craftdee
graduate
AustraliaHi @jasminesmom Glad you're all home and on the path to healing. Please don't worry yourself too much about the 90 degree 'rule'... I made myself sick with worrying about it, seeing it as making the recovery miserable; my OS put it all into perspective... he is a very straight talker!
For a start he NEVER used the word 'restrictions' he referred to the adjustments made to your normal way of doing things as "precautions" - once I saw them as designed to protect me not restrict me I somehow felt less resentful of them
He also said they are designed to reduce the ALREADY VERY SMALL risk of dislocation... and that if I were to observe them as often as I could then the chances of me dislocating my hip on the odd occasion I didn't were very slight indeed. I literally went from laying stiff in bed, scared witless that I would roll over in my sleep and instantly dislocate my hip to seeing that this was something I COULD somewhat control, and set about doing the best I could. He pointed out that from HIS point of view, a dislocation (provided it was explicable) would not be considered a complication of surgery... it would HURT ME and I'd have to be more cautious after getting it relocated, but not a "real problem" for him - I decided "HURT" was enough reason to try and avoid it
In short he said not to let them spoil the recovery, so I didn't 
In the end most of the precautions
were nowhere near as hard to observe as I had imagined they would be. That said after twelve weeks (yeah, I'm a lucky 12 weeker 
) I was more than happy to ditch them and try to reach my toes... just to be assured that they'd put a new hip in... can't "test it" without breaking dem rules
and I was more than "more than" happy to sleep on anything but my back! Interestingly, I now find I can get quite comfortable on my back, when I "had to" it was the bain of my life!
You sound like you've got a handle on the Physio thing, don't rush into it... you'll find Jaz will be moving more fluidly all the time... movement without fear of pain is a marvellous thing. That will be the time, in a few weeks, when adhering to the precautions will take a bit more of a conscious effort! The PT will help adjust her gait and the rest will fall into place. I was amazed at how quickly my limp resolved itself... I felt out of balance at first... the old "apparent LLD, or Leg Length Differential" which was in fact making the adjustment to having both legs the SAME length... having worn a few centimetres off the "old one" . I got some (very basic) pointers towards good gait, and in a week or so realized the limp was all but gone! and I'd had it for a loooooong time
Some people set their alarms for the "middle of the night" dose, especially early in the piece. I never did, but my meds included a slow release Tramadol at bed time, so I was taking my meds "by the clock". If I woke up, even if I had no pain I took some paracetemol... just in case, and I'd change out my ice packs for the same reason. I can honestly say I didn't have much pain - sleep was uncomfortable but not from the hip, more from the unnatural sleeping position and extra pillows in the bed etc... my heels got unbelievably sore in the first two weeks from rubbing on the bed (as you can't "twist" them out of the way, and I was advised by my OS to not elevate at night to try and get some stretch back into my psoas - on the nights I couldn't stand it I elevated... it helped my back, hip AND heels!! If Jaz hasn't been told not to elevate I'd be elevating A LOT) and of course sometimes in THR recovery sleep is just elusive... who knows why. One night I had "log leg", that was my worst night - but still not what I'd call painful, just unpleasant.
Hope the recovery continues apace, I'm sure it will
Hwyl am nawr
Donnax
For a start he NEVER used the word 'restrictions' he referred to the adjustments made to your normal way of doing things as "precautions" - once I saw them as designed to protect me not restrict me I somehow felt less resentful of them
He also said they are designed to reduce the ALREADY VERY SMALL risk of dislocation... and that if I were to observe them as often as I could then the chances of me dislocating my hip on the odd occasion I didn't were very slight indeed. I literally went from laying stiff in bed, scared witless that I would roll over in my sleep and instantly dislocate my hip to seeing that this was something I COULD somewhat control, and set about doing the best I could. He pointed out that from HIS point of view, a dislocation (provided it was explicable) would not be considered a complication of surgery... it would HURT ME and I'd have to be more cautious after getting it relocated, but not a "real problem" for him - I decided "HURT" was enough reason to try and avoid it In short he said not to let them spoil the recovery, so I didn't In the end most of the precautions
were nowhere near as hard to observe as I had imagined they would be. That said after twelve weeks (yeah, I'm a lucky 12 weeker ) I was more than happy to ditch them and try to reach my toes... just to be assured that they'd put a new hip in... can't "test it" without breaking dem rules and I was more than "more than" happy to sleep on anything but my back! Interestingly, I now find I can get quite comfortable on my back, when I "had to" it was the bain of my life!You sound like you've got a handle on the Physio thing, don't rush into it... you'll find Jaz will be moving more fluidly all the time... movement without fear of pain is a marvellous thing. That will be the time, in a few weeks, when adhering to the precautions will take a bit more of a conscious effort! The PT will help adjust her gait and the rest will fall into place. I was amazed at how quickly my limp resolved itself... I felt out of balance at first... the old "apparent LLD, or Leg Length Differential" which was in fact making the adjustment to having both legs the SAME length... having worn a few centimetres off the "old one" . I got some (very basic) pointers towards good gait, and in a week or so realized the limp was all but gone! and I'd had it for a loooooong time
Some people set their alarms for the "middle of the night" dose, especially early in the piece. I never did, but my meds included a slow release Tramadol at bed time, so I was taking my meds "by the clock". If I woke up, even if I had no pain I took some paracetemol... just in case, and I'd change out my ice packs for the same reason. I can honestly say I didn't have much pain - sleep was uncomfortable but not from the hip, more from the unnatural sleeping position and extra pillows in the bed etc... my heels got unbelievably sore in the first two weeks from rubbing on the bed (as you can't "twist" them out of the way, and I was advised by my OS to not elevate at night to try and get some stretch back into my psoas - on the nights I couldn't stand it I elevated... it helped my back, hip AND heels!! If Jaz hasn't been told not to elevate I'd be elevating A LOT
) and of course sometimes in THR recovery sleep is just elusive... who knows why. One night I had "log leg", that was my worst night - but still not what I'd call painful, just unpleasant.Hope the recovery continues apace, I'm sure it will
Hwyl am nawr
Donnax
![[Bonesmart.org] teenager hip replacement after SUFE](https://data.bonesmart.org/attachments/24/24837-90f7fc118b705e721e043864f90b84a9.jpg?hash=kPf8EYtwXn)
There is plenty of light at the end of the tunnel.
