Pain in front of thigh 4 months post THR

Hi Pippj 

I'm doing a lot of research on this and see that many people take five months or longer to feel normal. I had my THR on Tuesday so I'm taking all the advice I can get. It's a serious op one that may take a year or more to be labeled a success. Patience and slowness?

Dear Pippy 

Sorry you are experiencing problems.  I have the same pain and it started around 4 months. I've been told that it is muscles that are week in the groin area.  Not sure if yours is the same.  If i have been on my feet a long time I find going into sitting position very painful.  Perhaps you are over done my things.  Get checked out when you get home.  Get some rest when your daughter arrives and chill out!!!

Best wishes julie

So sorry you are hurting. Three weeks seems to be some kind of milestone as most people with hip replacement start to experience pain at this time. I am 10 weeks out and felt great and so I started to get back to my real life and then the pain started in my calf, down my shin and front of thigh. Your leg muscles are out of shape prior to surgery and afterwards we start to overuse them as soon as we feel better,  forgetting that those muscles haven't been usd properly in months. The key is to remember you can't jump back just because you feel good. Slow and gentle are the key. Take it very easy. Gentle stretching and strengthening with physical therapy. Also, therapy is different if you have posterior or anterior replacement. Don't do anything that causes discomfort. Those muscles need time to heal and get strong. Just take it very slow. It very well may take 6 months or a year. But think how long it took your hip to get bad and 6 months is nothing. 

Good luck and take it very easy. 

Sorry to hear your in pain!  As a point of reference, I am 5 months out and have been completely pain free for at least 2 months. I power walk every morning for 1 hour and my job, medical sales, requires a lot of walking. I read these posts and can't understand why I'm back to normal when others aren't. I hope you'll be at this point very soon!

Hi Pippyj

I had a setback at around the four month mark after my op, in so much pain I had to start using a stick again for a couple of weeks, which was alarming. I'm sure I was simply overdoing things. I got a bit carried away at aquafit when the instructor introduced high intensity interval training - jogging very fast on the spot. Even though it was in water it was still high impact and I paid the price. I imagine looking after three young children is even more demanding! Please take it easy - you've had major surgery and your body needs rest and recuperation. Eight months on, I've just begun to feel back to normal.

Hope you feel better soon

sjhips

Hi Pippy

I had my operation 21st April so am very similar to you.  I have also felt I am recovering well, back at work and walking is much easier.  The only thing I feel holding me back is my leg length difference, natural plus now a little extra from the operation.  I would also wonder, like others, whether you have been overdoing things.  Looking after 3 children is not easy!  I went over to Passchendaele on a battlefields trip just over a week ago.  By the last day my leg was hurting in front of my thigh, knee, side of my calf and groin.  I believe I did it climbing up and down endless stairs on the ferry, up and down steep stairs on the coach all day and the general walking around with the guide.

The pains are easing off now so I feel time is a healer in my case as I hope it will be with you.  Make sure you get your daughter to take over those children, take it easy and get yourself checked out when you return if things don't improve.  

Hope you feel a lot better very soon.

Sylvia

 

Hi Pippyj, sorry about your pain. 4 months is still quite early in your recovery, do you think that maybe it's because you are doing more, while looking after your grand children? Looking after children can be very tiring...

I teach 4 and 5 year olds, and when I first went back to work I had some very achy days, which worried me. All fine though.

Hopefully you'll be able to rest up a bit when your daughter returns.

All the best, Judith

Dear Pippy

I think you are are simply doing too much.....very easy when trying to keep up with three little people! Just rest up for a few days to give your body a chance to recover.

All the best Richard

Thank you all for your replies.  It's so frustrating not being able to do what I used to do.  Sometimes I think I'm not trying hard enough or perhaps it's the way that others react that makes me feel I should be able to fight through the pain and "just get on with it". I've read so many stories of how some of you have made such good and fast recoveries that I suppose I feel I'm failing.  I know we're all different and recover differently - I just find it hard to accept that I'm taking longer.  Yes, the children are hard work but I wouldn't change that - but I will do less once their parents arrive.  Thank you all again.

If your pain is mid-thigh front most likely caused by the artificial stem. Happened to me after several months as I over did. Surgeon told me to ease off and give it a month. Pain gone and has not returned a year later. Micro erosion. Best of luck. I also fist thought it was a muscle. Stem 

Hi Pippyj.  With my operation on the left hip in December, it was healing well till I went back to work full time and I had to sit for 8hrs.  The pain in the front thigh was getting worseand the doctor recommended that every hour or so to get up and stretch. it felt like I had a really tight elastic band that was very hard and tight and sore. I was given  stretching exercises and it slowly got better.  If I tried to bring my leg to my chest it would be so tight so I had to do the movement in the opposite direction as well. I always stretched after applying heat..  I am doing the exercises that were given to me post op and stretching the hamstring 3 times a day.  Once your daughter arrives , maybe you can get a massage to help relax the hamstring or tendons or muscles that are hurting.  If it continues, get it checked by the doctor.