Booked in for THR in August. Seeking advice.

Hi there John.

You poor thing - your mri shows that's you really need a replacement - you are at least a grade 4 o/a plus having the childhood perthes hasn't helped.

From what you are saying it sounds like you would really benefit from the replacement.

I'm 41 - didn't have perthes as a child but had juvenile arthritis which settled eventually in teens but o/a reared its ugly head in my 30s and my hip got that bad I had no choice but to have a replacement - no Cartlidge , Spurs ,cysts and grade 4 +

I'm 7 weeks post posterior lateral replacement ( if ur in uk very few surgeons do anterior ) - and I can say it's the best thing I've ever done. The recovery is hard and the first 3 weeks are painful and a total right off - but now I feel fab. I can do most of my exercises and just working on my unaided waddle - due to glutes being weak - but it will happen. The main thing is that I am almost pain free - the pain towards the end was terrible. My muscle aches now due to weakness but again that will go in time. My

Limp unaided without stick is far better than before surgery even if I do waddle at the min and my leg length discrepancy is only 1cm.

All I can say is do you exercises and get over the initial 3 weeks of surgery and you will be smiling all the way and it will be the best thing you ever do - I didn't want surgery but the pain forced me to it and it's plain sailing all the way now for me. Good luck

Oh you sound in agony, you will be amazed how much better you will feel post op. I am 52 and didn't realise how much my hip pain had impacted on me. I love walking up in the Lakeland fells, but haven't done it for a couple of years - I cannot wait to get back up there. You will be able to do so much more once you have had your operation. The surgeons are brilliant and really know what they are doing. Take care. X

Im 20y.o and my drays were similar to yours. If you go on storytime and update thread you can see mine. I had no socket or head at all as they fused together and made a messm

My surgery took about 7 hours. So far im not ovr joyed with the result. Still in severe amounts of pain, limping, still restricted from life and struggle to walk.

Im not saying this to scare you. I was told my recovery will take the full year, theres still a long way to go. This surgery is not easy, its very hard and will take a long time. but thats jyst my experiance from a difficult situation.

A lot of people on here think that there thr was the best decision they ever made. But your body will make your mind up for you in the endm

Hi John & welcome to this wonderful forum.

I'm 46 & now on day 12 following posterior RTHR. I suffered for many years with bone on bone OA & put off surgery for nearly 2 years. My femoral head was also a funny egg shape that the surgeon could only put down to being this way since I was born but I didn't have any pain until my 40th birthday year. Anyway, like I said, I'm now on day 12, am totally pain free (the worst it has been was after the spinal wore off I felt like I had an achey, dead leg). Everyone said the first 2 weeks are the worst but to be honest I've surprised myself in the things I can do. Yes I'm tired, sleeping on my back is a nightmare & every new day feels like groundhog day but I'm pain free & it will get better. I'm a firm believer in positive thinking & with age on your side is a good start. After the op my surgeon said he was really pleased with how it had gone & I asked if I could see the femoral head that he'd cut off! It resembled the moon - looked like a crater instead of nice & smooth & had lots of bony spurs sticking up all over it, no wonder it was so painful.

This site is a fantastic source of information (be sure to check out Graham's page aka Rocket Man). Link at the top. We are all here for each other & if you have any questions or concerns you only have to ask. Where in the UK are you?

YES best thing that ever happened to me, I was crippled with pain, like you, and I thought the surgery has to be better than what I have already got with my hips.

I was lucky I had an Uncle who had a hip replacement double 6 weeks apart, he was showing me how good he was, he was 80, did a little dance down the length of the room, jumped in the air, and clicked his heels together, and told me the worst decision he ever made was delaying his surgery becasue of fear, he told me dumbest decision he had ever made, he then gave me a telling off he said look at the way you are walking, thats your hips, five years later finally saw specialist, and he was shocked at damage, and asked what was my GP thinking not sending me to see specilaist.

I managed to keep fit, not walking impossible due to pain, but I found I could move about in the local heated pool, stretches, then getting a noodle under my arms and treading water, the non weight bearing exercise kept me as well as I could be under the circumstances, went back to treading water just short of a month after surgery, big help, did my exercises as recommended to my by physios, in the water as well as around the house.

Wonderful, did the same for second hip reaplcement, even with problems best thing I ever did.

!) Based on what you said about your health, I would do it for sure.

2) I was 53 when I had the posterior THR, and my rehab etc went perfectly.  According to the surgeon, my hip was one of the worst he had ever seen.  My limp was really BAD, but the pain was not to bad.  It was kind of weird, I only had really BAD pain a few times, I just sat down for a few minutes and then I was fine.

I asked for my hip back (yeah I know, kinda of weird), he was going to give it back to me, but it crumbled !!

As others have said you HAVE to your rehab to the best of your abilities !!

Good Luck from North Carolina, USA 

Hi John

I am 51 and also had perthes as a child spending 5 moths in hospital in traction followed by 15-18 months in plaster. I had always thought that I had been cured at the time and have since then led a very active life playing lots of sport mainly rugby and football.

About three years ago I started suffering pain in my right hip which was gradually worsening. Xrays and a scan revealed that both my hips had been flattened by the perthes with the right now having arthritis and cysts forming on the head. About 9 months ago I had to stop football and running and since then the pain gradually increased to the point of walking with a pronounced limp and favouring my left side, resulting in other pain.

After consultation on the options I elected to have re-surfacing (Birmingham) on my right hip five weeks ago.  The reason for going down this route being that for my age and level activity this would give me 10-15 years preserving the bone structure before needing a full hip replacement. There are risks (metal on metal) and this procedure has fallen out of favour recently but seemed the best option for me. The operation is very similar to the THR, was the posterior approach and took just over an hour to complete.

Since the operation things have gone really, after three weeks I could walk around the house without the crutches albeit with a limp. I have been doing the exercises religiously and started on a static bike after 9 days when the clips were removed which has helped a lot.

I see the consultant this week and hopefully will take my recovery to the next level to increase my flexibility and strength.

Since the operation the pain in the hip joint has gone and although everyone keeps telling me I have had major surgery there has been minimal pain (I stopped using paracetamol / ibuprofen after 2 weeks) and I am now back at work and doing some gym work.

Surgery was not the route I wanted to go down but as my decline was progressive I soon realised that I needed to do something. After taking the decision and since the operation I have tried to take a positive mental attitude which is a must and cannot stress this too much if you decide to go ahead. I have spoken to several people who have had THR and they have all been positive about the results and how much they have got there life back.

I hope this is helpful and that things work out for you.