One week post-op, worried about groin pain.

I'm behind you I am afraid - only four days on so ai can't help but interested to hear the replies x

Hi Neil, everything hurt for the first 2 weeks. I still get a pinching in the groin after 3.5 weeks. I also couldn't lift my leg up anywhere! I was also swollen with massive bruising. I kept leg raised and supported when I was sat down on sofa. The swelling dissipated slowly but I still get a fat ankle if I am on my feet too long

Hi Neil

Welcome to the forum

If you are on pain meds and they are not taking the pain away you need to go back to hospital and get it checked out. Either go to A & E or phone your surgeons secretary tomorrow. They may have to x ray your hip to make sure nothing has gone wrong. The fact that you can't lift your leg without the pain does not sound right at all. Get it looked at ASAP. and let us know if anything is wrong.

Hi Neil  - another Neil here

The swelling in your leg/knee/foot is normal - and will carry on for a while, peaking probably in week two - but will carry on for up to 3 months! the best thing you can do for this is elevate the leg - 'get your toes above your nose' is the mnemonic.  (I lie on the bed with my foot of my opearted leg on a pillow that's on top of an upturned laundry basket.)

The groin pain is less straightforward - was your op anterior or posterior? 

You should be able to do a knee raise getting your foot a few inches off the ground without too much pain (not heard of straight leg forward - that's not one of the 6 the NHS recommend...)

I would be calling the consultant's practice team and asking for advice/thoughts about this.

Good luck

Neil

 

Absolutely had the same experience too.

Hi Neil, 

welcome to this wonderful forum ... 

swelling is normal and will go down -- I didn;t expect it to swell to the size it did though and it looked alien to me - started upper thigh, went down and my ankle stayed swollen the longest - about 2 weeks -

How did you do in the hospital? Did you have that pain then too? What did the physical therapist say about this - it is important thaty your stretch your operated leg but it should not be really painful - sore, maybe because it is, after all,major surgery -

As suggested, please call the ward or the office just to make sure and ease your mind.

WIshing you a good and peaceful night -

warm hug

renee

I am 17 weeks post op 

Hi neil

imam 5 weeks postop and had my worst groin pain and swelling around 2-3 weeks. I didn't expect pain or swelling in my knee or ankle so that was a surprise! My ankle did not swell as much as yours.  Is the pain constant or just when you try to lift your leg?  I still get groin pain if I overdo it. 

I have not heard of the exercise you mention. 

If the pain is constant I would get I touch with hospital

good luck, keep us posted

best wishes 

Carol😄 Xx

 

We are not allowed to post links.

look up Tendonitis of the Psoas muscle after total hip replacement

use that whole phrase. 

A y physical therapist can easily touch and find your Psoas muscle.

i suffered 3 years with Tendonitis of my IT band so I am pretty much an expert on Tendonitis. I have posted here many times, maybe using the search feature on this site type in Psoas and look for my comments

basically if you have that do NOT do anything that aggravates it. Tendonitis makes little rips (tears) in your tendon. You want those to heal up, when you stress that tendon more by doing exercises you are only adding more tears into the tendon, and/or making the existing tears deeper. If you do have it the remedy is pretty simple, just don't move in a way that hurts that muscle, let it heal. Mine took about 3 1/2 weeks to heal up and it hasn't given me any problems since.

in short the groin pain is something to take very seriously as most people are anxious to do exercises which in this case is absolutely the worst thing you can do if it is your Psoas muscle and there is a specific test I write about which will tell you how you can test yourself. Look for my topics & comments it's rather long and I'm on an iPad & don't wish to repeat writing it all out again on an iPad.

best of luck to you Ndil.

p.s. One woman printed up the article onPsoas Tendonitis & took it to her physical therapist who was pushing her to do these really painful exercises and her doctor & the doc admitted she had Tendonitis of the Psoas muscle. the most important thing is to know that is your problem so you then know the remedy

I can't really advise u Neil as I waiting for my op on 11th August but I was with my surgeon last Wednesday & he showed me exactly where the hip joint is & it's further inside the groin than I realised. I assumed it was on the outer hip so it's very early days for u yet & it's all the healing process going on internally. I personally can't wait but I'm prepared with the facts but when the time comes I'll be a nervous wreck but all we can do it take it a day at a time. I don't know if my post will help u but the surgeon letting me know that the pain I already feel in the groin is coming from my hip before the op. I would be expecting pain in the groin from all the muscles, ligaments & bones they have to maneouerve out of place for the op. They all need to settle again. I just hope I'm feeling this positive in 3 weeks time post op 😱

Hi Neil,

As other members have mentioned swelling is normal. I wore full length TED stocking at nigh and when I lied down in the afternoons, mine went down nicely after 2-3 weeks. I also did lots of ankle pumps as suggested by my surgeon. The main reason is to assist circulation and reduce risk of DVT.

I had a similar pain too, it forced me to slow things down. Do gentler exercises. I am week 4 now and find that if I overdo things like I did yesterday as I walked a few inclines the pain returns and I have to follow on with a quieter day.

Good luck with your recovery.......can be a bit of a roller coaster.

🌈💌🌈💌