Walking without a hip joint

Thank you Sue. I will do that although the surgeon I have is the best there is in my area. He's been way better than the last moron I had who lied to me. I had to report him to get him off my case. He tried to have my hip totally removed 10 years ago and up until the last few weeks I've been doing extremely well with the new surgeons hip.

Unfortunately 6 weeks after being admitted for dislocation and opened up i have hip infection,i am going to theatreto change all componants and wash out,if too bad will remove hip and put spacer in such a sad endxx

i am so sorry to hear about the infection returning! I hope the doctors are able to resolve this for you.
Sending goo thoughts your way.
Sue

Thank you Sue,pretty devastating timex

Does anybody have any good news?

In reply to the question of if anyone has any good news. My wife and I laughed because at an ortho appt. yesterday we didn’t get any bad news so we considered that to be good news! I am facing a first revision of an infected hip, have a currently dislocated spacer but am trying to be positive. I am grateful for a discussion of walking with no hip as I could not help but wonder about this possibility given my circumstances. If someone can enjoy life with no hip I am grateful to hear that! Please continue telling the group all the things you CAN do as well as addressing the challenges. Thanks.

I had my left hip replaced in August 2019. By September, I underwent a surgery to remove infection, then removal of infected parts, then in May 2020, another to place a concrete spacer along with 6 weeks of IV treatments. By July of 2020, the spacer failed to allow mobility, so I went to Penn Medicine. In August 2020, surgeons replaced the concrete spacer with a Depuy spacer made of chromium and another 6 weeks of IV treatments. It is now May 2021 and I walk without a cane but list a bit to that side and find extensive walking to be a bit tiring. However, it is 1000% improvement over the concrete spacer. Using that, I normally had to stand for about 2 minutes before I could attempt moving. I still have evidence of infection and the incision starting leaking clear fluid in January, but that stopped in April. My surgeon tells me I’ll need another spacer because the antibiotics in it are exhausted after 3 weeks, but there’s no hurry as long as I am not in pain. At some point, I will have a new hip but I don’t know when that will happen. He said he had one patient who used the same spacer for 4 years before it loosen up. The pain you have when it loosens is indescribable.

Love to hear you talk about this and any further details positive or negative are appreciated. I am awaiting a first revision of infected hip prosthesis, but I like to know of possible eventualities so I started researching living without a hip. I’m about to research exoskeleton devices if anyone has any insight on that. Adapt, improvise and overcome although I realize easier said than done. Thank you again for your post.

I have not seen any comments regarding the use of exoskeletons or external prosthetic devices for people living with no hip yet I see some potential in my online research. Any thoughts?

Hmm, I never really thought about this much, but there is an interesting (if old) precedent. Back in the 1950's my brother had a condition called Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, which is a temporary necrosis of the femoral head. A brace was used to keep weight off the joint, the pelvis rested on a frame or the abdomen was wrapped in one, and the brace, with a shoe attached extended below the foot. Needless to say, it was a clumsy device, but the only other treatment at the time was a-frame casting for up to 2 years.
Recently, my friend was fitted with a similar device for 6 months after hip replacement because she had traumatic tears in her muscles and a damaged tendon, which mad her hip extremely unstable. With the brace she was able to stand and walk for short distances, safely & without pain.
If I was looking for information, I would start with a teaching hospital specializing in orthopedics...
Sue