An update on my little brat of a hip…..
I guess I was meant to be a poster child for the “it takes at least a year for full recovery club.” I had my right hip replaced in August 2022 and have experienced a lot of soft tissue problems that resulted in a continuing muscle weakness problem, some pain, and limping.
First it was knotting up of my thigh muscle tissues. I had physical therapy for this for a couple of months after the first of the year and eventually the muscles stopped knotting up with consistent pressure point therapy applied to the knots. Fortunately my therapist taught me how to do this myself after a month or so with her, so I was able to do the process at home immediately when the knots would appear rather than wait for my sessions with her.
But, then just as I was getting ready to start working out in the yard and garden to help with the muscle strength, gait, and limp, I discovered I had a detached retina and ended up having emergency surgery on both eyes on April 2nd. That was some experience, as my vision was impaired for a couple of months as my right eye healed. There was a gas bubble placed in the eye after the surgeon did his magic and it took that long to get replaced by normal body fluid. In the interim, my vision was blurry and my depth perception was very bad. So, I didn’t get to be as active as I normally would have been during April and May.
But eventually I was able to get out there and do cleanup and planting. It has helped dramatically with my leg strength, balance, and gait. I have season tickets to dinner theater and I was so pleased this past week to not only be able to attend, but to walk up the long steps, get my food from the buffet, and carry my own plate to the table. Up until then I had used a cane on the stairs and had the staff make a plate for me and bring it to the table (a service that the theater provides for attendees who have mobility issues - GREAT program!). I was able to do the stairs just fine with no balance issues at all.
I still have more recovery to go, as my strength kind of comes and goes. But, it’s so wonderful to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever walk normally again! I wore the lifts for a month or so, but was gradually able to transition away from them and still walk okay. I’m assuming that, as I got stronger, my tilted hip normalized again to where it was prior to the hip replacement. This was also a big relief, as I was hoping not to have to deal with lifts forever.
I suspect all this may have improved a bit faster had I gone back to therapy for assistance. But it takes so much time to go twice a week and do all the exercises, that I just decided to go it on my own instead. And slowly but surely, things are better. After all, my hip was wonky for a very long time before replacement and I think during that time all my muscles and soft tissue learned how to compensate. Some muscles became stronger and others atrophied. So, I‘m expecting full recovery to be a while longer and I’m okay with the gradual improvement.
I also may have developed some bursitis along the way because at times there was some pain on the side of my hip when I pressed on it. I have used my heating pad at night and that has pretty much gone away too. It would come and go over the months, but putting heat on the area and taking either and NSAID or Tylenol now and then seems to have done the trick.
Here’s to good days ahead with a strong, new hip!
United States
