Hitting a plateau

Poor Renee, I can sympathise with you ihave had this happen, i put it down to the way we are walking, meaning we are doing it properly, today i see the surgeon to be released from his care i will ask him about this, as the scar on my right side aches and a bit painful to touch, but the left side is very sore, especially at night, when i lay on my right side, i can feel the something on the left so get him to check it out, also find that when i have sat for more than a hour when i get up i a find it quite stiff, as they say a pair of old crocks arent we rofl, keep your chin up my dear things can only get better, and i am now calling myself bionic lyn

Renee you know I can't comment on 2 hips as only just survived my first but I would say four months is not long - given that you are recovering from both.... It must take longer - it has to. Maybe also you are actually doing better/more than you think you are......Shopping is something I dream about.. And your voluntary work too. None of these things would have been possible six weeks ago. And possibly you are feeling the extra activity more keenly do you think?

I have learnt that I am never progressing as fast as I think I should be - and have to remind myself how far I have come regularly (looking back now and then - it is easy to forget)

I am hoping others will respond - that have had two replacements to reassure you - but just for the record I think you are doing brilliantly!

Renee

Do you think maybe you are doing too much? Now I know you are in Holland I can ask good direct questions  

My new hip made a good and slow recovery but as I have tried to do more it has started to protest and be sore. So I am slowing down - you have to go at the pace of the less able hip otherwise the other one will grumble. Treat them like competitive siblings - they need to be nurtured and disciplined until they can stand on their own two feet xxxx (bad joke there sorry) 

Chris

Hello Renee,

I had 18 months between hip ops,I know this isn't always an

option, and I nearly left it too late. I am now 13 weeks "old" from

my 2nd op.

After hip 1 op both it and my back were supporting my old hip,

I never got flexibility. So, during the18 months my 1st hip was

making some "wrong adjustments" which had to be corrected when

I got hip2.

I have found my balance (ie limp) must be requiring pelvic adjustment,

because I am having a challenge rising and sitting on low chairs and 

toilets WITHOUT using my hands to be very challenging. I only

limp now when I am tired.

I think you will also have the 1st hip adjusting, and now re-adjusting,

as well as the 2nd hip growing new muscles to support it. 

Does this make sense to you?

Cathie

Plateaus and peaks - that's what they should call this 'game'

Graham

Hi Renee 

Like you I am a 2015 double hippy, the first op was in January and the second in October, slightly longe between the two ops but only because of a holiday we had booked for my husbands 65th.

Like you too I had no post op complications and I have been signed off by my consltant with a six month open appointment in case anything comes up that I need to see him about.

Its wonderful not to have that terrible dragging pain and I was quite cocky once I had finished the dreaded blood thinning tablets which had made me feel really ill.  But like you I feel I have hit a plateau. I seem to have quite a lot of aches and pains at the moment. I know they arent the new hips but my bum (butt?) is really sore, my back is stiff especially when I first get up  and going upstairs I still have to use the rail to get me upstairs.

In short I feel the same as you. My physio has said I need to concentrate not just on walking, doing day to day chores etc but to do exercises to strengthen the core muscles which support the hips and legs. 

If you are anything like me I hardly did any exercise over the last couple of years because of the pain, I could just about walk to top of our road and back to collect my grand-daughter from nursery but only with the help of pain killers. So my muscles must have been pretty weak and although the first op helped the pain on one side, the other side held me back from doing much exercising.

So first of all your body has been through a lot this last year and they say it can take at least a year to start to feel back to normal again and we have been through all of this twice. 

Our bodies are also having to get used not only to one new hip but two and Im sure that makes recovery that much slower, but we will get there!

So be kind to yourself lovely Renee, do your exercises as often as you are able and if you are in pain take something to ease it, thats what I do as our muscles have a lot of catching up to do.

Love and hugs from one twin hippy to another

Linnet x

ps give my love to Holland, been there on holiday a couple of times and we love it x

 

Hi renee

I'm glad you posted and hope you get some help among the replies. We've shared the excitement of learning to walk together and I'm sad that this is being difficult for you now.

It sounds like your old new hip is getting more painful rather than less? That doesn't sound right to me, and I would be concerned. I have a few thoughts.

I'm wondering if you have a small leg length discrepancy? Or maybe you had one before but now they're exactly even?

The pelvis may be unbalanced in a way it wasn't before?

I am doing a lot of stretching - hamstrings, calf muscles, lower back. Maybe that may help.

I found that when I used the stick I was hunched over. Ditching the stick has improved my posture, but I still have to be intentional about it or I start to stoop.

My physio thinks the power to walk well comes from the butt muscles. So when I think of it I intentionally tighten my butt, stand up straight and put my shoulders back before starting to walk. I find this much more comfortable but I still revert to the old stooping habit.

As I'm typing this I'm wondering if part of the pain is coming from a stooped posture? Maybe not but it's just a thought.

You mentioned a few weeks ago that as you got out of a car you jerked the wrong way. Could you have damaged something?

I think this is worth following up. Could you go to a different physio practice or a doctor and ask them to assess why your old new hip is hurting?

Hoping this gets sorted out soon and you can start to hope for good mobility again

Kikeena

I saw the surgeon, he said still got to obey 90degree rule, as for like for the swelling on left hip whilst laying on right side he said could still be a bit swollen and will eventually calm down as for sticks/ crutch I can leave them off if I want to, start doing short walks without them as for getting up from chair that will also improve. I have got to go back in 7 years for a x Ray, I can't understand how people get asked to go for a check up after a year, which is what I would of expected, at least I haven't a leg difference. Xx