1 week after op pain not lessening, joint seems to wobble when walking and whole leg swollen...

Hi jftock. I am 5 weeks from my surgery.  I too had the swelling from legs to ankles.  Still swollen but much better. Do you elevate your leg and ice it and did they suggest surgical stockings?  I went to er twice and my or dr 2 times and just recently went back to my regular dr. I am still taking oxey.  Don't  be afraid to call your dr if you feel something isn't right.  Morphine  wow that seems very painful.   Listen to your body . Always seek medical attention if you think something isn't right🏆 There is s light at the end of the tunnel.  It will get better.   Good luck Stacy 

Hi there. I’m 44 and also had a ceramic on ceramic THR. Now nearly 4 weeks on. Mine felt very odd in the first couple of weeks and I felt a clicking and like it was unstable and moving around. I struggled to lie flat as couldn’t get my leg down completely and even now I find that standing completely straight with my knee unbent is hard. My leg was previously shorter and was lengthened by the surgery so am getting used to that bit as well as the new joint so I wonder if you’re experiencing the same thing? Odd because I have been used to compensating for uneven  length legs and used to bending that knee when I no longer need to. Stick with it, my pain suddenly got much better and hopefully yours will too. I kept trying to tighten the muscles as much as I could before walking and found that reduced the sensation of it moving around.

Good luck and take care

Rachel  

Thankyou for the replies. Rachel, pretty much everything you said is the same with me. I'm still standing on my toes or bending the knee because it feels 'right' and standing up now 'straight' feels odd and muscles painfully tight and also joint feeling clicky and unstable when walking. I'm glad the pain has reduced for you and hopefully will with me as well. Is the joint movement now feeling more normal and in place after 4 weeks? I'm going to make extra effort to do physio exercises before walking and Stacey thanks for the advice on swelling. I've got my leg up now with ice and it seems to be helping. Good luck to you both in your recovery.

James.

I am 12 weeks post op thr posterior right side, I'm 40. Day ten my leg swelled so bad my skin was splitting on my thi. After being rushed to ER there was no blood clot. I was ordered on my back for a week with leg in air at 45*s with a pressure wrap from toes to groin. Swelling slowly went down , knee wouldn't move due to thick blood left around knee cap. It took 2 weeks before I could start pt again, and yes everything felt wobble and loose but it got much better and fast. Some people swell bad and done don't. I was told I was to active . Just bouncing riding in a car I was told is a major no no soon after surgery. If you have to ride somewhere put a big pillow in car seats and anything you sit on.

Hi there. Only one week and walking? I had 8 weeks of no weight bearing and very mild exercises. I had to take morphine for the first 2 weeks and gradually weaned myself off by cutting dose in half for a week and then taking only a quarter for a week. When I stood my leg pulled and it felt strange but x-ray showed everything all right. I had awful swelling and I would wake up every 4 hours. Kept my mind busy, read, learned how to draw and time healed the deep wound. My surgeon told me it would be a minimum of 6 months to a year and at 6 months o felt 100 percent. My strength I'd back. No more pain. I do all my exercises twice a day. Go swimming every day and follow my surgeons precaution warnings to a t. I do not bend more than feels comfortable, I do not cross my legs and do no high impact activities.. I walk about a mile a day and bike 3 miles. Hip replacement surgery is a major surgery so first the incision will close and then all the deep layers of muscles have to heal. Listen to your body and go baby steps. Otherwise you could set yourself back.

I definitely would be concerned. I also have pain running from the incision area down to my knee with swelling and sensitivity. I should be able to walk on my right leg by now as it is 20 days post-surgery. My prosthesis is a direct anterior approach hip replacement by Smith & Nephew. I have had two x-rays made of my leg since the surgery and there is a slippage of the prosthesis on the 2nd x-ray down further into the femur. This was given as a reason for my inability to walk on the leg and why I was experiencing pain and sensitivity. I have read about a situation that can develop with the type of surgery I had. It is called Meralgia Paresthetica. Also referred to as MP it has been reported as a post-surgical complication after hip joint replacement and spine injury. It is a nerve entrapment which may cause pain, paresthesias and sensory loss within the distribution of the lateral cutaneous nerve of the thigh. If you Google that it will probably give you some more information as to whether it seems appropriate to you. I do not believe that what you're experiencing is normal and you should consult your Orthopedist to determine what steps you can do to relieve the situation. Good luck to you. I am certainly pursuing this with my orthopedist and possibly with my neurologist.

Swelling is a common complication following this brutal surgery, it sounds like your is extreme though. Keep on at your surgeon/hospital/GP to make sure they fix anything that may need doing.

Keep notes about dates/times and your wobbling feelings, it'll help you when you are talking to your doctors.

Best wishes

Graham

Could just be muscle weakness, and once they are strengthened and healed things will get better. However speak to your GP or contact the surgeons secretary. My leg was swollen for around 4 weeks, but I have a friend who is still swollen at 6 months, and not discharged by surgeon yet. I had terrible trouble sleeping on my back even with morphine and was in terrible pain after my op, all down to the procedure rather than anything else.