John Marken Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Pritchett 2007

December 28, 2010

I’ve taken quite a few tumbles post resurfacing surgery almost 3 years now. I took a pretty good slider 4 months post surgery biking probably 20mhp on the replaced side. Hip hurt, shoulder hurt, hand bloody and I was scared. I was able to get back on and finish the last 20miles to the car. I called the doc later in the week to see if I should come in. The response was if I could walk I was likely fine. I’d had a difficult recovery prior due to groin/psoas pain which took a good year and yoga to resolve. But the fall, and other falls and dings biking, climbing etc hasn’t seemed to affect the hip specifically much if any. Probably should still try to avoid such

When I walk on hard surfaces for long I often get rather intense diffuse aching pain that starts in the hip joint somewhere, grows to my entire butt and eventually radiates down to the knee and even foot. It is difficult to localize exactly but can really smart! It feels like bone pain to me rather than nerve or muscle pain. After three miles I’m pretty done. I only get it on man made hard surfaces like sidewalks, not on the trail or pedalling. Anyone with similar? Does it go away? Should I be worried about it?

I’m almost 3 years post hip resurfacing by Dr. Pritchett. Had a rather painful start due to illio psoas pain issues and weak external rotators and a desire to push it. But doing mostly well now. I am an avid cyclist and logged a 100 mile ride just 5 months post replacement and 200 miles at 6 months. Got back into hiking and alpine climbing/scrambling the following year and continuing. Some cyclocross racing this fall. So I can do a lot of pounding even with a pack on as long as its on wheels or off road. I just cant walk in town very far which is really irritating to both the dog and I.

I was one of those who was utterly surprised by the pain level of my hip resurfacing posterior approach. I probably fall into the more extreme category. I am now mostly happy with it and enjoy a fairly athletic outdoor life, but it has been a struggle at times and a lot of deliberate work.

Post OP PAIN kept me in the hospital for a full three days. Much more than I expected. I did not walk successfully at the hospital till just hours before discharge because I could hardly move at all and the amount of opiate required caused my blood pressure to plummet when I tried. I was fairly laid up as you for the first 10 days at home. POINTER: I slept on a recliner for three weeks. Much easier to get out of to hit the can than from a bed! I highly recommend it. Started using the bed at 3 weeks and found it difficult to find a good position to sleep. I had to make sure to put a pillow between the legs or I’d wake up suddenly with a twang if i moved wrong by mistake.

Illiopsoas/groin pain: When the required 6 or 8 weeks of no 90 degree hip bending thankfully passed and I started PT, I was discouraged at the amount of pain experienced with mid-line movement. The general stiffness was not too difficult to get past with regular work but sharp pain with mid line movement lasted a good year. I’m still careful. I think starting Yoga at one year was a huge help. I know its not recommended but it has been amazing and I am a regular practitioner now. Early on i was determined to get back on the bike and into the hills by spring/summer so I was pretty good at consistence at the gym. It took three months post surge to have the flexibility to start riding the trainer but I was able to start bike commuting and doing longer rides carefully at 4 months. I got that mid-line twang fairly often then. At six months I was doing century plus riding so I can’t complain too much about progress once things started going. The mountains had to wait a bit longer till I could lift my knee higher without fear of that twang though.

WEAK EXTERNAL ROTATORS: That was also a real disappointment and continues to dog me some. I had hoped to get back into climbing right away but had to delay for another year. In addition to the mid-line psoas issue, my ability to keep my leg under me on hills (inner twisting motion like a soccer kick) was very compromised and affected balance too much. That made me quite sad. Such difficulty is in the literature as a common result but I didn’t know to look for it (yes competent retro studies with valid stats). But with a lot of work in the gym and outside I have made enough progress to do some scrambling and snow climbing over the past year. I’m cautious, aware of reduced ability but I think I’ll get there. Its an ongoing project for sure.

Over all its great. I am in far less pain than before surgery and certainly a lot more functional than where I had gotten to. I’m glad I did it. I’ve done three STP (200 miles from seattle to portland) rides including a single day 200mile ride, many other rides, and am now getting into the mountains on a regular basis though cautious with the more technical climbing. But man, it didn’t come without some pain and work!

A note about Yoga as I’ve read it is discouraged. I has been wonderful for my balance, motion, flexibility, piece of mind. Instrumental in taking it to the next level. I can’t say enough. I did wait nearly a year to go to class but was stretching on my own. I think I have a pretty stable joint. I don’t know if it was the method resurfacing with posterior approach sparing the capsul or what. Pritchette said I could do just about anything after the 90 degree prohibition as pain would keep me from doing anything I shouldn’t. I just follow my senses. If a motion feels too strange or hurts I back off a bit but eventually try again and reap the benefit. I suppose its YMMV.