Left hip pain and groin 3 years after posterior total hip replacement

Let's try this again - I just typed a reply and it disappeared.
First, welcome to Mayo Connect - a community of people living with a wide variety of conditions, who share our experiences and try to help one another along the way.

I am sorry to hear that your hip replacement journey has been a difficult one. It is unfortunately not all that rare to suffer one or more complications - my own situation finally involved 5 surgeries for replacements and revisions, but I am happy to tell you that I have now been nearly problem free for going on 10 years.

Two suggestions for dealing with your current situation are
Locate a surgeon who deals with complex revisions. This is best done by contacting a large orthopedic practice or a teaching hospital for recommendations. If it is feasible, you may wish to contact one of the 3 Mayo facilities.
Locate a Physical therapist who has experience with revisions that include torn muscles, ligaments and tendons. These require special care and extra recovery time. My friend had to have a special girdle-like brace made to support her hip and torso during healing, which she was gradually weaned from wearing after many months. She also had over a year of PT with many progressive steps, and still does exercises every day. She is now able to walk long distances using a walker or cane (depending on terrain) with little or no pain.

This is not going to be easy - but you need to be persistent to get the help you need, and then to heal your body.
Good luck, and please let us know how you are doing.
Sue

Thank You Sue, I’ve reached out to a top orthopedic doc & I just had another round of scans, I’ll follow up with him next Wednesday, so hopefully we can get this resolved once & for all. I did have a very noticeable limp but with my physical therapist assistance over an 7 month time period I can say my limp is gone completely & I only need my cane when I’m walking a lot & my leg gets tired. My bloodwork test levels are hovering around the same #’s as when we found the first of two infections. But I’m trying to stay positive that there’s no infections & that maybe it’s just the muscle, tendons & ligaments causing the pain & nothing more.
Tammy

Who did you go to see for your doctor that helped you & where is he/ you located? Doctor’s name/group & location. I’m 3 years post op. I was doing great & had a complete foot/ankle reconstruction 2 years ago this November 5, 2021. All went well, but I took a horrific fall & my left hip & foot have never been the same. My left hip is now slowly bulging more & more. Extremely painful. I need to desperately lose wo, but the hip & foot pain make it almost unbearable. Being older does not help. I need to go back yo my orthopedic doctor, but what I have read about revisions ~ I am quite concerned.
Thank you for sharing your experiences & to everyone else, too!

Loss not lose

Well now its bursitis (ortho says) my pain dr says it’s a nerve, so he did some injections & the groin pain went away immediately & the pain stayed away for 31 hrs, now he’s completed another injection but not in the same spot even though I told him during the procedure that’s not the place you hit last time, so I had excruciating groin & hip pain for 11 straight days. Now he’s completed another round of injections into the Si joint & it’s only helped my back but not the dang groin pain, next is another injection into the bursa, so now I wait for the next set. But I do have this to add: my granddaughter & I have been exercising at home (she’s 11 & very hyper) so I was showing her some floor Jazzercise mice’s I used to teach & the my hip is extremely stiff, that night the hip & groin pain was thru the roof, the next am I get up with no & I mean no hip or groin pain, so this makes me think it is the tendons & ligaments causing the pain, I’ve been exercising 2x a day when I can handle the pain!

Hello - I have had 2 thr and 3 revisions in the past 15 years and managed to stay very active until I became seriously ill in 2018, then became a couch potato for several months. While inactive my hip developed bursitis, which included groin and back pain. My ortho injected the bursa and I pushed myself to get back to stretching and exercise. It hasn't come back! So if exercise helps you might want to ask your ortho about a hip injection to get you "over the hump"
Sue

I’m not sure I could be much help, but I had posterior THR in 2015 in NYS. I was left with miserable Back pain - that I had not had before the replacement- and a very poor gait, tipping to one side. No one in NY could explain what was wrong. A PT here in MN suggested having Mayo look into my piriformis. They finally agreed and found that the piriformis is gone, atrophied, just shreds of it left. My sciatic nerve probably ran through the piriformis and when the surgeon “protected the sciatic nerve” and “moved the piriformis out of the way” he did a lifetime of damage. All to get the hip into place. I would never recommend a posterior THR. I was in much better shape before the replacement surgery.

I have the same problems--My Dr. is working to find out why--But I think they know & its not going to be fixed,

I have RA and OA and the hip became impossible to bear, so I had a replacement. Instead of the simple in and out procedure he expected, the hip had crumpled and he spent an enormous amount of time removing pieces. Afterwards, I was in excruciating pain and had no control over my bladder. They moved me to a rehab hospital. After 3 days the catheter was safely removed and I finally went home after a week, although they wanted me another week. Then I had weeks of pain and legs collapsing and he finally said they had to move the pelvis back and forth to get the new hip in place. I have a large Tarlov cyst at the end of my sacrum that I believe has been pressing on my sciatic nerve. I have pain now in my lower back, buttocks and down my leg. Sometimes the legs gets numb and tingling although the neurologist can’t find nerve damage. So, I can walk about a block, sit about an hour and lying flat is the only endurable position. No, you’re not alone.

No you are not alone. I had my left hip replaced seven years ago and have been experiencing pain ever since. I had my right hip replaced 22 years ago and it is fine.