Surgeon says my painful hip is Perfect !!!?????!

Posted , 12 users are following.

So ...asked to see surgeon ASAP as still lots pain 12 weeks in plus one leg longer than the other . Pain meds 4 X daily and can't sleep for throbbing groin. Meeting went pretty much as expected ... X rayed my hip and said it was ' beautiful ' and 'perfect' and if he had to use an X Ray at a conference it would be mine .

Not if I came with you I replied ...

YOU wouldn't be allowed to speak ! He grinned back .

So pretty much my hip is A star top of the class . So why is it more painful than before? He measured legs and there is 1/2 difference . Was quite evasive as to whether that would cause pain but said it would be resolved he promised . So referring me to podiatry for shoe lift . He said there is a margin for error in

Leg length . Unlike last time I saw him when he said most people were pretty much pain free after the Op he now said it is ' early days ' (12 weeks) . It's all positive he said . Beautiful is not a word I would use to describe my hip pain I said and the former pain has been superseded by a worse one . Didn't really get any answers why and he agreed to my comment that nerve and tendon etc damage would not show on an X Ray . But no worries as he has done hundreds and mine is blinking marvellous ( apart from keg being longer and in awful pain ..)

I did hear another lady complaining in reception that hers was so painful too . Must have been the day of the rejects .

Don't get me wrong this guy has a hell of a job and is very nice and smiley and reassuring and positive . But he evaded my questions about returning to work , pain control and argued that naproxen is the same as Ibupropen when it is stronger . So I said what if this is the same in 6 months ? He evaded that too . Once the X Ray shows the job is done, and perfectly so in my case even tho I now 1/2 cm taller on bad leg , the surgeon has done his job . Yet I know on this forum all sorts of other muscular problems can arise that don't show on X Ray . I am thus trusting in his positivity and presuming that this is just early days and hoping that foot lift thingy will help . I asked him how long the referral would be and he didn't know . He said my other hip was fine . Did a lot of computer measuring and talking surgeon speak till I wearily asked ' what does that MEAN '? and he conceded there was a slight difference .

Do any fellow hipsters know if just 1/2 cm off could cause bad pain ? Thanks

Watch this space .. Off to suck another co codamol sad(

1 like, 28 replies

28 Replies

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  • Posted

    I feel your pain Hazel the same, 11 weeks and still getting pain when I stand up. I'm okay when I get going but sitting to standing is a nightmare I'm hobbling all over the place. I'm back on one stick to help me get up just when I thought I was done with them. The physio says the hip is not the problem it's all muscular, my glutes are too weak causing pain in my lower back which is part of the problem. I'm not sure who to believe 😕

    • Posted

      Yes we really are the proverbial wind up toys ... tottering in pain then getting a bit faster till off we go !! My getting up in our house is accompanied by so many oooos and Agghhaas nobody bats an eyelid any more . Staggering about in pain then picking up momentum and I am off ...smile

  • Posted

    Hi hazel your surgeon is right, muscle pain can be horrendous, are you able to fully weight bear, also do your leg muscle look at all atrophied, where exactly is your pain
    • Posted

      If I fully stand on my

      Bad leg it aches and feels like it is bowing out at the top . Muscles look a bit wasted but better than weeks ago

      ...,

  • Posted

    Hi Hazel. That groin pain is awful. I had it for weeks and really bad. Phoned the Physio who was as good as useless. Pain mess didn't touch it.

    A great guy on here suggested illeopsosis tendentious. He suggested not doing any exercise that aggravated it. Even going back to walking upstairs using good leg first.

    Google this condition. It can be small splits in the large muscle. I did find that rest from physio and massage really helped this.

    I had it again last week but not as bad. I think Susan is is right about the muscle and nerve pain.

    I just wish professionals would be more honest about the length of Time it takes to recover.

    More realistic is probably up to a year. Still painful getting in and out of car and standing up. Physio did say that at 11weeks he wouldn't expect me to be pain free.

    Bare with it Hazel. I'm sure it will get better. Sometimes I'm worse than I was in first few weeks !

    • Posted

      Lol yes Sandra I told surgeon I am going backwards. Instinct feels to leave it alone tho I look forward at 4 am waking again with terrible groin ache tonight sad

  • Posted

    Hi, I'm in week 13 and feel about the same as Susan. Ok lying down and walking, it's the getting up and getting going that's the problem. Still taking paracetamol, naproxen and co-codamol but off to see my own physio in Jan to see if she can help. 😐

    • Posted

      It'll be good to here what your physio says. I'm back next week so can compare notes. On another thing I hope you are taking naproxen with food, a friend has had stomach bleeding through not eating for food with that drug.

      Take care x

    • Posted

      Yes I am taking those only not naproxen . I think I may ask for some from my gp. I only have one physio session left then am out in the muscle acheing wilderness ...
    • Posted

      Yes and a Lanzoprosol first thing in the morning. I was taking ibuprofen up to my op but my GP said ibuprofen interfere with the aspirin I had to take 6 weeks post op and switched me to naproxen.
    • Posted

      Ooo Lisa I am exactly the same . Pain awful today .. esp groin and getting in and out of car x
  • Posted

    Hi Hazel, I'm now 6 months post-op but did have some slight groin pain afterwards (in fact it's only in the last few weeks that it's gone completely). It wasn't nowhere as bad as the OA pain though.

    Anyway, my surgeon told me (& confirmed by physio) that because I only had a small incision, he had to stretch the sartorius muscle quite a bit to move it out of the way. I was given some gentle exercises by my physio & I also bought a massage tool called an 'index knobber (!) which helped loads. If you look up sartorius muscle on the web it makes perfect sense why you may be experiencing groin pain x

    • Posted

      Thanks will look that up ... only my scar is a foot long ! X
    • Posted

      Yea my scars 10 inch in length but I am quite chubby (not that I'm suggesting you are ! 🙂wink

  • Posted

    hi hazel, 

    grinning from ear to ear ... we have to keep our sense of humor a bit eventhough it is not  funny at all ...

    Surgeon's job is done and that is it for him ... 

    Oh, there is so much more to this surgery than "just" putting in new hardware .. 

    I don't know why some heal and recover in no time and others (like me) are so much slower ... 

    this major  surgery causes disruption to the rest of your body. In all likelihood, whatever your body has been doing to compensate for your pre-op hip pai has also been causing problems all on its own. 

    1/2 cm is not too big of a difference and it will probably even out with time --- please bear in mind that our legs are not  same length to begin with .. aches and swelling in the hip can persist for a longer time because bone, a living tissue, continues to re-model and adapt around the metal implants.

    we are moving around more and this can lead to soreness and stiffness when we have been inactive ...

    SInce we are all so different in how we heal from this surgery, surgeons can't really tell us everything ... they just don't know ...my surgeon started to tell me that i had to use walking aids for 6 weeks (I groaned), then another 6 weeks with a cane (I groaned louder) and could take 12-18 months for complete healing ... He tried to be onest but I didn't want to hear that ... 

    I would have gone for the surgery anyway becuaes the alternative was being in pain and perhaps wheelchair ...

    I am still not where I want to be but do not regret the 2 THR surgeries ...

    big warm hug

    renee

    • Posted

      Yes Renee I know of a woman who had it done two weeks before Xmas and she was up serving and cooking Xmas dinner ! I have met two women who said they had no pain at all ! Grrrr....

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