New to the forum, advice on hip problems

Twiglet21
Twiglet21 Member Posts: 2
edited 28. Nov 2023, 14:05 in Living with arthritis

Hi everyone,

i am new to your forum and wanted to say hello. I am male, 57 years old and live in London. For the past year I’ve been having lots of pain and stiffness in my left hip. I initially saw an osteopath, then GP who referred me to NHS physiotherapy. I had 2 sessions with them and the Covid19 lockdown kicked in. I was sent home with exercises and hoped things would get better but they did not. So I had an MRI done privately which shows early osteoarthritis in both hips but worse in the left. It was also suggested I might have avascular necrosis. Am waiting now for NHS orthopaedic referral appointment. I am pretty active doing dog walks 2-3 times per day and golf 1-2 times per week. What should I expect as the osteoarthritis gets worse and how long might that take? What self help helps? Any advice appreciated.

Comments

  • Ellen
    Ellen Moderator Posts: 1,591

    Hi @Twiglet21

    Welcome to the Versus Arthritis Online Community.

    COVID-19 has caused so many delays for people so can understand you having a private MRI to get the diagnosis of Osteoarthritis in both hips. Interesting that Avascular Necrosis has been mentioned too. Do you know this is also known as Osteonecrosis?

    I hope your NHS Orthopaedic appointment comes through fairly quickly for you so that you know what your treatment plan will be.

    You ask what you should expect as your Arthritis gets worse. That is an interesting question and one which varies widely so not easy to answer. I am attaching some information about Osteoarthritis of the hip for you to read if you haven't already:


    Keeping active as you are is something you can do to help yourself so I am pleased to read that you walk several times a day as well as playing golf.

    You might find this of use on the subject of exercise:


    I will leave our members to say hello now.

    Best wishes

    Ellen

  • kpdalston
    kpdalston Member Posts: 6

    Hello

    I have just joined and am in a similar position, having had an MRI scan and waiting for an orthopaedic appointment. It has all taken a bit of a different turn as I need to have other surgery to remove a cyst. I am trying to find out roughly what waiting times are in London for hip replacements to help decide what to do next.

    best wishes

    Kathryn

  • Ellen
    Ellen Moderator Posts: 1,591

    Hello @kpdalston - Kathryn

    Welcome to the Online Community. I'm sure you will find it really useful 🙂

    I see you are also on 'the list' waiting for an orthopaedic appointment for your hip. Extra frustrating at the moment with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting appointments and elective surgeries across the Nation.

    Hopefully your appointment for your cyst will not be delayed as much.

    If you know where you have been referred to (who) some of our members contact the secretary to get an indication of timescale. I don't know whether you would feel happy to try that?

    I won't repeat myself by posting the links I posted to @Twiglet21 - I'm sure you will have already looked at them if they were useful to you - I'll leave our members to share their experience.

    Best wishes

    Ellen

  • frogmorton
    frogmorton Member Posts: 29,332

    Hi @kpdalston

    Good to meet you🙂

    Many of us also offer to go on the cancellation list too which means we get appointments when someone can't go at short notice. Only works if you have a good boss or aren't working of course.

    Hope the cyst is removed ASAP

    Take care

  • PELC51
    PELC51 Member Posts: 1

    Hi

    I am a 69 year old male and had my right hip replaced about 10 years ago and have had no problems at all with it.

    Now my left hip is getting worse, stiff and painful although bearable for the time being I expect it to get worse as time goes by, my concern is how long am i likely to wait before I can get a replacement and back to near normal for a few years.

    Secondly am concerned about the level of exercise without doing more damage to what ever cartilage is left on my hip joint, am I doing more harm than good by continuing to use the joint, i try to walk for one hour every day.

  • Lilymary
    Lilymary Member Posts: 1,740

    Hi, I feel the same as @177Welhamroad (welcome by the way - I'm assuming you're not using your address as your user name?!). I'm waiting for hip replacement as the best I can manage now is a half hour slow shuffle, I'm 61, self employed and was until recently a regular fell walker, so should have reasonably good muscle tone anyway. I can't even manage a stroll round a field now, and it's been like that since March. Running is physically impossible - it sends instant shooting pains up my hip.

    It took me 8 months just to get my first Ortho consultation (thank you covid). I'm still not confident that my consultant will offer me a new hip yet, he seems deluded about my age and has never asked me how it affects my life. We tried a steroid injection last month but I got zero benefit from it. I'll find out next week what he's willing to offer. I'm not looking forward to having my old hip dislocated, cut off, removed and replaced with a new one, but the alternative is far worse, if that sets the measure of how I feel about it.

    As others have said, offering to go on the cancellation list is a good plan. It worked for my steroid injection so I may suggest it again, although tbh I could do with a bit of warning so I can put work and family in a holding position for 6 weeks.

    Meanwhile exercise is out of the question - walking is near impossible and all the stretching and strengthening exercises we're supposed to do just inflame my hip like mad to the point that I need a stick to get round the house, not just outside!

  • Brynmor
    Brynmor Member Posts: 1,755

    Hi @177Welhamroad welcome to the Online Community

    As you know having had one, a replacement hip operation is a real benefit. My brother managed to have both of his replaced within a few months of each operation and has now forgotten what it felt like before that. He too is a walker.

    The best advice that doctors would give is to keep up with the muscle strengthening exercises in preparation. This is of little comfort as you continue to wait. Our web site has some suggestions on managing hip pain and perhaps try some of the gentler, chair-based exercises to see if that helps:

    Do keep asking questions about when you can have your operation!

    Join in across the Community, give advice and support to others and also let us know how you get on.

    All best wishes

    Brynmor