Partial hip replacement surgery

Hopefully your orthopedic surgeon is following up with you! Also would suggest having cobalt / Chromium blood test as well as vitamin D. Follow up with physical therapy and water aerobic if possible! My wife did not have steel rod but had similar symptoms after a total bilateral hip replacement

Hello @inquisitive2,

I moved your discussion to the Joint Replacements support group as well. If you are comfortable sharing, was osteoporosis a cause of why you needed a partial hip replacement? Connect has many members discussing steel rods as a result of knee replacements. If you don't mind sharing, it might be helpful for members to relate their experiences to know a bit more about where the steel rod was placed? With not much improvement, has a next step been discussed with your surgeon?

Many things can delay healing of bone after fractures. Were you diagnosed with osteoporosis before your hip fracture or at the time you broke it? Sometimes that is the cause of delayed healing. Other causes can include older age, having other health issues like cancer, using steroids for pain management or lung problems, previous radiation therapy and severe arthritis.

Do you have any of those situations?

After my daughter had a severe wrist fracture that refused to heal, a lot of therapies were tried to stimulate the healing , but in the end it just took time - a lot of time (more than a year) because the trauma was severe and she had used a lot of steroids to control asthma throughout her life.

What is the surgeon suggesting as a next step?

PS @dannyandebbie With a partial hip only 5 months old, I don't think inquisitive2 needs to be concerned about chromium and cobalt levels - those were problematic for people who received metal-on-metal implants in the past - where the femur ball and the acetabular cup were both metal - they don't do that any longer, and in a partial, there is no liner placed in the pelvis.

I do have osteoporosis but I have had it for a long time. I’ve had other breaks but they always healed but I didn’t have surgery except Kyphoplasty on my back. My hip fracture was caused by a fall. I am 85 years old and I do have arthritis. It’s been almost 6 months and my doctor (nurse practitioner) said it should have healed by now and be out of pain
Their solution was to have a hip replacement. At my age that is not an option. My body couldn’t take another surgery as I’m still healing from the last one. I am going to physical therapy twice a week and I think that helps. Do you think something like prolia ore evenity would help?
Thank you for your response.

Haven’t seen my surgeon since the operation. He uses his nurse practitioner to follow up

Was tested for vitamin d and it was fine

Why did you originally do a partial?

I am shortly turning 80 and had a left hip replacement a couple of years ago. There was never any discussion of doing a partial. I originally had a hip surgeon at Mayo who told me he had just done a total hip replacement on a 105 year old woman. So I don't think age itself is an issue and I have arthritis all over my body as well as stenosis in my back. But we are all different and our bodies are very different and our ability to tolerate surgery is very different.

I am concerned that you are only seeing a nurse practitioner. I had a followup with my surgeon's PA and I had no problem with that because my surgery had gone great. No problems, no pain. For routine followups I often end up seeing PAs or NPs BUT if you are having problems, your surgeon should be meeting with you and you should be demanding that.

I cannot answer about the osteoporosis drugs, that would be a question for your primary care doc. But I totally agree with the other posters here - when you have a problem, the surgeon should be seeing you. If not, I would look for another surgeon. Even if the answer is not a hip replacement, they should be able to help figure out a solution for the pain.

One needs to remain a Strong advocate for themselves! My wife was constantly complaining about pain related issues and the orthopedic surgeon and head nurse suggested extensive therapy. I suggested blood test to rule out Cobalt/ Chromium poisoning and the orthopedic surgeon declined, said if things were not better in a year he would request a test. I took wife to her primary and requested this test and her Chromium level was 17.6 and Cobalt was a 9; needless to say I took her back for a revision with a different orthopedic surgeon, same facility.

As you apparently learned, some doctors do not like suggestions from their patients. I'm glad you were proactive. My levels got MUCH higher before the implant provider told the surgeon to have me tested, and even after replacement, I have had many years of secondary effects that will never go away.