Getting back to “Normal” after hip replacement
Posted , 14 users are following.
HI, I had an Anterior total right hip replacement 15 weeks ago and Im 47 years old. I did not have to use crutches or a walker and i did 6 weeks of physical therapy two times a week.
I am having problems getting back to my normal walking routine which is walking 3-4 miles three to four times a week. I Cant go over 1 mile and its taking a few minutes longer to walk that mile. I understand the longer time but I dont understand why i cant walk at least 2 miles. I have no endurance it seems like. I am able to walk and do the things i need to do at home with no problems so it makes me feel like i should be able to do more. I have read on different message boards about people older than me and are already back to walking 5-6 miles per day so its very discouraging.
I went to the zoo yesterday with my grandchildren not even thinking about the walking that I would have to do and i was okay about 3/4 of the 3 hours we were there. During the last 30-40 minutes we were there my hip started hurting and never let up, I had no choice but to keep walking and I hurt the rest of the day and night.
Does anyone have any advice that may help me?
0 likes, 18 replies
robert88575 Sharon31539
Posted
Ok, there are way too many of those "I ran a marathon five weeks after THR" stories out there, and we patients remember ALL of them ... and ignore the more normal recoveries.
So ... you might have your expectations out of whack ... I've faced the same issues ... and I'm 5 months out .... I can walk longer than you can ... but I get a tightness in my quad ... just above my knee.
A few points ... one "icing" is almost always excellent after hip surgery ... and just so you know, it can easily take a year or more to get back to top condition. I'm part of a group of highly athletic people who have hip replacements ... some are runners ... down to a person, they said it took 15 to 18 months to really feel good running. That's whether anterior, superior, anterolateral, posterior--whatever the approach.
Second ... your body might have gotten deconditioned before surgery ... and so you might have muscles that are weak and are slowly rebuilding their strength ... and you might be out of shape and thus tired past a mile ... and then your body takes short cuts and those short cuts are causing an imbalance.
This ain't gonna be what you want to hear ... but when the pain is high, it's best to back off ... 15 weeks is still early in hip replacement. (Too much hype about fast recoveries for the "anterior" approach has misled folks.)
Back off ... go easier ... and ice the sore spots ... multiple times a day for 40 minutes or more a session. Icing reduces inflammation ... and really helps. I stopped icing a few weeks after surgery and recently returned to it, and am amazed at the results ... not immediate ... but after two, three days of icing there is a difference.
If pain continues, you can call your surgeon ... and explain the symptoms ... you can also ask for a pt script and go work with a pt ... actually where you are now ... or later is the ideal time to work with a pt because your soft tissue are much more healed than in the days immediately after the surgery and the pt can take a look at your walk and what muscles you are engaging and not engaging. BTW: weak glutes are often a culprit ... in the time before surgery, our glutes stop getting used and get weak ... the buttocks are incredibly powerful ... but they go to sleep because of our office jobs and sitting and so on ... A good pt can help you engage those muscles.
Sharon31539 robert88575
Posted
Thank you so much for the info! I had not thought about using ice again I will do that tonight. I know that some of my problem if not most of it is coming from right side glutes . I could feel that last night when i was doing some exercise.
Thanks again!