1. Community
  2. Operations and surgical procedures
  3. Hip Replacement

LTHR and trochanteric bursitis

Posted , 7 users are following.

lori50016
lori50016

I have a ton of stairs at my new house. Go upstairs to get to front door, stairs to go to master bedroom and stairs to climb back up, and stairs in the barn. I must have walked up and down stairs today at least 10 times to do things outside. Well it's no wonder my hips are killing me! Ugg! But why has no doctor recognized that as a cause for my pain? Before left THR my MRI said I had possible trochanteric bursitis that no corticosteroids has even touched the pain and burning sensation in my right and left hip? The MRI also stated I had AVN supposedly left hip femoral head crushed like a ping pong ball and I cried at the diagnosis and treatment for hip replacement to find out after surgery I'm an inch shorter now on the left side. Chiropractor stated I was 7mm sorter where Doc implanted device in the hip bone drilling too much or something. A article read that under 10mm is acceptable. I totally appreciate that and yes I'm down right mad. I'm in worse pain now than when I had a crushed femoral head bone. I'm more upset that I'm still in pain and docs are just taking my money left and right and no results. Just keep taking a piece of me away, oh take some antidepressants that will take the pain away. What a joke! I'm subject to drug testing too for being in pain, this sucks! Especially when I see so many other people walking, hiking, playing basketball without pain. I wish I could go back 5 years ago. I might have changed what I ate, where I lived, dietary supplements and types of housing, stretching and exercise. Sorry about the rant, I just am tired of being in pain and not enjoying life!

2 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • annie.conway
    annie.conway lori50016

    Posted

    We all need to rant from time to time. This is a darn long and tedious road ... I did so much prior to going for my surgery - lost 15kg, did muscle weight lifting at gym .... And here I'm sitting, seeing my hard-earned muscle waste away and still not without pain in my right leg when I walk. Left leg is fine, other than for limited range of motion.

    All that stair climbing cannot be good for you??

    • lori50016
      lori50016 annie.conway

      Posted

      I'm sorry to hear about your pain. It's so frustrating when it seems like there will be no relief. I so want to go hiking and bike riding and yet can't because both hips now effected and I'm in limbo. People around me here say why don't you go to work and help your husband so that makes me feel bad too. I have changed some of my supplements, started on glutamine protein because I was thinking I may have been tearing the muscles around the hip from the stairs and I'm trying a diet for leaky gut. I'm hoping to rest more of the muscles icing them and I'm going to see a message therapist. I already started seeing chiropractor and have a heel lift, which I'm not happy I have to do, but no alternative yet. I unfortunately have to drive an hour to 2 1/2 hrs for an orthopedic doctor. If the pain wasn't so excruciating, I could go somewhere in life, but like you I sit here...Ugg! Wish you the best, if you try something that works give me a note 😊
  • AnnieK
    AnnieK lori50016

    Posted

    Lori, sorry for all of your pain and disability. When was your THR? If it was recent, could it be that you are doing too much too soon, i.e. all those stairs? 

    There is an excellent article here on Patient about Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome, formerly known as trochanteric bursitis. Maybe it will help you. 

    https://patient.info/health/greater-trochanteric-pain-syndrome

    I, too, am in worse shape now than I was before my THR eight months ago. It took a reply to my thread here on Patient and a new orthopedic surgeon in a different practice to get me the diagnosis for my problem, which is torn gluteal tendons. I need surgery to repair them. 

    Hope that your efforts will find you a proper diagnosis and treatment soon!

    • lori50016
      lori50016 AnnieK

      Posted

      Oh thank you that does help. I wonder if I have the same problem. I am going to make another appointment with ortho hopefully he can shed some light. I was told I couldn't get an mri due to the replacement but the nurse is the one that told me that and she is not always a good source of correct information. My surgery must have been around the same time as yours. July 1, 2015
    • AnnieK
      AnnieK lori50016

      Posted

      I have had two hip MRIs post THR, at 6 and 7 months post-op. If you do get one, make sure you get a MARS or metal reduction one. It takes longer, and the area directly around the prostheses is more wavy, but less so than in a regular MRI. In spite of the prostheses, my second orthopedist was able to detect gluteal tendon/muscle tears on the scans. Much of the muscle is very clearly visible. I spent a lot of time looking at my own scans and it was fascinating to see my muscles and bones in such detail!
    • lori50016
      lori50016 AnnieK

      Posted

      Oh very cool! Glad to hear that an MRI is possible. I hope that will tell me something which X-ray is not. Thank you! 😊
  • renee01952
    renee01952 lori50016

    Posted

    Hi Lori, 

    Warm welcome to this friendly hippies forum - 

    I am so sorry that you are in such pain - so frustrating -

    As bad as it is, apparently it is not unusual to get this trochanteric bursitis after hip replacement - I was diagnosed with this myself a couple of days ago - 

    I thought the OA returned or something else was majorly wrong with  the hardware , but no ... When were you diagnosed and what were you advised to do ... the problem is that there is really not much you can do about it - The surgeon I saw did not want to administer the cortisone injection as he thought that there was still a possibility of infection being transmitted through the needle (!2 months post op) - 

    I am taking celebrex again and have relaxed my exercises regiment - stopped the cycling on stationary bike and cut down on walking - I started to limp again and felt how I went back to pre-surgery walking -

    my next appointment is in 6-8 weeks, earlier if pain gets worse - he will then onsider cortisone injection.

    Can you get a second opinion? did he tell you why is not given you the cortisone injection? 

    come back here anytime okay? No better place to rant , I swear 

    big warm hug

    renee

Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.