Swelling in hip

[MarkfromCanada]

Hello all, 45 year male, pretty fit had total hip replacement 5 weeks ago. I am experiencing alot of swelling in the area. I would say a couple inches wide on both sides of scar. It almost looks like a bruise. Is this normal? perhaps I am walking or doing too much. I had vein gram no clots. I had disease called Leg perthes and doctor told me my muscles and the femoral head were in bad shape. thanks in advance....Mark

 

[Jamie]

Hi, Mark! Welcome to BoneSmart. So glad you joined us.

Normally our forum nurse, Josephine, would be available to give you a medical opinion on your situation. But she is in the hospital right now after a knee replacement a few days ago. I'm from the knee side and in my non-medical opinion, I would guess that swelling as you describe is still within the range of normal...especially since your doctor indicated he had to do a bit of extra work in there to repair damage from the disease. Remember he was in there moving things around during a MAJOR surgical procedure.

Try icing the area heavily. Hopefully you have some large gel pack ice bags to use. Be sure and put a towel between the ice pack and you (even with clothes on too) just to be sure your skin doesn't get over chilled. You can even ice like this at night when you go to bed. See if that helps some. And don't hesitate to give your doctor's office a call and ask questions about what is going on. It will ease your mind and that's what they are there for. Usually the office will have a nurse that can take your questions and relay them to the surgeon if necessary. But many times the nurses have ALL the answers (bless them) and can help right away.

Post any time....we are glad to hear from you and will want to know once this resolves itself.

 

[Judles]

Hi & Welcome, Mark! I'm a hippie.too! Are you
Doing PT now on a regular basis? Are you
Keeping ahead of your pain by taking your
Meds before you start aching? Sleeping ok?
Don't forget to elevate & ice! You're
Not all that far out from your surgery!
Jamie always gives sensible advice! If
You have any questions or concerns, you would be
Wise to contact your OS's nurse, Good
Luck, feel better & hope to hear from you
Soon!

 

[Peta]

Hi Mark and welcome! I had LTHR 4 months ago and I had THE most awful bruising around my incision which didn't appear until about 3 weeks post-op. I rang my OS in a panic wondering what on earth was going on and he reassured me it was perfectly normal. Just residual bruising coming out. I was very slightly swollen in the area - but my main concern was the bruising. I would ring your OS just for peace of mind!
Incidentally - are you fair skinned? I am (very) and my OS made some reference to that when I was talking to him about the bruising. ??

Peta

 

[JudyS]

Welcome Mark

I had my hip replaced in June. I had an unbelievable amount of swelling. I gained around 24 pounds of fluid , it did occur in both legs. The way I got a lot of the swelling to go down was to actually spend a weekend with most of the time in bed laying down. it was the strong suggestion of my home pt. It was more in the 2-3 week range, but it did the trick for a large amount of swelling.
I did not have any bruising though. We are all different. Call your doctor's office if you are worried though. They are used to it for sure.
Welcome again
judy

 

[MarkfromCanada]

Thankyou all for the great advice on my swelling. I get the feeling I should do my pt 3 times daily and disreguard the pain? My os added 3/4 inch to my left leg to make them even for the first time as well. I read that the femers in patients who had leg perthes can be weaker. I am probably expecting too much. I am going to elevate and rest today. again great site, great info and I am definitely going to make a contribution to the upkeep of site. I think I am getting addicted to researching the operation lol... Snow is melted spring is on the way. Mark

 

[kangaroo]

Hi Mark,
How Did the OS lengthen your leg.? I had Perthes too and I basically have a very short femoral neck...The doctor is talking about giving me a longer femoral neck ,thereby giving me an extra 2 cm...making me almost even. This sound like a big stretch for the abductor muscles (muscles on the outside of your leg), which I imagine might suffer a lot of pain. How did you go with this? Perhaps the swelling is from the muscles screaming from being overextended, compared with what they were like before. ? My doctor says my abductors will be really weak after surgery...
Rachel

 

[MarkfromCanada]

Hi kangaroo. Great question. I don't know how he lengthened the leg? It was 2 cm as well.I see my surgeon April 3 i will ask him what he did and get back to you. it does make sense that muscles would stretch. Also I have never had any flexibility. I have never crossed my legs ever. He did say patients with perthes have a messy set of muscles because of it. I will get back to you in April . Cheers Mark