Hello and Welcome to BoneSmart. Thanks for joining us!
Congrats on your new hip.
It’s good to hear you’re not experiencing pain. If your legs are tired after walking today, try elevating them tonight, it may bring you some relief. There is an article on ELEVATE under Number 2 in the Recovery Guidelines on how to elevate properly. Take notice of the article on ICE under Number 2 also as it will help with the swelling you mentioned.
You may want to walk a little less starting tomorrow, then slowly build distance as your healing hip allows you to do so comfortably. I’m sorry you’re having difficulty sleeping. It is one of the most common complaints in early recovery. It will slowly ease. Catch a nap when you’re able, hopefully that will help.
Stop back often, we’d love to follow your progress and support you as you’re healing.
A peaceful evening to you!
As you begin healing, please keep in mind that each recovery is unique. While the BoneSmart philosophy successfully works for many, there will be exceptions. Between the recommendations found here, your surgeon's recovery protocol and any physical therapy you may engage in, the key is to find what works best for you.
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:
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.
Here is a week-by-week guide
6.
Access to these pages on the website
Pain management and the pain chart
Healing: how long does it take?
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.
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Happy you've joined us. Sounds like you're doing pretty good for the most part which is great. Sleep is unfortunately one of those things we all tend to wrestle with for quite some time after surgery. As has already been suggested, nap whenever the urge strikes, we do some of our best healing when we sleep.
