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Upper Thigh Pain Months After Hip Replacement

Posted by juliepoolie71 @juliepoolie71, Mar 2 11:34pm

I had a hip replacement 4 months ago and from the day after surgery I have horrible pain in my upper front thigh/groin area. Come to find out the surgeon fractured my femur but didn’t tell us, I found out a month after when I ended up in the er with horrible pain they thought was an infection in the hip, they found the fracture in a ct scan. My surgeon won’t see me I only see his PA, and the last thing the PA said was the pain was psychological, and he’s sending me for a nerve conduction study.
It hurts to sit in the recliner, lift my leg when standing, I can’t lift it to get in the passenger side of the car (was my left hip that was replaced) and laying in bed is awful and I’m in pain and unable to sleep all night. Could they have injured something else when they broke through the back of my femur? Has this happened to anyone else? I’m only 52 and needed the replacement from a bad accident that tore the labrum and cartilage beyond fixing.
Thanks for your help, I can’t take this and the surgeons pa anymore.

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juliepoolie71 | @juliepoolie71 | Mar 5 1:20pm
In reply to @gussie "Julie I am so sorry this is happening to you. They say you have to be..." + (show)
@gussie

Julie I am so sorry this is happening to you. They say you have to be pro-active in your own health care but it seems you are fighting a huge system. I wish there was such a thing as a health advocate for your situation.

Jump to this post

You gave me a good idea to call the state and see if there is such a thing. Thank you so much!

REPLY
susanfalcon52 | @susanfalcon52 | Mar 7 6:43am

I had a right hip replacement 8-9 months ago. Went fine, no problems. Until now. I had significant pain in right thigh - which has been mostly numb since thr. I don’t know whether the nerves are waking up and now I have pain or if it’s some other diagnosis? If the nerves are waking up, do I have this pain forever? It could also be osteoarthritis which I have, but it’s only on right side. Any thoughts from the hip replacement People?

REPLY
2 replies
pb50 | @pb50 | Mar 7 9:05am
In reply to @susanfalcon52 "I had a right hip replacement 8-9 months ago. Went fine, no problems. Until now. I..." + (show)
@susanfalcon52

I had a right hip replacement 8-9 months ago. Went fine, no problems. Until now. I had significant pain in right thigh - which has been mostly numb since thr. I don’t know whether the nerves are waking up and now I have pain or if it’s some other diagnosis? If the nerves are waking up, do I have this pain forever? It could also be osteoarthritis which I have, but it’s only on right side. Any thoughts from the hip replacement People?

Jump to this post

It’s not an exact science but when I worked in EMG and nerve conduction in the 70’s -80’s, when a nerve was damaged but not severed,
My observation was that the nerve recovered - if it did recover - at the rate of about half an inch to an inch a month from proximal point to distal point. So in your case, is the point of injury at the surgical site about 9 inches from the point where you are getting new nerve sensations?

Again I have no idea if that makes a lick of scientific sense. Just an observation based on what I saw in patients with peripheral nerve injury.

You could talk with your doc about gabapentin which is specifically for nerve pain and see if that helps.

REPLY
2 replies
Mentor
Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Mar 7 9:35am
In reply to @pb50 "It’s not an exact science but when I worked in EMG and nerve conduction in the..." + (show)
@pb50

It’s not an exact science but when I worked in EMG and nerve conduction in the 70’s -80’s, when a nerve was damaged but not severed,
My observation was that the nerve recovered - if it did recover - at the rate of about half an inch to an inch a month from proximal point to distal point. So in your case, is the point of injury at the surgical site about 9 inches from the point where you are getting new nerve sensations?

Again I have no idea if that makes a lick of scientific sense. Just an observation based on what I saw in patients with peripheral nerve injury.

You could talk with your doc about gabapentin which is specifically for nerve pain and see if that helps.

Jump to this post

You are exactly right about nerve regeneration - when a nerve to my foot was damaged in knee surgery, it took 2 1/2 years to heal. When the nerve in my thigh was damaged by hip surgery, it took 2 years, and left one numb patch that still exists after 12 years.
Sue

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1 reply
pb50 | @pb50 | Mar 7 10:29am
In reply to @sueinmn "You are exactly right about nerve regeneration - when a nerve to my foot was damaged..." + (show)
@sueinmn

You are exactly right about nerve regeneration - when a nerve to my foot was damaged in knee surgery, it took 2 1/2 years to heal. When the nerve in my thigh was damaged by hip surgery, it took 2 years, and left one numb patch that still exists after 12 years.
Sue

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Well that’s great to know .. I always believed it to be true but never followed a specific patient long enough to confirm. People move or change docs or give up so it just didn’t work out.

Curious - were your impacted nerves only sensory or did you have motor loss as well?

REPLY
1 reply
Moderator
Justin McClanahan, Moderator | @JustinMcClanahan | Mar 7 11:42am
In reply to @susanfalcon52 "I had a right hip replacement 8-9 months ago. Went fine, no problems. Until now. I..." + (show)
@susanfalcon52

I had a right hip replacement 8-9 months ago. Went fine, no problems. Until now. I had significant pain in right thigh - which has been mostly numb since thr. I don’t know whether the nerves are waking up and now I have pain or if it’s some other diagnosis? If the nerves are waking up, do I have this pain forever? It could also be osteoarthritis which I have, but it’s only on right side. Any thoughts from the hip replacement People?

Jump to this post

Hello @susanfalcon52 - I moved your discussion and combined it with @juliepoolie71's conversation on upper thigh pain after hip replacement, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/upper-thigh-pain-4-months-after-hip-replacement/.

REPLY
Mentor
Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Mar 7 11:50am
In reply to @pb50 "Well that’s great to know .. I always believed it to be true but never followed..." + (show)
@pb50

Well that’s great to know .. I always believed it to be true but never followed a specific patient long enough to confirm. People move or change docs or give up so it just didn’t work out.

Curious - were your impacted nerves only sensory or did you have motor loss as well?

Jump to this post

With the knee, I had motor loss - almost, but not quite, a drop-foot. Without the nerve feedback, I also had no clue where the foot was, so any uneven terrain - even my yard, was scary. This eventually resolved.
With the hip/thigh there was no motor loss. The most mystifying thing is that the numb area occasionally becomes quite painful to touch - whenever I have an inflammatory flare anywhere in my body.
Sue

REPLY
2 replies
pb50 | @pb50 | Mar 7 11:58am
In reply to @sueinmn "With the knee, I had motor loss - almost, but not quite, a drop-foot. Without the..." + (show)
@sueinmn

With the knee, I had motor loss - almost, but not quite, a drop-foot. Without the nerve feedback, I also had no clue where the foot was, so any uneven terrain - even my yard, was scary. This eventually resolved.
With the hip/thigh there was no motor loss. The most mystifying thing is that the numb area occasionally becomes quite painful to touch - whenever I have an inflammatory flare anywhere in my body.
Sue

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Yea foot drop is tough. I know you’re careful not to fall. But many patients injure themselves from the falls it predisposes you to.

That is interesting about your sensory deficit becoming more sensitive when any other body area is in flare … really interesting.

REPLY
juliepoolie71 | @juliepoolie71 | Mar 7 12:59pm
In reply to @pb50 "It’s not an exact science but when I worked in EMG and nerve conduction in the..." + (show)
@pb50

It’s not an exact science but when I worked in EMG and nerve conduction in the 70’s -80’s, when a nerve was damaged but not severed,
My observation was that the nerve recovered - if it did recover - at the rate of about half an inch to an inch a month from proximal point to distal point. So in your case, is the point of injury at the surgical site about 9 inches from the point where you are getting new nerve sensations?

Again I have no idea if that makes a lick of scientific sense. Just an observation based on what I saw in patients with peripheral nerve injury.

You could talk with your doc about gabapentin which is specifically for nerve pain and see if that helps.

Jump to this post

All the pain is in my groin. I’d say it’s about 4” from the top of the incision They tried gabapentin and it didn’t help at all, all it did was make me angry.

REPLY
1 reply
pb50 | @pb50 | Mar 7 1:51pm
In reply to @juliepoolie71 "All the pain is in my groin. I’d say it’s about 4” from the top of..." + (show)
@juliepoolie71

All the pain is in my groin. I’d say it’s about 4” from the top of the incision They tried gabapentin and it didn’t help at all, all it did was make me angry.

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Yea I couldn’t take it - gave me psycho dreams . I replied earlier but I must not have saved it. I wonder if those back Pain patches at pharmacy might help? Like Salon Pas? I guess you’ve tried ice - or heat.
I hope
It
Improves!

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