Day 24 post hip replacement

lynnyh

I was doing so well. Walking every day and had got up to 3000 steps on Sunday. I saw physio last Friday who was pleased but suggested a few alternative exercises, mainly involving trying to even the weight across my pelvis so as to avoid the ‘wonky walk’. The past 3 days I’ve been so much more sore. I spoke to physio on the phone yesterday (not the one I saw) and she thought perhaps it’s the muscles tendons etc complaining, as I was very disabled in the last few months pending surgery, and was unable to exercise. I’m sure she’s right of course but I’m so low today after all the post surgery euphoria and so frightened this hasn’t worked. She was very clear that dislocation is highly unusual these days and that I’d know all about that….. had a few pity party tears this morning and gone back to doing slightly less demanding exercises just to keep moving. Posting in here for some reassurance I think…… have read a few post hip surgery diary posts on here and everyone seems to make daily progress. I feel I’ve gone backwards over past few days and it’s thrown me. Thanks for reading.

swimmer60

@lynnyh

My other hip is grumbling today. I know it'll need doing sometime, but NOT YET. I'm only 14 weeks into recovery from the first hip op.

It is indeed so frustrating and depressing.

lynnyh

Hope the grumbling stops soon….. just chatted with someone who is on the same trajectory as me and she’s having the same (and also had this with her first hip replacement)so suspect it’s the soft tissues complaining.

Nurina

Hi @lynnyh I'm.on my 27th day after the replacement. I was exactly like you a week ago after starting new exercises with my physio. He said I have the Trendelenburg gait because I've been limping for too long and my hip abductor muscles are very weak. He taught me some exercises to force my body to lean to the new hip and make the brain to understand I don't need to limp anymore. He gave me some resistance bands to do the butterfly with my legs. The exercises were very hard. My bum was literally on fire. The day after, I could barely move. The ghost of the past pain came back to me. Limping again with back and groin pain. It was very frustrating and I cried too. But it wasn't like that! A couple of days resting and now I feel fantastic. It was just muscle pain, like the one you have when you go to the gym for the first time. The pain is gone now and I'm happy again. My gait is dissappearing so it's working. Just listen to your body and if you feel you are overdoing, just stop.

lynnyh

Thankyou for taking the time to reply. I’m so pleased that your pain has eased……. Like you I’ve been crying a bit as so scared to go backwards. It’s quite a journey isn’t it? I thought recovery would be a nice upwards/forwards trajectory but I’m now coming to the conclusion it’s more of a roller coaster ride ! I’ve got the wonky walk with the dodgy abductors too….. my physio didn’t give me exercises for it yet but seeing her again next week. She just encouraged me to try and put equal weight through my pelvis and to practice standing up from sitting with no support. It seems to have triggered something. Wishing us both a good few days.

Lilymary

@Nurina , I had the trendelenburg gait too. It was about a year before I lost all final traces of it. I suspect they see more of this now that the waiting lists are so long - it used to be fairly unusual.

@lynnyh You will have down days from time to time. The surgery and recovery takes a lot out of you physically, and it's quite natural to feel a bit overwhelmed sometimes. It certainly had that effect on me. But just take it steady, you'll get there. Gentle exercises will help the soft tissues recover and restore muscle strength, and that will make the hip implant feel more stable. I'm afraid it can be painful at times, but

I'm 3 years post op and had some unusual complications the hip surgeons still haven't got to the bottom of, but it's meant my muscles haven't fully recovered. My wonky walk has gone, but the weakness leaves me with balance issues so I have to take it a bit carefully. When I do work it (eg yoga/pilates) they're very quick to complain, but I take it as an indication of which muscles need developing, and focus on those.

Keep going through your exercise sheet, a couple of times a day. You will start to get stronger, don't worry. Meanwhile a little weep is entirely permissible when the mood takes you, hip replacement isn't a walk in the park (no pun intended!).

Nurina

@Lilymary Yes, many of us are really bad at the time we have the surgery. I hope you feel fine now. Your diary was the first I've read here and it has helped me a lot.

@lynnyh I know how you feel. You are not alone. You can see the promised end of the tunnel but it looks like you will never arrive. I compare the fear of the past pain to a Harry Potter Dementor, always flying above me. I had a mini panic attack in my last visit to the physio. I said I didn't want my pain to come back and I felt really traumatised by it. He said that is 100% impossible because they've cut my pain and threw it away in the bin. That made me smile. The pain we suffer now is a "good pain" from muscles, ligaments, nerves that are shouting at us because they become lazy for a long time. Just keep going at your own pace and you'll be fine. Trust your physio. They will watch you when you walk and they will give you the exercises you need to recover. As @Janlyn says , if the exercise is easy, it's not doing anything for your recovery. Take care x

Janlyn

@lynnyh I hope everyone's replies here have been helpful to you and I understand how you feel. I think it is a bit of a rollercoaster we are all on. At just over two weeks my physio told me that I had made good progress but over the next few weeks it would slow down and he found most people started to feel a bit frustrated and fed-up.

My own experiences have been that in the early stages some exercises were difficult if not impossible, but my physio did indeed say that these were the ones that would help most and I have to say that looking back he was right. But I did have soreness and discomfort at times. It took me a while to realise it was my muscles rather than my wound that was sore. I think it's only looking back we can see how far we've come. And now I find that any soreness soon eases with a sit down for a few minutes.

Are you still using sticks/crutches? It was only when I stopped at around three to four weeks that I made leaps forward in both standing up straighter and in strength. I was amazed to find I could put my weight on my operated leg whilst climbing into the bath for a shower. I think it has been the 'getting back to normal' ways of doing things that has built strength too, such as going up and down stairs normally.

@Lilymary it's good to see you here and I want to thank you for your diary. I read it through twice once my surgery had been planned and I found it really useful to know what might be ahead. Until then I had only heard friends/acquaintances telling me about someone they knew who had no problems and it was all a doddle. I did prefer to know what it was really like.

Take care all, x

lynnyh

Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts and words of encouragement. I’m going to take each day as it comes. I really value this space to share, as only you know what this is like.

Janlyn

@lynnyh Sounds like a good plan, a day at a time, or even an hour at a time, is enough to concentrate on. Soon you'll most likely be looking back and realising how far you've come.

Take care, x

swimmer60

Have realised "grumbling" hip is nothing of the kind and more likely I've pulled a muscle somehow, possibly at the gym! 😕 Better today 🤞

That's the trouble isn't it, every new ache and pain is met with, "not the other one!" 🙄

Have a good weekend everyone.

lynnyh

Thanks all. Wishing everyone a lovely weekend.