Heavy lifting and going back to work

[DPALMIERI]

Hello

Thank you very much for all the stories and advice that is posted on this web.  I had my resurfacing done on Dec. 17 and I viewed this site for approximately 2 months prior to that.  You all have been very important to my psychological wellbeing. 

I work for a food delivery company which requires me to lift many products (most weighing 30 plus ibs.) off the floor and onto a handcart.  I then wheel the cart into the customer's business.  On average I move about 12,000 lbs. a day doing this.  I am only 11 weeks post op and my doctor says I can go back to this activity at anytime.  I know I can't do it physically yet, but I read alot of literature saying 6 months to a year is more realistic.  Is my doc nuts?  Any comments would be appreciated.  Thanks!!

[Pat Walter]

Hi

Welcome to Hip Talk.  I am glad the website was useful to you.

How are you feeling now? Can you easily lift 30 pounds?  I would guess the only way you would know if you could return to work would be to try it if he/she thinkgs it's OK.

I would personally think it a bit soon to do that much lifting and work, but a lot probably depends on how you feel physically.  If it is something you were use to, maybe you will be able to go back to work.

Can you try some half days at work or find some way to see how you are going to do without committing to full time work again right away?

You might find you can actually do the work, but by the next day or so you will be so sore and tired you won't be able to do anything. 

I think only you and your body will know when it's ready to do a full days work day after day.

Again, some people ran marathons a few months after surgery, but they were use to that.

I hope you have a good relationship with your boss at work and maybe you can do some lighter work until you get back into the swing of things.

Pat

[Ronnie]

Hi
  I was operated on Dec. 5th.  I am back at the gym but just started working with weights today. I am going to the doctor next week and i will ask him about you'r situation also.Have you been doing any eliptical, bike or any work out at all?          Good luck
                              Ronnie

[DPALMIERI]

Thank you for the quick replies.  I still have pain in the muscles and tendons so I know I couldnt do it at this time.  Bye the way, I go to

PT 3 times a week.  What I am really worried about is the question of wether or not the implant has fused with the bone enough so that

loosening or, god forbid, the femur head fractures.  I usually have a 12 to 14 hour day doing this work and I'd hate for this thing to

crack.  Thanks again.


Darren

[Pat Walter]

Hi

You might want to read some of the doctor interviews I have posted.  Many of them discuss how long it takes for the bone to heal

http://www.surfacehippy.info/doctorinterviews/doctorinterviews.php

Dr. Clarke

2.) How long do you feel it takes for the bone to be fully healed, grow into the prosthesis? What is the recommended time you tell your patients before they can start to run again/do impact sports?
From clinical and laboratory research, it would seem that the acetabulum is generally adequately fixed from an ingrowth perspective at about 3 months for most patients, but this process evolves significantly more for 1 year and then more slowly (like all living bone) for the rest of the life of the patient.


Dr. Gross
How long do you feel it takes for the bone to be fully healed, grow into the prosthesis?

It is a gradual process that proceeds over 6-12 months. Dog studies have shown that the process has already begun by 6 weeks postop. At 6 months, I estimate that 90% of bone ingrowth has occurred. After 12 months bone remodeling around an implant porous surface should be back to the normal baseline with the implant well incorporated. Some impact early on will likely stimulate bone ingrowth, while too much may cause implant – bone micromotion and result in failure of ingrowth. How much then is too much?


From clinical and laboratory research, it would seem that the acetabulum is generally adequately fixed from an ingrowth perspective at about 3 months for most patients, but this process evolves significantly more for 1 year and then more slowly (like all living bone) for the rest of the life of the patient.

Dr. Jinna
How long do you feel it takes for the bone to be fully healed, grow into the prosthesis? What is the recommended time you tell your patients before they can start to run again/do impact sports?

Running and impact sports can start at about 6 mos.

Dr. Kelly
How long do you feel it takes for the bone to be fully healed, grow into the prosthesis? What is the recommended time you tell your patients before they can start to run again/do impact sports?

I feel that it takes on average 6 - 12 months for the bone to fully ingrow with the acetabular component. Many patients show radiographic evidence of ingrowth in the 3 month range but the majority take 6-12 months to show maximum ingrowth of bone. The amount of impact to which the prosthesis is subjected has some bearing on the rapidity of ingrowth also. I advise my patients not to run or engage in high impact for 6 months post-operatively. The femoral neck regains its strength at that point in time.

Mr. McMinn
Bone Recovery and Return To Sport

The evidence from a DEXA study on BHR patients published from Japan is that the bone density in the proximal femur returns to normal 1 year after operation. The at-risk period for femoral neck fracture following the BHR is in the 6 months after surgery. I advise patients not to return to impact sport for 1 year after surgery. For those patients who want to road run, I get them running on a treadmill at 10 months post-op and they resume road running at 12 months post-op. My unit published on activity level after resurfacing some years ago in a group of patients who followed those rules. In young men with a single osteoarthritic hip resurfaced, 92 % played sport and 62 % played impact sport. The ladies were not quite as active, but you can see from the publication that they still had an impressive activity level. In the total group their 10 year implant survival is 99.8 % showing that high activity introduced at a sensible time does not deteriorate the results.
 

You can read others for yourself. Sounds to me like you are going to have more problems trying to get all your muscles back in shape.  A 12 - 14 hour day is a very long day.

You should not be worried about the acetabular cup loosening - normally that would happen fairly quickly. That is also SURGEON ERROR - not something caused by a patient's activity.  I have posts about that.

Pat