Walking without a hip joint

Posted by dzoneill @dzoneill, Mar 10, 2017

Is anyone currently walking without a hip joint?

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@nixie

I was born with bilateral congenital hip dysplasia and from 7 months old till 18 months old I walked about 10 to 15 steps and fell forward. I had 10 hip surgeries the first one when I was 18 months old they cut my thigh bones and took a piece of bone from each leg and injected hormone into it formed both ball and socket forming both my hips for me. I had 9 more surgeries to realign my hips as i grew my last surgery was when I was 9 years old. My surgeries were at Gillette children's hospital in st paul, mn. I remember being in bodycasts and learning how to walk again after every surgery. As of right now I walk with a limp and I don't have a space anymore between the ball and socket and they are grinding and disintegrating and they sometimes lock up on me. I am having gastric sleeve on april 5th in hope to loose weight so I can relieve some pressure off of my hips.

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@nixie, it is great to hear that you are taking positive actions to get healthy and relieve some of the pressure on your hips. Grinding and disintegrating sound like very painful descriptions of your hips. Has there been long-term damage caused by the grinding? Or are you in a stage where you can still prevent damage?

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@lynzze

@dzoneill I am sorry to hear of your situation and I can totally relate to your situation however mine came in a different form. In 2005 I was in a head on collision with a semi which caused my left hip to dislocate (along with numerous other traumatic injuries) they were able to put my hip back into place without surgery however a couple weeks later when doing physical therapy it became dislocated again. So the decision was made to put hardware in to try and stabilize it from dislocation, which worked until my femoral head became necrotic a year later . At that point they decided to do the first THR ...it was great ...but it only lasted two weeks and then I got Staph infection and it had to be removed. So then they put in a concrete hip spacer.. Needless to say we went back and forth like this 4 times over the course of 7 years ...everytime they put in a new hip I would eventually get MRSA/staph and they would remove it. Finally when hip replacement 4 became infected I was referred to Mayo Clinic .
Their recommendation was to take everything out and leave it out for at least a year. If I could go at least one year without infection they would try one last hip relplacement .
It was a long recovery process plus learning how to walk with a hanging hip but i actually stunned doctors a year later when i was walking without any assistive devices (i probably shouldve been using my cane at least lol) of course I had a major limp since my left leg was so much shorter but i made it work not only for one year but for 4 years!
Finally last year I went back and told them it was time, my lower back had been killing me so bad from my uneven gait.
June 6th I recieved my "Hail Mary" 5th total hip lol and I am so happy to say that so far (fingers crossed) i havent had any problems with infection. Im only 34 years old so I know its a life long battle but at this point in time thing are looking up!!

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@lynzze, your story is a testament to what patience and persistence can accomplish. Thank you for sharing your story. We have many discussions taking place on Connect covering many topics, I urge you to check out more or let me know if you have an area of interest and I can help find more discussions for you.

Regarding your hip, you said you finally decided to try the next hip replacement because you started to have back pain from your change in gait. How is your gait after having the hip replacement? How has your back pain been?

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@lynzze

@dzoneill I am sorry to hear of your situation and I can totally relate to your situation however mine came in a different form. In 2005 I was in a head on collision with a semi which caused my left hip to dislocate (along with numerous other traumatic injuries) they were able to put my hip back into place without surgery however a couple weeks later when doing physical therapy it became dislocated again. So the decision was made to put hardware in to try and stabilize it from dislocation, which worked until my femoral head became necrotic a year later . At that point they decided to do the first THR ...it was great ...but it only lasted two weeks and then I got Staph infection and it had to be removed. So then they put in a concrete hip spacer.. Needless to say we went back and forth like this 4 times over the course of 7 years ...everytime they put in a new hip I would eventually get MRSA/staph and they would remove it. Finally when hip replacement 4 became infected I was referred to Mayo Clinic .
Their recommendation was to take everything out and leave it out for at least a year. If I could go at least one year without infection they would try one last hip relplacement .
It was a long recovery process plus learning how to walk with a hanging hip but i actually stunned doctors a year later when i was walking without any assistive devices (i probably shouldve been using my cane at least lol) of course I had a major limp since my left leg was so much shorter but i made it work not only for one year but for 4 years!
Finally last year I went back and told them it was time, my lower back had been killing me so bad from my uneven gait.
June 6th I recieved my "Hail Mary" 5th total hip lol and I am so happy to say that so far (fingers crossed) i havent had any problems with infection. Im only 34 years old so I know its a life long battle but at this point in time thing are looking up!!

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My back pain has been reduced greatly although I still have about an inch difference in leg length (mainly due to the fact it had been 4 years that I had went without a joint in that space and they were unable to get my leg stretched back to the proper length) so I do still have some low back issues and SI joint issues in my good side. However all that being said it is a great improvement in comparison to what I had been dealing with.

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@lynzze

@dzoneill I am sorry to hear of your situation and I can totally relate to your situation however mine came in a different form. In 2005 I was in a head on collision with a semi which caused my left hip to dislocate (along with numerous other traumatic injuries) they were able to put my hip back into place without surgery however a couple weeks later when doing physical therapy it became dislocated again. So the decision was made to put hardware in to try and stabilize it from dislocation, which worked until my femoral head became necrotic a year later . At that point they decided to do the first THR ...it was great ...but it only lasted two weeks and then I got Staph infection and it had to be removed. So then they put in a concrete hip spacer.. Needless to say we went back and forth like this 4 times over the course of 7 years ...everytime they put in a new hip I would eventually get MRSA/staph and they would remove it. Finally when hip replacement 4 became infected I was referred to Mayo Clinic .
Their recommendation was to take everything out and leave it out for at least a year. If I could go at least one year without infection they would try one last hip relplacement .
It was a long recovery process plus learning how to walk with a hanging hip but i actually stunned doctors a year later when i was walking without any assistive devices (i probably shouldve been using my cane at least lol) of course I had a major limp since my left leg was so much shorter but i made it work not only for one year but for 4 years!
Finally last year I went back and told them it was time, my lower back had been killing me so bad from my uneven gait.
June 6th I recieved my "Hail Mary" 5th total hip lol and I am so happy to say that so far (fingers crossed) i havent had any problems with infection. Im only 34 years old so I know its a life long battle but at this point in time thing are looking up!!

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Also if you have any other discussions that I could be of assistance in I would be more than willing to share my story!

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@nixie

I was born with bilateral congenital hip dysplasia and from 7 months old till 18 months old I walked about 10 to 15 steps and fell forward. I had 10 hip surgeries the first one when I was 18 months old they cut my thigh bones and took a piece of bone from each leg and injected hormone into it formed both ball and socket forming both my hips for me. I had 9 more surgeries to realign my hips as i grew my last surgery was when I was 9 years old. My surgeries were at Gillette children's hospital in st paul, mn. I remember being in bodycasts and learning how to walk again after every surgery. As of right now I walk with a limp and I don't have a space anymore between the ball and socket and they are grinding and disintegrating and they sometimes lock up on me. I am having gastric sleeve on april 5th in hope to loose weight so I can relieve some pressure off of my hips.

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Nixie I wanted to wish you all the best with your gastric sleeve surgery! It will be one of the best things you can do for yourself and your hips. I had gastric bypass 4 years ago because of my hip issue and i have lost 130lbs and id do it all again in a heart beat! Dont get discouraged! Remember your protein and remember you will have plateaus but you can break thru them!! Congrats and best of luck!!

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@lynzze

@dzoneill I am sorry to hear of your situation and I can totally relate to your situation however mine came in a different form. In 2005 I was in a head on collision with a semi which caused my left hip to dislocate (along with numerous other traumatic injuries) they were able to put my hip back into place without surgery however a couple weeks later when doing physical therapy it became dislocated again. So the decision was made to put hardware in to try and stabilize it from dislocation, which worked until my femoral head became necrotic a year later . At that point they decided to do the first THR ...it was great ...but it only lasted two weeks and then I got Staph infection and it had to be removed. So then they put in a concrete hip spacer.. Needless to say we went back and forth like this 4 times over the course of 7 years ...everytime they put in a new hip I would eventually get MRSA/staph and they would remove it. Finally when hip replacement 4 became infected I was referred to Mayo Clinic .
Their recommendation was to take everything out and leave it out for at least a year. If I could go at least one year without infection they would try one last hip relplacement .
It was a long recovery process plus learning how to walk with a hanging hip but i actually stunned doctors a year later when i was walking without any assistive devices (i probably shouldve been using my cane at least lol) of course I had a major limp since my left leg was so much shorter but i made it work not only for one year but for 4 years!
Finally last year I went back and told them it was time, my lower back had been killing me so bad from my uneven gait.
June 6th I recieved my "Hail Mary" 5th total hip lol and I am so happy to say that so far (fingers crossed) i havent had any problems with infection. Im only 34 years old so I know its a life long battle but at this point in time thing are looking up!!

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@lynzze Thanks for that remarkable story! Teresa

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@nixie

I was born with bilateral congenital hip dysplasia and from 7 months old till 18 months old I walked about 10 to 15 steps and fell forward. I had 10 hip surgeries the first one when I was 18 months old they cut my thigh bones and took a piece of bone from each leg and injected hormone into it formed both ball and socket forming both my hips for me. I had 9 more surgeries to realign my hips as i grew my last surgery was when I was 9 years old. My surgeries were at Gillette children's hospital in st paul, mn. I remember being in bodycasts and learning how to walk again after every surgery. As of right now I walk with a limp and I don't have a space anymore between the ball and socket and they are grinding and disintegrating and they sometimes lock up on me. I am having gastric sleeve on april 5th in hope to loose weight so I can relieve some pressure off of my hips.

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I feel so bad complaining about my broken hip after hearing these stories. I wish only the best for all of you.

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@lynzze

@dzoneill I am sorry to hear of your situation and I can totally relate to your situation however mine came in a different form. In 2005 I was in a head on collision with a semi which caused my left hip to dislocate (along with numerous other traumatic injuries) they were able to put my hip back into place without surgery however a couple weeks later when doing physical therapy it became dislocated again. So the decision was made to put hardware in to try and stabilize it from dislocation, which worked until my femoral head became necrotic a year later . At that point they decided to do the first THR ...it was great ...but it only lasted two weeks and then I got Staph infection and it had to be removed. So then they put in a concrete hip spacer.. Needless to say we went back and forth like this 4 times over the course of 7 years ...everytime they put in a new hip I would eventually get MRSA/staph and they would remove it. Finally when hip replacement 4 became infected I was referred to Mayo Clinic .
Their recommendation was to take everything out and leave it out for at least a year. If I could go at least one year without infection they would try one last hip relplacement .
It was a long recovery process plus learning how to walk with a hanging hip but i actually stunned doctors a year later when i was walking without any assistive devices (i probably shouldve been using my cane at least lol) of course I had a major limp since my left leg was so much shorter but i made it work not only for one year but for 4 years!
Finally last year I went back and told them it was time, my lower back had been killing me so bad from my uneven gait.
June 6th I recieved my "Hail Mary" 5th total hip lol and I am so happy to say that so far (fingers crossed) i havent had any problems with infection. Im only 34 years old so I know its a life long battle but at this point in time thing are looking up!!

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Whi did your hip surgery at Mayo and which locstion

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@JustinMcClanahan

Hello @dzoneill, and welcome to Connect.

Would you mind telling us a bit more about your question? We have a lot of members who have discussed having hip issues or replacements, but I have not come across the question regarding lack of a hip joint. Is this from an injury, surgery, or other medical issue?

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I am so happy to see that you are making such great progress with physical therapy. I would be very interested to know what PT exercises you have been doing. I had cancer in 2006 and I received massive radiation to my left hip area. I did not realize that this damaged my bones. In 2012, I stepped backwards off the second rung of a ladder and fractured my hip socket and pelvic girdle. The bones would not have broken if they had not been weakened by the radiation. The fractures did not heal with traditional PT. We decided to avoid surgery because of possible complications; my bones were not healing, the tissues were also damaged from the radiation, and I had lymphedema due to lymph node removal. In 2016 I went to the hospital with a high fever and disorientation. Turns out I had developed an infection in my hip even with no surgery. At this point I was septic (MRSA) and they did a joint clean-out surgery. I had an antibiotic spacer for a few months, and after that was removed and the antibiotics were done, I developed another infection. I had another clean-out surgery. My specialist suspected that I had infection in my bones, so in 2017 I had another surgery where more of my femur and part of my pelvic girdle were removed. The femoral artery was also damaged and could not be repaired, so they put in an artificial vein. I came out of surgery with 3 large incisions instead of one. The doctor said no weight bearing for 3 months. It has now been 3 months since my last surgery. It has taken me this long to feel sort of OK. It's been hard coming back from this last surgery. Now I am having the same question; how do I learn to walk now? I've been primarily in a wheelchair since April, but have to use a walker to get through my bathroom door. My muscles have atrophied so much over the last year. And the floppy leg is something else! I have not been good about doing any PT lately because I've been so tired, drugged, and in pain.

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@lynzze

@dzoneill I am sorry to hear of your situation and I can totally relate to your situation however mine came in a different form. In 2005 I was in a head on collision with a semi which caused my left hip to dislocate (along with numerous other traumatic injuries) they were able to put my hip back into place without surgery however a couple weeks later when doing physical therapy it became dislocated again. So the decision was made to put hardware in to try and stabilize it from dislocation, which worked until my femoral head became necrotic a year later . At that point they decided to do the first THR ...it was great ...but it only lasted two weeks and then I got Staph infection and it had to be removed. So then they put in a concrete hip spacer.. Needless to say we went back and forth like this 4 times over the course of 7 years ...everytime they put in a new hip I would eventually get MRSA/staph and they would remove it. Finally when hip replacement 4 became infected I was referred to Mayo Clinic .
Their recommendation was to take everything out and leave it out for at least a year. If I could go at least one year without infection they would try one last hip relplacement .
It was a long recovery process plus learning how to walk with a hanging hip but i actually stunned doctors a year later when i was walking without any assistive devices (i probably shouldve been using my cane at least lol) of course I had a major limp since my left leg was so much shorter but i made it work not only for one year but for 4 years!
Finally last year I went back and told them it was time, my lower back had been killing me so bad from my uneven gait.
June 6th I recieved my "Hail Mary" 5th total hip lol and I am so happy to say that so far (fingers crossed) i havent had any problems with infection. Im only 34 years old so I know its a life long battle but at this point in time thing are looking up!!

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I have two surgeons at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Dr. Tad Mabry and Dr. Michael Taunton...both are remarkable.

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