Post hip replacement problems

Hi Sandra, I understand impatience! Are you having problems with weight bearing or balance? When I ditched my crutches it was a very gradual process- first around the house, then in the yard, on short walks close to home... Even after I was able to walk well, I used them in crowds. My friend had her hip replaced in December, and just last month started leaving her cane at home.
Sue

Sue, the physical therapists are working on both those issues and they tell me I am doing really well. But without the cane I just cannot seem to walk normally. It feels like swelling in the hip which throws my gait off. But after just six weeks I am probably expecting too much too quickly.

I was told the swelling can last past six weeks. I'm three weeks out andy hip feels kinda hard and still pretty sore. We shall overcome!!

Have the PT check the shoes you are wearing - if your gait is changing, and you were limping before, you might need new shoes to get a "new start." Also, although we are typically a "no shoes" house, I wore supportive shoes around the house instead of slippers or flip-flops while I was healing. It made a big difference.
Sue

I had the opposite response to THR. I had my right side done five years ago and the recovery was a piece of cake. Three days after surgery the OT had me walking around my block with a walker. I also have fifteen stairs inside my house. I was 76 when I had the surgery and it was the first surgery I had ever had. But now I have bursitis in that hip and I can't walk my usual two mile routine because after about a mile it starts to hurt also going up my stairs and sleeping on it. I feel I traded one kind of pain before surgery for another kind of pain.

Hello,
Have you tried a cortisone injection yet? It might help since it's not the hip and it's the actual bursa. Hopefully you can some relief soon.

I have had bursitis several times in my replaced hips. A shot of cortisone by a good doc or PA has managed to cool it every time. Much lower doses and more direct injection means I can have them every few months, but mine usually last at least 6 months.
Sue

I have had the shots for the last couple of years. Sometime they help and sometimes they don't. I was due for another shot last month but I was diagnosed with cervical radiculopathy (compressed neck nerve). The most painful thing I've ever had. After suffering with it they did a direct facet injection and so far it has helped. For how long I don't know. But they wouldn't let me get another injection in my bursa of cortisone. At age 81 and full of osteoarthritis. It just keeps popping up in all sorts of places.

I have been Googling "thigh pain after hip replacement" and I finally found something that I think will clear things up a bit. Thigh pain can last 18-24 months after hip replacement surgery in the case of cementless THR "until the implant is securely locked in place by bone growth". Finally something that makes sense to me as my surgeon told me that full recovery takes 18-24 months. Up until I read that this morning I was concerned about my thigh hurting and wondering how normal that might be months after surgery. Now I have my answer.

Thank you! It certainly helps me as I am 7 1/2 months post op and still having hip, groin, thigh pain.