Intermittent cramping of thigh after hip break & replacement

Posted by wacoconnie @wacoconnie, Nov 18, 2022

In March of 2022, I fell and broke my left hip. They performed a hip replacement the same day. Even after all this time, my thigh cramps bad intermittently, but only when I walk. I have lumbar issues and it was suspected that nerve pain might be my problem, but I'm on gabapentin and it is not helping. My x-rays look okay. Any suggestions?

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7797 | @7797 | Nov 19, 2022

I had a hip revision …waited about 8 years too long…another story.
It has been a success except for nightly and sometimes during the day, muscle spasms/cramps in my thigh.
I have been on several medications. Currently on Horizant. Iced daily and stretched.
What has helped the most is stretching. I hadn’t stretched in many, many years. And it has taken time to find the proper stretches and angles.
But I’m not icing anymore.
I at least now sleep for periods of 2-4 hours without discomfort.
If muscle aches in my thigh interrupt my sleep now I stretch and usually go back to sleep.
This is not an overnight cure.
Heat sometimes helps.
Sodium diclofenac cream and massage helps.
Good luck.
I am battling it too.
***stay off concrete as much as possible

7797 | @7797 | Nov 19, 2022

I forgot to mention the revision surgery that was supposed to take 45 minutes took 3 hours. Bone damage from metal on metal hip. The cramps/spasms were caused, I think, by nerve damage

Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Nov 19, 2022

@wacoconnie & @7797 - How much physical therapy did you get after your hip fracture healed?
For some reason, a lot of surgeons don't think we need it after hip replacement or a fracture.
But... we do! And not just a list of exercises to try. If you had a fracture & then surgery, you need an expert to evaluate how you are walking. Change in gait after joint repair/replacement can cause pain from head (neck) to toe. If you are walking crookedly, limping, favoring one side over the other, or even just have a major change in your step, it needs to be reviewed.
After my last hip revision, I was walking unevenly, and had pain from my shoulders to my foot. After gait training and strengthening it all went away.

@7797 Some of you pain is undoubtedly from the tissue repairing itself after it was poisoned by the metal. I had one of mine take a whole year to quit aching randomly. And it will still spasm if I skip stretching exercises for a few days.

Good luck, and keep moving - it does get better! I am now 11 years post-revision, and last night we were out swing dancing and line dancing - on a tile floor!
Sue