This is my first post- I found this site while looking for information on pain I have been experiencing for the past week or so, one year post op. I had a BHR last August 14th and a spectacular recovery. Before surgery, I was in pretty bad shape. A very active 55 year lod woman, I could no longer sleep through the night in ANY position, limped very badly, was in constant pain and took Clebrex, Athrotec and Hydroco daily.  At six months I returned to skiing (expert level) and two weeks ago returned from two months in Europe, walking miles every day and stair climbing everywhere. I am one of those who could say that I never even gave my resurfaced hip one thought after about 4 months- no pain whatsoever, no trouble doing anything. About two weeks ago, I began noticing clicking and clunking in my hip when bending, doing certain stretches, even transferring weight from leg to leg, and about 5 days ago began having intermittent burning pain in my thigh and buttock and tenderness on the outside of my hip ("sidesaddle" part of my thigh) around the incision line. I think it might be bursitis, but I am worried it could be something more serious. I am going to my ortho on Wednesday for my one year evaluation. The complicating factor is that I am leaving in two weeks for a year long Fulbright in Poland. It never even occurred to me that I might experience pain in my hip again, and this is so discouraging, because it reminds me of the pain I was havng all the time before my surgery. Any one else expereince something similar after being completely pain free for so long post op?
Jennifer

Jennifer,

If it were me, I would take some ibuprofen, ice the heck out of that area for the next few days, stay off of your feet and see how you feel later Tuesday.  See if that helps.


Chuck

Thanks, Chuck. I am siting here with frozen peas on my hip and keeping my fingers crossed!
Jennifer

How did it turn out?  I have had very little pain at all since the day of my surgery.  Then, all of a sudden at four months it started hurting.  It reminded me of the pain before surgery, though not as bad.  I too was paranoid.  Luckily, after sitting out a few days from the gym and other activities I feel a lot better.  I hope you had the same result.

Don't know if this will help. Like you, I had a good strong ski season (eight hours a day, seven days a week) starting at six months. In June, at about one year, I started having pains around the greater trochanter, that became fairly sharp, and even tender to the touch. The doctor thought that it was bursitis/tendonitis, and suggested easy repetitive exercises. Over the past few months, it has mostly gone away, though it has tried to return a couple of times, not as severe as the first episode. I have remained very active over the summer/fall, continuing to surf/windsurf four to six hours a day, in addition to gym time. I did read an interview with a resurfacing surgeon yesterday, in which he was debating the advantages and disadvantages of various surgical approaches; posterior, anterior, etc. He commented that trochanteric bursitis was a potential long term side effect of the posterior approach that most of us have had, something that I had not heard before. At least in my case, it does seem to come and go, and responds well to therapy and exercises.

I realize it has been weeks since my first post...In the meantime, I moved Poland for a year, and have been busy (and mostly pain free) for the past 6 weeks getting settled. Right before I left I saw my ortho and had xrays, and he said everything looked great in my joint but that I have bone spurs on each pelvic bone that were probably the cause of my pain, and that it was bursitis. I kept up the icing and he gave me Celebrex, which I don't have to take very often, and since I have been here I haven't had much bursitis pain.

However, recently I have experienced some moderate to severe groin pain on my resurfaced side. I remember my doctor asking me where my pain was and saying "It is not groin pain, is it?" So, now I am a little worried about that. What does it mean? I have been very active since moving here- walking miles each day, lots of stairs etc., so I don't know if that has aggravated something. Obviously, I am in a bit of a difficult situation if there is a problem, as I am nowhere near my surgeon (who is in California) and while Polish medicine seems to have a fine reputation, there is a pretty formidable language barrier when the discussion gets intricate! Ay advice from fellow groin pain sufferers???

Hi

You are closest to Dr. De Smet of Belgium.  He is one of the best hip resurfacing surgeons in the world and has done way over 3000 resurfacings.  If you have problems, you can email him and a copy of your x-rays in a digital format as a .jpg and he will give you an answer. He is very good about determining problems of hip resurfacing patients.  He was my surgeon and I would fly back to Belgium if I needed my second hip done or had problems. He does speak English and writes in English.

Dr. Koen De Smet
3200 Hip Resurfacings to date ***
ANCA Clinic
AMC-Gent
Krijgslaan 181
9000 Ghent
BELGIUM
Phone: +(1)32 9 2525903
Fax: +(1)32 9 2526457
+1 for USA & Canada:
E-mail: helpdesk@heup.be
ANCA Clinic Website

Pat

Hi jennnorton
Where in Poland are you? There’s an orthopedical private clinic in Warsaw, where they do BHR. The address is: http://www.carolina.pl/, e-mail: cmc@carolina.pl , Address: ul. Broniewskiego 89 - tram goes to ul. Galla Anonima (ul. = street). Telephone: (022) 550 22 00 from stationary phone, no 0 in front if you call from a mobile phone. They can be expensive (in polish relation). I don’t know if they speak English at the reception, but the doctors probably do.
I was there myself for a consultation some years ago, and telling the true, didn’t like it, so I’m not recommending the place, but in last resort you can contact them (Belgium is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar away from Poland!). If I were you, I would call your surgeon first. If you decide to contact them, don’t contact dr. Adamczyk, though he is the guru there (he was my bad experience). I understand that people doing BHR there are: Jacek M. Laskowski, Agata Miros, Karolina Barańska, Tomasz Wiliński. BHR in polish is called "kopoplastyka" = cup + plasticity (forming).
Good luck = powodzenia!

I am interested in hearing more about the trochanteric bursitis.  If anyone knows more about it or has a link to a good site, I would appreciate it.
My accupuncture/masseuse keeps telling me that my trocanter (spelling?) muscle is very tight and I have had sporadic moderate to severe pain in the front of my hip.  It was fine at my four month check up.  I need to call Dr. Ball since it is not stopping.