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← Return to nausea, day after right THR
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One week after THR. She is doing great, never took any pain meds except Tylenol. Doing home PT for 3 wks, then going to out to PT (Rush). She's weened away from the walker 90%, only use it when she will be doing a lot of walking and or tired. Sleeping a lot but getting better. Does stairs by herself one step at a time. Her only problem is weakness in the leg. She has been in pain for 6 months with it being pretty bad right before surgery and gradually lost strength to where she could barely lift it a couple of inches on her back with a lot of pain before surgery and seems weaker now. She's doing heelslides-pillow crunches between knees-back arches-supline sliding leg back and forth-supline knees up dropping leg to the side She still cannot lift her leg to get into car by herself and it's tough getting into bed. At nite she is starting to get pain/tingling pretty bad sometimes going down her leg where to swelling is dropping to and cannot get comfortable so she gets up and walks around. She is comfortable in the recliner with her leg elevated to help with swelling (not a lot and the discoloring has started and dropping down into her leg). She has none of the pain she had before surgery, just pain form the swelling and incision but getting better. Dr and PT say she's doing great but we are concerned about the weakness. Any thoughts/ideas?
Replies to "One week after THR. She is doing great, never took any pain meds except Tylenol. Doing..."
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If she was weak before surgery from non-use or favoring the leg, it will just take a little longer to regain it. The fact that she can go up and down the stairs tells me she is doing really well!
I'm thinking it was probably 4 weeks after most of my hip surgeries before I could lift my leg into my car without "helping" it.
What she needs to do now is follow her therapy plan and ask the PT for some strengthening exercises appropriate to her stage of healing. Sometimes it it easier to start with walker or counter supported leg lifts while standing and "marching" while seated on a firm chair to get it moving. Lifting a leg off the bed really is hard - ask anyone who has been bedridden for a week how much loss of strength happens.
Now, about the swelling and tingling - both normal. One way to reduce the swelling is really elevate her legs - for 1/2 hour or more a couple times a day. You can use a stack of pillows, a wedge, lie on the floor with legs on a chair... You may have to assist her and the PT can show you how. This inverted position drains the fluid from the legs back toward the abdominal cavity where it is excreted.
Tingling - the nerves in her leg and hip are unhappy, having been moved and possibly bruised or damaged during surgery. When nerves wake up, they tingle, maybe feel like stabbing or burning. Depending on the amount of trauma, complete healing can take from a few months to a year. Any part that must regenerate does so at 1 mm per day, or about one inch per month. And, the way the brain works, the pain may be felt anywhere along the nerve, not just where it is healing. Just one of those things!
Please congratulate her on her great work so far! It does get better, and soon you'll be trying to keep up with her!