t done yet. I started taking Advil in between my other pain meds. It helps some but does hurt my stomach. My pain is about an 8/10 right now and I’m lying in bed! What should do?
 
I started taking Advil in between my other pain meds.
Please be very careful taking Advil. It does cause stomach problems and can cause bleeding.

Get that ice and elevation going and keep icing as much as you can. Hope this eases quickly!
 
Hi @Lovemypup,
My story has some similarities to yours. My right leg's soft tissues hurt a lot before my surgery. I was told that my compensation for my bad right hip was the reason for these muscular/soft tissue pains.

In my case, after my right hip was replaced, my muscular pain was worse. I looked for help, and eventually found a Physical Therapist with a CFMT certification (certified functional manual therapy). My thread is: At 6 months & improving with great PT


Some of what my PT does looks like massage, but this hands on work focuses on getting soft tissue irritations and adhesions to heal, referred to as soft tissue mobilizations.

I have done 4 months of treatment with my PT. As I healed, I began supervised strengthening and range of motion exercises, and am now doing very well. My pain has resolved and I am active once again. Please note that I waited until about 2 months to start this outpatient PT, as this is what my OS directed me to do, as she is concerned that nothing be strenuous while the leg was initially healing.
 
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You should ask your Dr. but for me taking Fomatadine with Advil or Aleve helps protect my stomach.
 
Thanks for the info! Great to hear you’re getting better. My OS (his clinical staff really) keep telling me it will take time for the leg to heal. Today is 4 weeks since my surgery. I think my hip is really doing great but I have excruciating pain in my lower leg that really makes it hard to walk unassisted. I’m going to look up info for a CFMT certified therapist.
Thanks again
 
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