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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@susanfalcon52

juliepoolie,
I have found that the over the counter patches don’t work well. I got my doctor to write me a script for 5% lidocaine patches which work great.

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Great to know!

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Well I have a crazy update. I ended up at another orthopedic doctors office in their urgent care because the pain got so bad and my surgeon won't do anything. The PA on call told me that he would present my case and everything I brought in with me to an Orthopedic surgeon they have there that's supposed to be very good. They also informed me that my surgeon use to practice there, and the way they said it was kinda weird, you could either take it as a good thing I was there or a bad thing. I didn't hear anything until Monday, when the office called and said that the surgeon wanted to see me asap and his next open appointment was a week from tomorrow, Friday. I took it and will keep it no matter if workers comp pays or not, we will pay out of pocket and deal with them later. She made it sound like he was very concerned since there was a fracture during surgery, they haven't done any imaging for 4 months to make sure it healed properly since they didn't plate it, and I shouldn't still have the same pain as I did the day after surgery 4 and a 1/2 months later. So fingers crossed this guy gets down to the bottom of it and becomes my new doctor! They said this just doesn't happen, they usually don't take on a post op case especially when you are still in post op stage, they also usually don't take on a case where the surgeon practiced in the same office and is now just down the road, surgeons usually stick together. So maybe, just maybe, this was the miracle I needed!

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Way to grab the lightening bolt. This has to be good. Just stay on top of your insurance approvals…
Ins company may want to steer you back to original doc. Tell them he is unresponsive and uninterested , forcing you seek care elsewhere.

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@pb50

Way to grab the lightening bolt. This has to be good. Just stay on top of your insurance approvals…
Ins company may want to steer you back to original doc. Tell them he is unresponsive and uninterested , forcing you seek care elsewhere.

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I sent workers comp an email today that the surgeons office still won’t respond to me and it’s been 2 weeks since I had blood tests for an infection and they still won’t let me know how they came out.
I think the minute I found out they broke the femur in surgery a month after surgery they pretty much have been done with me, I don’t think I was supposed to find out about that. Ever since I’m swept under the rug by them.

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@juliepoolie71

I sent workers comp an email today that the surgeons office still won’t respond to me and it’s been 2 weeks since I had blood tests for an infection and they still won’t let me know how they came out.
I think the minute I found out they broke the femur in surgery a month after surgery they pretty much have been done with me, I don’t think I was supposed to find out about that. Ever since I’m swept under the rug by them.

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Wow. So make sure insurance knows you don’t want to see them again.
How did you break it?

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@pb50

Wow. So make sure insurance knows you don’t want to see them again.
How did you break it?

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The surgeon broke it when he was putting in the replacement. Then he didn't put it in his surgical notes and also didn't tell us. We found out a month later when I was having a lot of issues and went to the ER, they did a CT scan and found it. That week after the PA at the surgeons office fessed up that they broke the femur in surgery but it's "no big deal" they didn't plate it or anything, just left it broken and put the replacement in.

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I, too, suffered an intraoperative femur fracture during my left THA on 3/2/22. The surgeon used a cerclage wire to secure my femur which caused me many issues (I believe it was the nickel used in the material). I've since had the wire removed by a new orthopedic. That was 10 months ago and although I still suffer with allergic symptoms (strange taste, blurred vision, foggy head, fatigue), the thigh pain has subsided. I believe my body is not happy at all with the implant. Not sure if this helps but I was interested in your story since I had yet to find anyone who experienced a femur fracture (I was told it's pretty rare -- maybe 5%?). My active life has since been severely altered (not to mention income loss and OOP expenses) and I wish I never opted for THA. The arthritis would have been much easier to deal with than this. I will not let anyone touch my arthritic right hip at this point.

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@sgresham

I, too, suffered an intraoperative femur fracture during my left THA on 3/2/22. The surgeon used a cerclage wire to secure my femur which caused me many issues (I believe it was the nickel used in the material). I've since had the wire removed by a new orthopedic. That was 10 months ago and although I still suffer with allergic symptoms (strange taste, blurred vision, foggy head, fatigue), the thigh pain has subsided. I believe my body is not happy at all with the implant. Not sure if this helps but I was interested in your story since I had yet to find anyone who experienced a femur fracture (I was told it's pretty rare -- maybe 5%?). My active life has since been severely altered (not to mention income loss and OOP expenses) and I wish I never opted for THA. The arthritis would have been much easier to deal with than this. I will not let anyone touch my arthritic right hip at this point.

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Was your pain in your upper thigh in the front? The fracture for me is up high and in the back but my PT’s have told me the IT band is right there and so is the hamstring and other major muscle groups.
They didn’t fix the fracture at all, when I had the ct scan in the er a month after they kept asking me if I fell, like it was a new break.
I wish I could have opted out of the replacement, I’m 52 and I had a really bad accident at work, my hip took the impact and it was so badly damage it was the only option to replace it

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@juliepoolie71

Was your pain in your upper thigh in the front? The fracture for me is up high and in the back but my PT’s have told me the IT band is right there and so is the hamstring and other major muscle groups.
They didn’t fix the fracture at all, when I had the ct scan in the er a month after they kept asking me if I fell, like it was a new break.
I wish I could have opted out of the replacement, I’m 52 and I had a really bad accident at work, my hip took the impact and it was so badly damage it was the only option to replace it

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Yes, the pain was in the front upper thigh -- I could not raise my leg. Had many diagnostics including Ultrasound, Xray, then MRI that showed fluid which was aspirated and found to be non-infectious. Had muscle (PT) and nerve procedures (including painful test for nerve ablation and needling) to no relief. I went to Duke Medical Center and they couldn't diagnose anything except possibly the wire being the culprit. I was 63 at the time of my hip replacement and feel it hindered rather than helped my existence to date. I've always been sensitive to surgical procedures and have experienced some mishaps (infection) through the years. Keep with your journey for answers

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@sgresham

Yes, the pain was in the front upper thigh -- I could not raise my leg. Had many diagnostics including Ultrasound, Xray, then MRI that showed fluid which was aspirated and found to be non-infectious. Had muscle (PT) and nerve procedures (including painful test for nerve ablation and needling) to no relief. I went to Duke Medical Center and they couldn't diagnose anything except possibly the wire being the culprit. I was 63 at the time of my hip replacement and feel it hindered rather than helped my existence to date. I've always been sensitive to surgical procedures and have experienced some mishaps (infection) through the years. Keep with your journey for answers

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Thank you so much for the info! It’s making me feel so much better and helping me to see when this surgeons PA keeps telling me it’s in my head it really isn’t. Sometimes you start thinking that way. It will be interesting to see what the new surgeon says. I’m willing to bet that fracture didn’t heal like it should have, they didn’t fix it at all when they didn’t, they said calcium would take care of it. I also can’t lift my leg, I can get it maybe 1” off the ground and forget about getting in the car, or sleeping in bed through the night without a lot of pain waking me up.
I’m so grateful you posted!

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