Hip Pain

Lotsofpain

I saw a consultant at the start of March with a view to having a 2nd hip replacement or back surgery or both. He referred me for an MRI and some tests prior to seeing him again. Those never happened due to covid 19 and its not clear if or when they will take place. In the mean time the level of stiffness in my back when I move  worsens day by day. I am terribly immobile now  I am looking for some way of supporting the top of thigh groin and hip to limit pain when I move either a brace or a bandage that really works. I am not keen on high dosage painkillers as they affect my colon the ones with  codine make you very constipated

 Does anyone know what will work

Lilymary

Have you tried the exercises suggested on this site? Gentle stretching and muscle strengthening will help ease off inflamed or stiffened muscles and tendons. Just do what you can depending on how you feel on the day.

You might also consider self-referring to a physio, mine costs around £40 per session, and well worth it. She offers massage, shortwave treatment, does a general assessment and can suggest an exercise regime that will help your specific condition.

i do sympathise though, I’m waiting for a new hip too, and having a bad day after doing too much this week, and it’s all I can do to get up the stairs. The last thing I fell like doing is exercise, but I know it will help if I do some, even if just a bit of gentle stretching.

Lotsofpain

Thanks lily you may well be right but last time I saw physio well an osteopath she said I am probably beyond exercise making much different as there is almost no movement in my hip and I suspect the muscles are trying to cope with that I'm hoping for that will support my muscles which might just just reduce the pain enough off to allow me to move a bit like you stairs are very difficult

frogmorton

Hi Lotsofpain.

First of all I would definitely be chasing my appointments up now surely you can have your MRI now.

I know what you mean about codeine , but find a small glass of prune juice usually keeps things 'moving' for me. If you face pain for a while yet it's important for you to get it under some sort of control. and a warm wheatbag is always a help for me.

Have you read this ever?

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/osteoarthritis/treatment/

One of the things it suggests it walking aids - you may have used a walking stick for your first hip? If you aren't already maybe you can try it now?

Take care

Lilymary

I sympathise with the constipation thing, sometimes it makes sitting on the loo an aerobic exercise! 😖😂 but I’d rather be pain free and as mobile as possible, so I use good old sennakot (to get things moving) and movicol (to keep things soft so you don’t feel like you’re passing concrete blocks) and live yoghurts (to reboot my gut). Sorry if that’s a bit graphic, but we might as well be straight about it. It sounds drastic, and it was a bit trial and error to start with, but I’ve got the hang of it now and only need to resort to these every week or so. But it really is worth it to be able to control the pain, and tbh I think my gut has adapted as I need these kick starts much less frequently.

And I hate to say it, but I think your osteo was pretty unhelpful about exercise, yes, it won’t undo the damage to your joints, but it will help your muscles to build up and compensate. And having well toned muscles will really aid your recovery from surgery.

Re sticks, much as I hate it I've had to knuckle down to using one. I forgot to take it when I went out yesterday (I wrongly thought it was in the car), so I had to manage without, just going round a few supermarkets and walking to and from the car, and it was a real struggle, and I’ve been paying for it ever since. I use one of my walking poles, kidding myself it’s not really a walking stick. That’s nonsense of course, but it makes me feel better - it has been with me to far more interesting places than the supermarket car park.