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Chronic Pain 2 years Post op- Hip Replacement
My husband has had bad hips his whole life. The Doctors speculate his growth plates slipped in early adolescent, causing deformed hips. Fast forward, at 60 he had his right hip replaced. No pain until the 4th week post-op during PT and surgical site infection. He was put on antibiotics for over 15 weeks, surgery site was never washed out. The pain has never gone away! He's had 4 hip aspirations, all of which have shown no infection. After 20 weeks of PT, 3X week, pain never improved. Physical Therapist told him to go back to the surgeon because he was not progressing. The Surgeon recommended iliposoas tendon release surgery. He had iliposoas tendon release surgery, and 8 more weeks of PT, 3X week. The pain never improved. He has tried acupuncture, electroacupuncture, stretch Lab, Cortisone injections. For diagnostics, he's had MRI's of hip, pelvis. and lower back, the results are all normal. He's had a three phase bone scan, which shows no infection or loosening. He has severe startup pain going from the sitting to the standing position, in the groin/socket area. We've seen so many doctors, with no answers. Please help us, any advice?
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@steveinarizona
Thanks for your recommendation! Unfortunately our surgery with Dr. Berger didn't have good results...chronic pain and debilitated. We have very good insurance fortunately. After everything my husband has been through, he's terrified to do a revision, hopefully in time he will be willing. Im glad to hear your surgeries went well!
@cfoster4 I would get a second opinion; your doctor did not tell you the truth, even a physical therapist can work with you on this! I definitely would be seeing a different surgeon in the future!
@dannyandebbie
My husband has done over 8 months of PT with three different physical therapists, each therapist has said something is wrong because the pain levels have increased and there's no progression.
@vkent All the more reason for a second opinion with a recommendation Specialist!
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1 Reaction@dannyandebbie
We've seen over 7 surgeons, for second opinions! We've had every diagnostic test done to find out the cause of his pain, nothing definitively shows up! We've found two surgeons who are willing to do a revision but given there's no clear cut explanation for the pain, everything will need to be revised. He's already had a psoas lengthening, which did nothing for the pain! So he's very reluctant to do a revision
Not to scare you but when my wife had total bilateral on her hips she went 9 months on heavy narcotics. It took that long for the femur nerve to heal in her left leg before she could actually walk on it with out a full leg mobilizer on her leg and then they were able to preform a revision on her right leg that actually had a hair line fracture to her pelvic area. Of course, dropping her in the shower at rehab did not help! Nerve distortion I’m sure doesn’t help! I do hope he is able to find some relief! Ct scan, MRI, blood test for Cobalt / Chroumin levels, something has to be causing this discomfort!
My husband has had 3 three phase bones scans, 4 hip aspirations,, several MRI, and psoas lengthening, none of which revealed anything causing the pain! But I do think these doctors cover for each other, and given we had a very well known surgeon do the THR, I feel its made it more difficult to get to the bottom of it. They've ruled out nerve pain with an EMG which was normal. Im sorry to hear about your wife's journey, I hope she's doing better now!
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1 Reaction@vkent I too feel they cover for each other. I also feel that she was dropped when she had the total bilateral, because when she came out of the operating room, she was black and blue from head to toe. Then I dropped her and Rehab, and told me a bunch of lies because I was there and I’m the one that picked her up but no one took responsibility for it