Total Hip Replacement?

Hello,

I totally understand how you are feeling!!

My situation is pretty much the same as yours. I am 37 years old, a Zumba instructor and experienced pain over a 2 year period. I had a MRI and X-ray and discovered a tear as well as a shallow hip on my right side. I struggled on with pain killers and after 6 months went for the joint injection. This was fab but only lasted 6 weeks. I went to see a different consultant who said the time was right to do the THR.

I was terrified. Just as you are feeling now.

I can honestly say it was the best decision I have ever made. Since the moment after the op my pain totally went!! Only wound pain to deal with.

I am now 9 weeks post op and have just returned to my Zumba classes. ( low impact only for me at the moment however)

Have faith in the surgeon, the recovery isn't that bad at all in my opinion. The first 6 weeks it's all about rest and light physio. I'm now on some more extensive physio to get everything going again.

I don't have full range of movement quite yet. I only tied my own shoe laces for the first time this weekend but I was walking stick free by 5 weeks and the improvements keep coming each week!!! AND I HAVE NO LIMP POST OP AND EQUAL LEG LENGTH!!!! Amazing !!

This will transform your life!! Please don't suffer any longer!! So what... you are young to have this op but it's needed and that's what you need to focus on!!!

Good luck!!

Helen

England

Hi, I tore my Labrum while working out on a treadmill.  I was 48 at the time.  My specialist felt very confident that he could go in and repair the tear.  I was on crutches for several weeks and did about 8 weeks of physical therapy.  The surgery was a success.  Unfortunately for me, I have hip dysplasia and very bad artritis in that same hip.  Within 4 more months of working out, I was in pain again.  Not from the Labrum, but from my hip joint.  I was bone on bone at that point.  11 months after the first surgery to repair the labrum, I was in the hospital getting a FHR. I was terrified because I thought the second surgery would be much worse than the first.  After all, the second time around I would have a prostetic limb  To my surprise, the recovery from the FHR was much easier! 

Everyone is different.  My downfall was my arthritic joints.  You are very young.  If your joints are still healthy (unlike mine) I would definitely just go for the Labral repair.  Best of luck!

I went ahead with the thr approx 6wks ago and so glad i did! Yes the recovery is long and hard but the pain has all gone.do it while you are young and can recover easier.

Best of luck on whatever decision you make. Personally after doing nothing, then pain Ned's, then several cortisone shots I had a TLHR. So glad I did. I am 66 so the age difference also enters into it. You may be 60ish before you need a resurfacing. By then with technology advances should be down to a fine science. Don't live in pain

I am also 38 and my story is just about identical! After having my son in 2012, I wanted to start an exercise program. After maybe the second or third kickboxing class I signed up for, my right hip hurt. Like HURT, hurt!! I attributed to me being very heavy and not ready for such strenuous exercise at the time. I lived with it for a while.

I visited an ortho in 2013 and they dx an impingement...rx was to lose weight and keep moving. Desperate for relief, I whole heartedly committed to a healthy lifestyle. I took up distance walking and spin classes because it was do-able and pretty much the only things that didn't hurt so much. Combined with diet, I steadily lost close to 100 lbs on my own by 2015...I still can't believe it....but the dull, nagging pain in my hip didn't go away.

Fed up, I got anpther opinion. I was dx with labral tear. Pt was a waste of time and eventually injections wore off and pain increased and mobility decreased as the year went by. Last spring, I underwent extensive labral tear surgery. When the surgeon was in there he saw just how damaged my cartilage was due to osteoarthritis. He tried a microfracture procedure intended to grow scar tissue to act as new cartilage. Over the last summer and fall, the pain kept getting worse to the point now I am unable to walk or stand for very long. I limp when I walk. My quality of life has decreased dramatically .

Anyway, the surgeon who performed the tear surgery said, without hesitation, said I could either live with the pain until my hip explodes (his words!), and I have no other choice, or ENJOY life in a couple months...after a total hip replacement. I chose hip replacement!

I am very nervous, but this forum and research on surgeons, the various procedures, and recovery, has helped. I am hooked up with a very experienced and one of the best surgeons who performs the anterior approach to THR. I have no choice but to be optimistic about the outcome and waiting rather impatiently for April 12!!

What approach did your surgeon recommend, anterior or posterior? Did you discuss recovery protocol and possible complications? Let me know if you have questions...or what questions you are planning on asking your doc! Curious if I asked the same types of questions or missed anything I need to ask or slllprepare for.

Hang in there and continue to do your research. Knowledge is power!

So I had the dr app. yesterday and we both decided that in my case a total hip replacement is best! I had so many questions for him and was floored by what he wanted out of me post op! 

My surgery will be on the 25th of April (so shortly after yours Wildersanna). I asked him about the leg length and he gave me a great explaination of and if it happens (has to do with the fit of the ball into the socket). I also asked about the inward or outward of the foot. He said that is a 1 out 100 chance that it happens but he said that if it does happen that, in my case with hip dysplasia, it is because what is normal to me isn't normal to a regular person without hip dysplasia but again, it rarely happens. I asked about sex *blush*, resticted for 6 weeks.  I asked about driving, again 4-6 weeks, just as long as I can apply that brake fast and strong enough, of course without pain meds (common sense). He said that he will be doing an anterior approach and that he uses stitches on the inside along with the glue (I was very happy with that answer). I was realy confused because he told me to do as little as possible for the first 6 weeks because that is the time when dislocation is high. That it takes the persons bones to start growing over the prosthesis and then he will prescribe pt. He said that I will need the walker for the whole 6 weeks for stability purposes. He said that I didn't need a raiser for the toilet just straighten the leg as I sit.

I asked about long time restrictions, I got no running but other than that I was good to go.... just trust my body and do what it says, if it sounds like it is a bad idea then it probably is. 

I know there were more questions I asked but they aren't coming to mind right now. I have all the faith in him and trust that he will do a wonderful job! I am so overwhelmed and nervous but I know in the end that I made the right decision! Thank you to all that have replied to my post! Congrats Wildersanna on the weight loss!! Way to go!!!!!!