THR Thank God, I've made it to the other side!<

[Layla]

I hope today is better than yesterday @Jesus fan
Will look forward to Josephine's input once you receive and answer her questions.
Hang in there. It will get better

 

[Josephine]

Here y'go then!

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 approach did you have for your surgery? Anterior, posterior, lateral? You can look here to see the various types THR approaches or incisions

2. what are your pain levels right now? (remember the 1-10 scale: 1 = no pain and 10 = the worst you can imagine. And don't forget to factor in other forms of pain such as soreness, burning, stabbing, throbbing, aching, swelling and stiffness).

3. what pain medications have you been prescribed, how much are you taking (in mg please) and how often?

4. are you icing your painful area at all? If so, how often and for how long?

5. are you elevating your leg. If so how often and for how long?

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

7. are you doing any exercises at home? If so what and how often?
This is the most crucial question so please help me by using the format I have left as an example
(which means please make a list and not an essay!)

Exercises done at home
- how many sessions you do each day
- enter exercise by name then number of repetitions of each
etc., etc.

Anything done at PT
- how many times a week
- enter exercise by name then number of repetitions of each
etc., etc.

 

[Jesus fan]

@Josephine

1. I was never told but my scar looks more like the lateral (side).

2. 4 (laying down) it hurts worse when I stand or walk.

3. Percocet 325 mg. Says to take it every four hours as needed but I only take one at night before going to sleep and don't take that if I'm not hurting too bad.

4. Yes, several hours a day and I always fall asleep with an ice pack on at night. Right now I'm pretty much using ice about 18 hours a day.

5. I'm not really elevating. I just keep my bad leg on one pillow but heel is still touching the bed. I stay in bed most of the time as the PT told me to for the last couple days.

6. Wash dishes, run dust mop over all the floors, dust a little bit of furniture (bend using the golfers bend), feed and water animals.

7. Exercise I do at home:
Walk
PT comes to my home twice a week and I do the following:
squats x10
side leg lifts
back leg lifts x15
normal leg lifts x15
side step for about x10
walk backwards for about x10
leg lifts sitting: with 1lb weights x25
with band around both legs spread apart x25
with band, lift leg x25
walk through the house x2 trips
was practicing using the cane until I started having swelling and pain then she stopped that.

I hope I've answered every thing ok

 

[Layla]

Aye yi yi....I think I know why you're hurting, sweetie.
Those exercises. Weights and bands, ouch!
Let Jo advise but we can pretty much guess what she'll say.....

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.

Rest and Ice and rest and Ice until you hear from Josephine.
Wishing you comfort.
@Jesus fan

 

[Jesus fan]

@Layla Thank you so much. Hope you are having a wonderful evening! (hugs)

 

[dlp]

Aye yi yi....I think I know why you're hurting, sweetie.
Those exercises. Weights and bands, ouch!

Wow yeah. And living with your pain at a minimum level of 4 doesn't sound good. Not taking meds around the clock is most likely contributing to the increased pain levels when standing or walking.

Sounds like your physical therapist is really overworking you. I'm a big PT proponent, but at 8 weeks out I'm not doing anywhere near the amount of work you are doing at 4 weeks - not twice a week, not using bands, and not using weights.

Seems like it's been a rough few weeks, but I think that you have a few things going on that tweaking a little bit could lead to a much smoother recovery. Best wishes and Happy Healing!

 

[SurreyGirl]

I have to weigh in here- if you pardon the pun!

Using a resistance band caused me my first real pain since the early days post op and took me a week to recover from. Gentle PT working for me but have refused to do bands.

 

[Mojo333]

Agree with all above especially dlp.
You need the meds...you need to drop the PT for now...and you don't need to worry that this means you aren't progressing!
Too little medication and icing and elevating plus too strenuous PT exercise equals pain and lack of sleep.
It will get better dear JesusFan, if you let it.
Sending healing hugs

 

[Bionic]

I actually haven't done any PT.

Because I live in quite a hill my exercise has mostly consisted of walking round the house as the need arose. Lots of stairs up to the bedroom, stairs down to the lounge and walking round the kitchen.

I am now 9 weeks post op. I think I am doing well and can honestly say that I haven't been in any pain, apart from the initial operation pain.

When I do get to walk somewhere relatively flat I can do a couple of miles without thinking about it.

 

[Josephine]

2. 4 (laying down) it hurts worse when I stand or walk.

Well if it hurts worse then, WHAT does the pain score go up to?

 

[Jesus fan]

@Josephine 7
Do you think my hip may have dislocated???

@Bionic Wow I cant imagine walking two miles, congrats on your awesome recovery!

@dlp At four weeks out shouldn't I not need meds around the clock? If I had taken them around the clock as the bottle said I would have been out of pills by now and he did not have a refill on them. I just don't understand why I'm not healing to the point where I don't need pain meds.

 

[Jaycey]

@Jesus fan you are healing but you are only 4 weeks out of major surgery. All that exercise and you are not taking your pain meds as prescribed, around the clock. You need to ask your family doctor for another prescription if you think you will run out of meds. You need medication to let you get your mobility back.

BTW - if you had dislocated you would not be able to move.

 

[Josephine]

2. 4 (laying down) it hurts worse when I stand or walk.Then it goes up to a 7

Well mostly pain is activity related but I'll get to that later

3. Percocet 325 mg. Says to take it every four hours as needed but I only take one at night before going to sleep and don't take that if I'm not hurting too bad.

If you're hurting AT ALL you should take something. I suggest you try taking Tylenol at 1,000mg 3-4 times a day. At 5 weeks out, you definitely need something!

4. Yes, several hours a day and I always fall asleep with an ice pack on at night. Right now I'm pretty much using ice about 18 hours a day.

Good!

5. I'm not really elevating. I just keep my bad leg on one pillow but heel is still touching the bed. I stay in bed most of the time as the PT told me to for the last couple days.

That's okay

6. Wash dishes, run dust mop over all the floors, dust a little bit of furniture (bend using the golfers bend), feed and water animals.

Good

7. Exercise I do at home:
Walk
PT comes to my home twice a week and I do the following:
squats x10
side leg lifts
back leg lifts x15
normal leg lifts x15
side step for about x10
walk backwards for about x10
leg lifts sitting: with 1lb weights x25
with band around both legs spread apart x25
with band, lift leg x25
walk through the house x2 trips

You don't need ANY of these! None at all. When we left you the hip recovery guidelines post #5, did you not see this paragraph?

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.​

was practicing using the cane until I started having swelling and pain then she stopped that.

And left you with nothing? That's not good! You will know when you feel confident enough to stop using aids. Until then, keep using them!

Do you think my hip may have dislocated???

Honey if you'd dislocated your hip, you'd be laying on the floor/bed screaming for an ambulance! This is no "did I, didn't I" situation. You'd KNOW! Not only would you not be able to move, you wouldnt't be able to cough, sneeze or even take a deep breath!

 

[Jesus fan]

@Josephine I guess I didn't explain very well about the walking aid.... i'm currently on a walker and have been since day one. PT is trying to get me to go from walker to a cane so we were practicing with the cane every session until I had this flair up. Now she told me to stay with walker only and not to practice with cane until the swelling and pain stops.
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply me and help me, I really appreciate it. I will do as you have suggested. God bless.

 

[Josephine]

Now she told me to stay with walker only and not to practice with cane until the swelling and pain stops.

Well I was half right then! The rest of it was on cue!

"You will know when you feel confident enough to stop using aids. Until then, keep using them!"

 

[Layla]

Hi again.
I hope you're comfortable and willing to back off PT. I think you're now in a position where it could take a few weeks to recover from the set-back caused by Physical Therapy. Please trust the advice you're receiving here. It seems evident to many that you've entered what we refer to here as the ODIC (Over Did It Club). PT will not help you now. It will most likely make matters worse. What you need is rest, meds on schedule and lots of icing.

Don't get discouraged if it takes awhile, I think you'll slowly feel relief as long as you can commit to stepping away from PT. I saw a sign outside of a clinic last Winter. It said - "Pain Is Your Body Asking For Change".
Please give it a change.

We're here for you. Stay in touch so we can follow your progress.
Hugs
@Jesus fan

 

[anny]

Hi @Jesus fan ....sorry that you're struggling and still in pain. I think the hardest thing about recovery is getting your head around how SLOW it happens......I followed BS guidelines about no exercise and medicating ahead of the pain for weeks and felt the laziest person in the world.....BUT I had virtually no problems. I decided at the 5 mth mark to start doing exercises as well as lengthen the walking, but still kept it low key......"babysteps" all the way. Now at 6 mths I'm back to square 1 with the second hip and am getting frustrated at not doing things, but I know it will take longer to get back to normal if I overdo it Nowadays we are constantly being told to be proactive about our fitness, and, I think,we still have a hangover from Jane Fonda's 'no pain no gain'.....hard to see that being proactive sometimes means doing nothing for a while.

We all join the ODIC at some point, think the knack is not to do it too often! Thinking of you as I sit around.....we will get there, and one day we'll be running around with no repercussions

 

[dlp]

@dlp At four weeks out shouldn't I not need meds around the clock? If I had taken them around the clock as the bottle said I would have been out of pills by now and he did not have a refill on them. I just don't understand why I'm not healing to the point where I don't need pain meds.

Hi @Jesus fan - I'm sure you're healing, just not super fast - there's no such thing as super fast recovery from a major surgery. To be honest, I think if you were taking the meds more frequently during the last 4 weeks, you could be at a point where you were maybe just taking Tylenol.

For my first surgery, I took prescription meds for about 5.5 weeks before going to "as needed". This time around things went a lot smoother. I took meds every day, 4-5 hours apart for about 3 weeks, then started to space them out as my pain levels allowed. Stopped them after about 4.5 weeks.

Some doctors don't prescribe more than some minimum amount because some insurance plans won't cover larger quantities. They also may not offer refills to discourage prolonged usage without consultation.

Hang in there, get the pain under control (and yes, even I'm saying this) stop the PT, and I think you should soon (but not super quick) find yourself feeling better, moving better and ready to take on the world!

Cheers!

 

[Layla]

We're here for you. We want you to feel better, stronger, happy.
Let us know how you're doing when you're feeling up to it. We'll be here.
Hugs
@Jesus fan

 

[Jesus fan]

I went back to see the OS today. He says that I have bursitis in my hip, says that happens a lot after THR, which I already had it before that. He doubled my ibuprofen and prescribed "Voltaren gel" to rub on the painful area.

Does anyone know if this gel works well? I've never heard of it before.

I had cancelled all PT and he told me that he wants me back on PT with lots of stretching exercises said it would help the bursitis to go away.