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Limping badly, but little pain....

Posted , 12 users are following.

mark26805
mark26805

Since 2000 I've had a slowly deteriating hip joint. I am 50 years old and live in the centre of the UK. My Grandad had 3 hip replacements, my Uncle has had one and my own Dad has walked with a bad limp for the last 10 years now.

When my hips are X-Rayed, they show extra bone growth on the cup of both joints; but it is only my left hip that has a restricted movement. I can still touch my right knee to my chin, but the closest I can get my left knee is about  15" (35cm) away. This gives me the traditional "wonky donkey" walk. I don't notice it much but when I see a video of myself I look terrible.

I still walk the dogs, go skiing and hill walking; if I know I am going on a long or energetic walk/climb I take co-codemol prescription strength and I'm fine but generally I need no pain relief for walking and day to day work.

It is most uncomfortable when I sleep. I find I get comfortable in a position, but if I do not fall asleep quickly, I'm uncomfortable and have to change positions again, sometimes this goes on for too long...

I have another X-Ray and chat to my hip specialist every July, but he tells me to wait until I'm in pain, then they will do the operation. He tells me they are good at curing pain....but I may still have a limp after surgery. I tend to agree with this, but after 5 years of limited sports, I'm beginning to think my quality of life has plumetted and maybe I should have the operation sooner rather than later.

I can still cycle, pain free, but can't run, play football, tennis, anything that needs me to stetch out from side to side. Even taking penalty kicks is hard work as I swing and twist a bit.

Anyone else in this position? Anyone gone before??? I am lucky to be pain free, but feel too young for this limiting lifestyle.

2 likes, 33 replies

33 Replies

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  • renee01952
    renee01952 mark26805

    Posted

    hi mark,

    I am not sure what to say. ..you have no pain and your hip doctor wants to wait with h

    THR surgery until you are in terrible pain ... . so THR surgery wouldn't be authorised? or is that not an issue.

    you are the only one who can make the decision. ..If quality of life is

    going down fast than why not have the surgery and don't worry about 15 - 25 years from now ...

    just remember that it is major surgery. ..

    would love to hear about your decision. ...

    take care

    renee

  • louise2602
    louise2602 mark26805

    Posted

    Mark,

    Renees wise words. I indorse all she says but only u can make that decision. Good luck.

  • Shortz
    Shortz mark26805

    Posted

    Hi Mark, only you can make the difficult decision. I'm 62 and had a RTHR 18 days ago, due to OA which had completely worn away the cartilage in the joint. The bad pain came on quite suddenly over a few weeks, stopping me from sleeping and causing a limp. I had trouble getting in and out of the car as couldn't lift my right leg, couldn't pick up my grandchildren and had to give up my line dancing classes which I love and was doing 3 days a week. The sudden stabbing, gripping pain in the groin when I stood up after sitting and tried to walk, was awful.

    I have recovered very well from my op, which was a bikini anterior and did not involve cutting through muscle and tendons. Only needed strong pain meds for the first week, am mostly walking without a crutch indoors, but need one for outside.

    You sound like you are managing very well, specially having little pain, but when it comes to the "crunch" (sorry 😜) only you can decide how many activities you're willing to do without. Maybe you need to talk it over further with your doc. This is a great site; keep us posted 😊

    • louise2602
      louise2602 Shortz

      Posted

      Shortz Hi

      Nice post. Can I ask as I also have stabbing pain in groin from sitting to standing despite steroid hip inj two weeks ago its still there, did that pain go after your op? I'm not familiar with yr procedure but am due a THR this year.

    • Guest
      Guest Shortz

      Posted

      Hi Shortz, that's exactly the pain I get.  If I stand up as soon as I feel a twinge in the groin, the pain wears off once I have managed to walk for a bit.  But if I leave it for too long I can have the pain for one or two days, definitely not fun.  My pain feels like muscle spasms in the middle of upper thigh/groin, and inner thigh down to my knee.  Although it feels like spasms the muscles are not tense.  To avoid the mega painly episodes I only try to sit down for a max. 10 minutes and then walk around if I can.  I need to visit the hairdressers and optician but can't as it's too embarrassing grimacing in pain when trying to stand up and then walk.  I am 54, so not really that old.
    • Shortz
      Shortz louise2602

      Posted

      Hi Louise, yes, that gripping groin pain has gone completely and I can get in and out of the car without having to manually lift my right leg. Google the procedure if you're interested in more info. Good luck with your op.
    • Shortz
      Shortz Guest

      Posted

      Definitely not old at 54, Wendy! I don't consider myself as old either ☺️
    • louise2602
      louise2602 Shortz

      Posted

      Hi Shortz. That's great news so the pain is defo related to the hip. What a relief. I can barely do anything like I used to. You mean google procedure. I have before. It's just I wanted to know if groin pain now gone so thanks.
  • mark26805
    mark26805

    Posted

    Yes, I am surprised that I am in no pain. You would think that the limp would be due to a pain threshold but it just happens naturally and if I think about it I can walk straighter (not perfectly!!!), not aware I limp at all until I watch a video of myself and how often does that happen?

    The minute it becomes painfull I will take medication and get the operation booked, but day to day life is still fine, I'm only slightly uncomfortable in bed if I try and sleep in the wrong position, so I change position....

    I'm just surprised (and a bit annoyed) that the surgeon can't go in with keyhole surgery and grind the spurs off, they are only small. I've even told my own Dr I would be prepared to go private but he informs me that it would be expensive and very short term, they would grow back even quicker.

    After 5 years of just waiting for the pain to start, I'm now of the opinion maybe it will never get worse, so do I operate anyway or stay as I am?

    • sassybees
      sassybees mark26805

      Posted

      O thi k upu have to ask yourself..... does it affect life the way you want to live. .. does it stop you from doing things
    • mark26805
      mark26805 sassybees

      Posted

      Hey, I'm the wrong side of 50, there are loads of things I can no longer do even if my hip was perfect. I can no longer walk wheelbarrow loads of hardcore for a whole day, It now takes me two weeks to trim my garden hedge and it used to take one day, I could horse ride for several hours, I have my parachuting license but have not felt up to that for 10 years (well before hip problems). Even decorating my house is now done room by room with a good interval between jobs. I pay someone younger to do the difficult work. Age stops me doing these things, not my hips.

      I was a ski instructor for 12 years, but I didn't stop because of hip pain.

      My age has stopped me jumping off brick walls and diving off the high board...... So how much of a change of lifestyle is down to my hip problem and how much is down to my aging body and I'll never do again anyway. I may be over 50, but inside I still think I'm 15 and undestructable!!!! With a brand spanking new hip and 12 months recovery and everything going perfecly.... I will still never sky dive, parachute and hanglide with Dr's approval, sure people do it and it can work out, but one slightly heavy landing at the wrong angle and it's going to hurt big time. I have the licenses....just the body overall is no longer capable and a new hip will not change that. Let's be realistic here, at the moment I have just booked a ski trip to Whistler, I will go and ski fast down all the black runs, but even with a new hip I would not be as good as I was only 10 years ago, high jumping and heli's through the air. I still have it all on video.....but will not be doing it now or with a new hip!!!

    • sassybees
      sassybees mark26805

      Posted

      Have a nice trip to whistler. Im sure whatever you decide will be the right decision for you. I too am the wrong side of fifty. My decision was made because of pain and i could no longer walk my dog. We all have the line for do it or not do it.
    • mark26805
      mark26805 sassybees

      Posted

      It's that LINE I'm worried about. I'm expecting pain that hasn't arrved yet, so wondering how much longer it will take to get painfull or is this how i will be for years to come.... cry
    • jason42777
      jason42777 mark26805

      Posted

      Hi Mark , Frodo prof Griffin smile, perhaps u could get second opinion? I can't claim to know if spurs can grow back, but keyhole probably repeatable? Even open surgery to clean spurs, if you've got cartalidge keep it and you femoral head ... replacements are great for when needed but not as good as a good natural hip, and as yet we e have no replacement for the cartalidge, I had spurs and holes all over which my consultant said he could tidy up, only problem was no cartalidge left in some areas so joint would be loose, so he recommended the and I agreed,tho he said he could try it but that would have meant waiting again and damage was accelerating.

      Atb

      . Jay

    • jason42777
      jason42777

      Posted

      Lol, curse of the kindle auto-correct, it should read :" defo prof Griffin" not "Frodo"
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