Walking after resurface/THR

speedalong

Hi,
I know everyone has very different experiences ... depending on type of resurface/replacement performed and state of hip before the op. But I'm so fed up of not being able to walk anywhere due to severe pain now. Especially now the evenings are so pleasant.

To give me an idea of best and worse case scenerio ...

Tell me what type of resurface/THR you had, how you walked in lead up to op and how slowly/quickly your walking improved ie at 2,4,6,8 weeks etc ... in terms of pain, distance, speed etc When was your walking as good as anyone elses??

Not asking for much info am I?

Speedalong

tanith

I had my THR 5yrs ago I was able to weightbear straight away and was up walking the next morning with crutches, started with physio straight away and was walking with two sticks and doing some excercises the next morning .
Before the op walking was agony although I still went into work on light duties up until the day of the op. The grinding pain was gone the first time I stood on my new hip and I only had minor discomfort from the surgery itself. I was home in 5days on one stick and climbing a flight of stairs the same day. I think it was a couple of days before I was walking up and down the garden and a week before I ventured further. I abandoned the stick at 2wks post op and was walking well enough at my six week checkup that the surgeon commented that if he didn't already know he would have trouble guessing which hip I'd had replaced as I had no limp.

I have been walking well for 5yrs but now am developing a limp on the other side as that hip will need replacing sometime soon.. I hope that helps...

harleyd14

crikey tanith, thats good going, well done...
well speedalong, prior to my 1st hip replacement i had a really bad limp and a lot of pain, had op and was even worse, took almost a year for them to listen and realise i wasnt putting it on, turned out i had an alergic reaction to the metal and also a very bad infection, both of which i carried for a year, then feb this year had my 2nd (same side) op, and 9 weeks on have only just plucked up the courage to come off both crutches and go onto a stick or hubbies arm !! i still get groin pain and have op leg longer by 2" to un-oped leg so i limp, get really bad back pain, due to the leg length difference, feel slightly more positive on this operation as the pain is a tadge less. hubby and i went shopping yesterday and when i got home i suffered and have done all day today too, so my walking still isnt that great - distance that is. hope this doesnt come accross as a moan...but it probably is on re-reading it !! Sally.x :?

speedalong

Wow Tanith - that was pretty amazing recovery, something to aspire to.

Harley - do you have orthotics for the leg length discrepency? I have one THR already and that leg is shorter than the one that now needs an op. I wear a raise in my shoe - but my discrepency is less than yours. Without it I limped more, even before my other hip had problems. I'm sure you are taking longer to recover as this is a revision of you first THR.

My last THR was cementless and bone grafted ... so I had weight bearing restrictions ... hence wanting to know more about walking after a straight forward replacement.

Speedalong

tanith

Thanks for that and I hope you have a good recovery too.. I think listening and following the Physios instructions and sticking to and following the excercise regime were what helped my recover, as hard as it was I did my excercises religously especially while lying on the bed being bored.. its getting the muscles working and strong again that helps to get you walking without the limp . I just kept telling myself that the pain is gone now I DON'T NEED TO LIMP... and it worked I just tried to walk normally every day.
Good luck