Walking without a hip joint

Posted by dzoneill @dzoneill, Mar 10, 2017

Is anyone currently walking without a hip joint?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Bones, Joints & Muscles Support Group.

I am 76 and have congenital, bilateral hip dysplasia. I have no hip joint. The acetabulum is shallow and the head of the femurs are embedded in the hip muscles. But, I am doing great! I have never had surgery. I participate in aqua aerobics 4 times a week for an hour at a time. Thank you, Lord.

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@sandylsd

I am 76 and have congenital, bilateral hip dysplasia. I have no hip joint. The acetabulum is shallow and the head of the femurs are embedded in the hip muscles. But, I am doing great! I have never had surgery. I participate in aqua aerobics 4 times a week for an hour at a time. Thank you, Lord.

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Sandy,Marield65 here. God bless you. You have the attitude i am looking for. Marie

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Marield65, my personal belief is that it is all a matter of attitude and perseverence. I am active in my church, am a published poet, have naturally birthed two (now adult) children, and exercise with water aerobics four days a week for an hour at a time. I am blessed.

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I had bilateral hips replaced in 2013. I have MS and have had a lot of IV steroids. Consequently I developed AVascular Necrosis in both hips.
In Feb 2016 my rt hip began to be very painful to walk on. After 4 months they discovered I had a prosthetic joint infection and over 45,000 WBC in the fluid around my hip. The infection was a progeria bacteria (?).
Anyway my hip was removed in Feb 2017 and I have been without a hip ever since. I had 12 weeks of IV antibiotics and am using 30% weightbearing on walker and a wheelchair.
My infectious disease doc wants me to wait a whole year before they put the new hip back in because of the amount of infection they found when removing the replacement. I also lost muscle, tissue and bone during the surgery because of necrosis.
My muscles have atrophied so much and I can no longer lift my leg when sitting or lying down.
I am really worried about being able to walk again as well as getting another infection.
My family is amazed that I can walk with only an antibiotic spacer.
What are the chances of reinfection? How much function will I get once I finally get a new hip in 2018.
My CRP levels were never elevated until after the surgery although my sed rate was high (which is what led my doc to think I had a PJI).
I will be getting anothe fluid aspiration in Jan or Feb 2018. Until then...I wait and I pray!

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I am currently without my right hip because of infections in my hip replacements. I had both hips replaced my left in 2012 and my right in 2015 I unfortunately got infections after both hip replacements and have been in server pain since .My new consultant told me I needed a revision of both hips,so in early June I had the first stage revision of my hip done,one week later they felt it safe to put my hip back in when they did I got another infection in my hip. I had two washouts in a week followed by a 3 week course of iv antibiotics,two days after stopping the antibiotics my hip flared up again so my consultant took me back to surgery an removed all of the hip implants ,then started another 6 weeks of iv antibiotics.I have now been home for the past 10 days without a hip joint the day time is pritty much pain free but in bed at night is quite painfull,I have an appointment in mid October to see if my infection has cleared up and if it has they will make an other appointment for me to have my new hip joint put back in this will be the 3rd replacement on my right side.my hopes are that it will not get infected again and my recoveary will go well,when it is strong enough my left hip has to be revised.I am 44 years of age with 3 small kids and my hips problems have taken over my life in the past few years I have not worked in 5 years or even driven a car in the past 7 years,my original problem was I had AVN of both hips but my constant recurring infections have realy complated things.Any advice or peoplewith similar hip problems their advice would be appropriated.

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@hip2012

I am currently without my right hip because of infections in my hip replacements. I had both hips replaced my left in 2012 and my right in 2015 I unfortunately got infections after both hip replacements and have been in server pain since .My new consultant told me I needed a revision of both hips,so in early June I had the first stage revision of my hip done,one week later they felt it safe to put my hip back in when they did I got another infection in my hip. I had two washouts in a week followed by a 3 week course of iv antibiotics,two days after stopping the antibiotics my hip flared up again so my consultant took me back to surgery an removed all of the hip implants ,then started another 6 weeks of iv antibiotics.I have now been home for the past 10 days without a hip joint the day time is pritty much pain free but in bed at night is quite painfull,I have an appointment in mid October to see if my infection has cleared up and if it has they will make an other appointment for me to have my new hip joint put back in this will be the 3rd replacement on my right side.my hopes are that it will not get infected again and my recoveary will go well,when it is strong enough my left hip has to be revised.I am 44 years of age with 3 small kids and my hips problems have taken over my life in the past few years I have not worked in 5 years or even driven a car in the past 7 years,my original problem was I had AVN of both hips but my constant recurring infections have realy complated things.Any advice or peoplewith similar hip problems their advice would be appropriated.

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@hip2012, thank you for finding the discussion on walking without a hip joint and sharing your story. Also, welcome to Connect! It sounds like you have had quite the frustrating journey in recent years, I hope that this most recent battle with infections goes more smoothly and you can get your hip back in.

I would like to invite back @dzoneill back to this discussion as the original poster looking to also Connect with someone who does not have a hip joint. Dzoneill may have some advice on how to deal without having a hip joint.

@hip2012, you mentioned your original problem was AVN, if you are comfortable, would you mind sharing what that is and a bit more about that?

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@JustinMcClanahan

Hello @dzoneill, and welcome to Connect.

Would you mind telling us a bit more about your question? We have a lot of members who have discussed having hip issues or replacements, but I have not come across the question regarding lack of a hip joint. Is this from an injury, surgery, or other medical issue?

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Yes I don't have a spacers or hip either. And still have the infection. I think it it's staff what antibiotics work for you. I had 14 surgery a,nd my last one was called girelstone procedure. I have. 7 pic lines. I am walking on crutches.

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I had a total hip replacement 12 years ago after 5 years it got infected.I had 2 surgery trying to clean it but had to get it taken out. Had 7 spacers put in and 7 pic lines 14 surgery in 3 years altogether and around 7 different antibiotics.The infection is still there it comes out like a faucet threw a little hole in my hip. Fan you tell me what antibiotics work for you?They have mention amputation once or twice but I won't do it.I am walking on crutches and my leg feels like it is getting stonger just need the infection to go away.

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@kenman

I had a total hip replacement 12 years ago after 5 years it got infected.I had 2 surgery trying to clean it but had to get it taken out. Had 7 spacers put in and 7 pic lines 14 surgery in 3 years altogether and around 7 different antibiotics.The infection is still there it comes out like a faucet threw a little hole in my hip. Fan you tell me what antibiotics work for you?They have mention amputation once or twice but I won't do it.I am walking on crutches and my leg feels like it is getting stonger just need the infection to go away.

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Wow! You have been through a lot. I've had 4 surgeries in the past year. A few PICC lines. One spacer. One of the surgeries was to remove pelvic and femur bones because my doctor thought the infection was in the bone, which is why it came back. Anyway, the antibiotics I used were vancomycin (IV) until I had a severe allergic reaction, then they switched me to daptomycin (also IV). After a few weeks of that I switched to oral doxycycline which I am to take forever. Suppression therapy they call it. It took about 5 months after the last surgery for the hip wound to heal and stop draining. After the 3rd surgery they used a wound vac to help it heal, but I don't think it really did that much after a certain point. Probably because there was still infection. I hope you get some resolution to the infection.

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@kenman

I had a total hip replacement 12 years ago after 5 years it got infected.I had 2 surgery trying to clean it but had to get it taken out. Had 7 spacers put in and 7 pic lines 14 surgery in 3 years altogether and around 7 different antibiotics.The infection is still there it comes out like a faucet threw a little hole in my hip. Fan you tell me what antibiotics work for you?They have mention amputation once or twice but I won't do it.I am walking on crutches and my leg feels like it is getting stonger just need the infection to go away.

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PS. They've mentioned amputation to me as well, but not because of infection, because of a damaged femoral artery. Not fun to think about that. 🙁

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