Hi guys,
first of all, I would like to thank you because thanks to this forum I've found my doctor and I had enough information to know what was best for me.
I'm 40 years old and I've been suffering from my left hip since I was 20.
I'm TaeKwonDo black belt and had to stop doing Taekwondo 6 years ago because it was becoming too painful.
I continued doing sport using anti-inflammatory and was managing the pain and the loss of flexibility .
I was limping when walking more than few meters.
Looking at the X-ray my hip was a mess and I scratched too much my joints.
I met Dr Chris Whately and he told me that I was a good candidate for hip resurfacing : male, young and in good shape.
He told me that he will do the same procedure than Jean-Claud Vandamme had :-)
So this is not the BHR but the one with the device cemented in the femur and it is metal on metal.
So I had the surgery yesterday (March 11th 2018, for the record) : I went to the operating block at 12pm and was back in my room at 4pm.
Doctor told me that everything went fine.
A physiotherapist showed me how to use the crutches and gave me a document with few exercises to do at home.
I left the hospital at 9:30pm the same day.
Now I'm day +1 , my leg is swollen but this looks clean. It's not painful till I don't move ...
I will keep you posted.
Please feel free to ask any question or to add anything.
Cheers
So quick update after 3 days.
Every move is so painful !
My thigh and my butt are swollen.
If I don't move and if I stay lying down on the bed, it's not painful at all.
I don't have enough strength to raise my left leg or to move away my leg using my abductor. Hope this will come back soon.
I'm using 2 crutches to move and I try my best to put the minimum of weight on my left foot, though my Doctor said that this was fine. According to him, there is no problem, I can put weight on it.
I am sorry about the pain. The log leggedness and swelling are par for the course. I marveled at how different my shape was from the swelling---and that was with lots of ice. It will get better.
Hang in there Brian. I'm just 2 weeks ahead of you, so that pain is fresh in my mind. I had my left hip resurfaced by Dr Peter Brooks of the Cleveland Clinic on 2/26/18. The first 3-5 days I just felt extremely fragile. I've been pleasantly surprised at how quickly the body can mend. The 1st 3 days or so I REALLY struggled to do the PT exercises. Some of them I simply couldn't do, my leg just wouldn't move. Over the course of the next week however I went from not being able to do them, to being able to do them with assistance from my wife, to being able to do them by myself, to being able to do them by myself easily. At the 2 week mark per doctors orders I added 4 new exercises. I'm now doing 12 different exercises, 30 reps of each exercise, 3 times a day. It is getting easier every day. My joint continues to feel stronger and more stable every day, some days more improvement then others. I'm sure you will begin to see the same progress. Mentally it's been great for me to know that before my surgery every day my hip was getting worse, whereas after the surgery my hip is now getting BETTER every day.
Thanks guys for your feedbacks ! This is really helpful.
You are right, the body heals quite quickly. I still have bad nights, but then during the day I can see the improvements. My moves are better and better everyday.
I don't complain and maybe because of this, I can see that some other people are not very careful. Someone fell on me, like wanted to seat on me and of course this was on my leg just operated. Another day, a stupid guy forgot after 2 hours that I was on recovery and was full of energy and slapped me badly on my left butt, like a joke.
This is darning stupid and I'm worried with the hits , only after less than a week :-(
How can people be so stupid ?!?
Of course, this was painful during the night...
I hope there will not be any consequence for my hip :-(
Doctor will remove the (20) staples in 3 days.
Quick update, as this is almost 4 weeks after the surgery.
- 10 days after the surgery, Doctor has removed the 20 staples and an Xray was done for checkup.
Doctor is happy with what he saw on the X-rays. Everything looks fine.
- a little bit before day+3 weeks, had sex standing up. No pain at all. I tried to be careful.
- day + 3 weeks : only using only 1 crutch
- 3 weeks and some days : some pain on the side, exactly on the location of the staples. But the pain comes and goes.
When I walk a little bit fast, I mean without behind very careful, I can feel like a very small clic (or clank) inside of the hip. It's more like a feeling.
Could it be normal after 3 weeks and my muscles are still weak ?
Thanks a lot
Hey Brian - Sounds like your recovery is going well. I'm at 5 weeks in my recovery from having my left hip resurfaced. I still have clicking and clunking depending on what I'm doing. The clunking has pretty much gone away when I'm just walking. I'm still on 2 crutches per my surgeons requirements. I get clunking and clicking with some of my PT exercises, and if I bend or move in a specific way. Seems to always happen when I bend over the sink to brush my teeth. None is painful and I've been reassured all is normal and declines as my the muscles and tendons around the joint heal and strengthen.
Thanks for the update, and hope you continue with a speedy recovery.
Hi Brian,
I am one day behind you! Similar story in many ways: Operation was at 1:00 pm and was walking on crutches in the hotel at 9:30 pm :-) Couldn't move right leg very well until this week... And didn't drive until this week (way too uncoordinated to use left foot for braking, lol). Week two was the hardest for me (not so much the pain just felt really crappy - like I had the flu, fatigued, migraines, night sweats, etc). In addition, I had a horrible allergic reaction to the bandage adhesive (about 3 days after the post surgical one was removed - developed a bright red perfect rectangle around my incision which I compounded with the bandage/surgical tape that I put on afterwards). Turned into a full body rash which is just now beginning to subside. The numbness around the incision is fading and I'm actually noticing the incision pain a bit more this week. The hip feels really good however - walked 2 miles unassisted yesterday and it felt great!! One thing - it's still not very comfortable to sit for any length of time though? Anyone else had that issue?
About the SEX - that's awesome! I'm a bit scared to go there - assumed I had to wait 6 weeks... (I'm 125 and my bf is 200 lbs) Honestly, I had absolutely no desire until the last few days but am starting to think about it Reassurances welcomed :o
Maureen
right hip 3/12/18 Dr Gross
Hi guys !
Thanks for your replies.
Now, I'm 4 weeks post op.
I still need to use 1 crutch to walk.
I have tried without a crutch, but I still don't have enough strength to put my full weight on my foot. For now, without any crutch, it's fine to walk around 3 meters .
I can see that this is improving quickly.
I don't have any trouble to sit for a long time on a comfortable seat. But on a hard seat, this is not good at all.
I am doing a very soft massage daily with Bio Oil on the scar since last week. Scar looks quite "nice".
I don't sleep well. I'm usually awake around 2 am, with pain in the thigh and sweating :-(
Thanks @ArthriticHip for the feedback. I don't have a lot of clinking but I'm relieved to know that this could be quite normal at the beginning.
@Maureen : thanks for the feedback as well !
Maybe for a man it's easier to find a position and less stressful to have sex after the surgery.
I suppose that it's better not to rush.
Strangely my libido was quite high after the surgery.
Cheers !
Hi,
Week 5 :
My fifth week was quite difficult. I felt better but I was still weak on my muscles.
I don't use my crutch anymore.
At the end of this week, I see a lot of improvements.
- I was finally able to tighten my shoes alone :-) ! hahah finally
- Had sex with my girlfriend on me. Was a bit worried but she was careful and tried not to put weight on my weight hip. But no pain, so that's good.
At the end of the fifth week, I am almost walking without limping so I am happy.
Went in the pool and started walking a little bit. That's great to feel the muscles waking up :-)
I have some difficulties to feel the muscles in my left butt and it's quite new to use them, that's funny.
Lol! Nice milestones. Great work. Please keep us updated, and be careful! That means no hanging from bungee cords or chandeliers with the girlfriend for at least 6 months. :-)
:) Sounds good progress Brian. Sometimes its go ahead then backwards. Your doing well.
Hi guys !
Thanks for the support :-)
This is a 10 weeks update (time is flying !) :
I've had some pain during 2-3 last weeks on the front side when I'm raising the leg on the articulation. I don't think that this is the psoas, probably the tendon. My guess is that my muscles are still weak so my tendon is doing more job.
I feel better now.
I walk every day a minimum of 8-10 minutes go back from the office.
I've not been a perfect patient. I've danced 2-3 salsas 3 weeks ago, nicely of course, but the day after I was not good during 2 days.
I am still doing a quick massage every morning to the scar with Bio-Oil. It's good for the scar and also I am doing this to work on any possible frictions inside of the muscles/tissues .
I've started going to the pool the last 2 weeks and walked inside of the pool. Then I did some gentle stretches.
This is good. I can feel my remaining muscles in my left butt waking up :-)
I used to avoid using my muscles in my left butt, so this is quite new.
When is it OK to start swimming ?
I am also vert happy to see that I'm getting back quickly my flexibility. I would like to push a little bit more because the feeling is great but I don't want to injure my hip. I'm so worried to injure it.
I really feel good so I would like to start going back to the gym without using any weights, but apparently it's better to wait for 3 months.
When would you recommend to go back to the gym and do some moves such as : the plank, abs, superman, reinforce the glute, ...
Maybe standing on 1 leg and working on the balance will have to wait a little bit more ...
Sounds like you are moving right along with your recovery. Thanks for stopping by and letting us know how things are going.
Good luck and don't push too hard. It will all work in soon.
Pat
You can swim now. My doctor insisted all of my scab had to fall off before I could go swimming. After that last little stubborn bit went I was in the pool within 20 minutes. Sounds like you're already in the pool, so no reason not to start swimming. Just be slow and gentle at first.
Flutter kick should be pretty easy, and a good work out. I have read where some surgeons caution against a frog kick like in the breast stroke.
My surgeon recommended breaststroke as the best exercise for developing a strong and flexible BHR hip. Physio is not really necessary is his view, just following the exercise regime. From after the six week all clear he permits swimming and enciurgs breaststroke.
I think it is not wise for patients with small diameter THR.
M
Swimming will feel great! It was the first normal athletic activity I was able to do (sort of do).
Flutter kick will be good for your lower abs. Pulling will help strengthen your arms and upper body and the whole shebang will give you an aerobic work out. I remember struggling with the kick at first; my legs felt not completely in my control. It got easier each time.
Breaststroke took a while to put together. A basic, not technical frog kick was good for strengthening ab and adductors. I could not do it at first, too weak. Then as I got stronger and worked towards a correct kick, the various pieces slowly (slowly) fell into place, like the pointing and flexing of the feet and the whipping of the lower legs.
Backstroke was finally pain free. The roll used to hurt. It may hurt immediately post op. Fly? Well, that took me a while, too. Weak abs and general stiffness. I couldn't snap my legs for months.
It is interesting there is disagreement about breaststroke kick. Maybe it stems from how weak we are at first?
I did have to be cautious about diving, flip turns, and pushing hard off the wall for six months. Some parts of those movements violate the post op rules, or can. The other caution I'll offer is on open turns if you always push off the same way, on the same side, you will feel it. I felt excessively stretched on one side after swimming long periods and learned to alternate sides.
Keep walking in the pool and doing those stretches. Walking sideways really helped me get my ab and adductor strength back. Pat has some water exercises on this site.
Hi all,
Thanks for all of your feedbacks :-)
Week 11 :
I have continued walking in the pool and also doing exercices and stretchings.
That's very good.
I've started swimming and I've done front crawl .
That's a good feeling to feel back doing some sport :-)
I still feel some normal pain after swimming and my muscles are a little bit weak.
I've tried the breast stroke and this was painful but not a good pain. I mean not a muscular pain, but more like a lack of flexibility and amplitude or range.
Is this fine to start going to the gym now ?
What kind of exercices are OK for me ?
Thanks a lot
Hi all,
3 months update.
I saw my Physiotherapist one week ago. She told me that I did great by massaging the scar and that the surgeon did a great job with the scar as the scar looked very nice. She has manipulated my hip and this was very very painful. She told me that my muscles and tendons need to be moved and gain flexibility as they have been used not to move a lot.
She also told me that I am fine to start doing exercises such as squats or balance on 1 leg.
She also told me that I can do bike .
I've started going back to the gym then and that's good !
Doing indoor bike is good but it's still a little bit painful when my knee is bent closer to my chest.
Hope this will be better and I will be able to bend my hip and my knee more than 90 degrees without pain.
After my gym workout, I go to the sauna. Sauna + cold water is great for the body according to lots of high level sport guys.
My global 3 months feedback is that this is great.
I can walk for a long time without pain. My back is not hurting after a long walk.
If I touch the scar, this is still painful, like needles or planting a knife :-(
Will give you more feedback after more time at the gym and with the physiotherapist.
Definitely, the interesting part is starting ;-)
Hi all,
Quick update after my first week going back to the gym.
I was feeling too good so I decided to work on my upper body with almost the same workout program as before, which means dumbbell bar and weights.
I did not use weights for my low body , only for my upper body, but moving the weights was too much for me. My leg and my butt were painful during 2 days after the session, like before the surgery :-(
So I went back nicely to the gym after this, doing indoor bike, squats (without weights for now) and other balance exercises
It's a good learning. My muscles are still weak, even if I feel good.
I will come back this week to the gym for workout but will avoid moving weights and will use machines with cables. I don't want to move/carry weights.
I've seen the physiotherapist. She is moving my hip and forcing me to stretch my abductors.
Sometimes, I'm scared that she is going to break my new hip :-)
She has indicated a lot of exercises to work on my muscles and how to stretch as well.
Honestly, this is super painful !
I thought this was going to be easy as I have always been flexible but my body has been also blocking some movements for so many years that I need to work on that.
I just hope that my new hip allows the movements and this is the lack of mobility which prevents some moves.
Hi all,
Update at almost 4 months
I don't feel pain when I walk even for quite a long time. My back is not painful at all.
My muscles are still a little bit weak if I push too much.
This week-end, I forgot the surgery as I was jumping inside of the pool. You know you have water till 1,50m and you are jumping. The day after and for 2 days I still feel the pain.
The physiotherapist keeps pushing quite hard on the moves to stretch my hip.
I have pain when I lay down on the table and she is trying to get my left hip closer to my chest further than 90 degrees.
The pain is on the front side of the hip. I don't if it's the muscles or the tendons, hopefully not the new hip.
To be honest I've been blocked for more than 10 years because of my bah hip so I suppose I need time to gain a larger range of motion.
My PT told me to try not to stay too long in front of my desk and if possible to stretch a little bit during the day. I don't really do that ;-)
I've found the operation report, see what is indicated :
"We then prepared the femoral head to accept a 140-degree angled Conserve Plus hip resurfacing device which is #50 mm in size. ....
We did sequential reaming up to a #56-mm size and then placed a 56-mm outer diameter Conserve Plus acetabular component in 40 degrees of abduction and 20 degrees of anteversion ..."
-> Do you know the range of motion that can be expected with the new hip ? if there is no physiological constraints course.
Thanks !
If you look at some of the pictures on this site, especially of the dancers and martial artists, it will give you a good sense of what is possible. I think that the consensus is that the range of motion you end up with after resurfacing is directly related to what you had before the arthritis started. On my first hip, I found that it took about six months to get that range of motion back, but suddenly it was there.
Thanks a lot John !
That's very encouraging !
To be honest it is very painful to try to get my knee to my chest. For now my limit is around 90 degrees when I lay down on my back.
So maybe I just need to be more patient and also maybe ask the PT to go more gentle with the stretches ;-).
It never hurts to be conservative. If at 4 months you can't get you knee to your chest without pain, then maybe you should consider not pushing it. When it hurts - don't do it. Especially while you are still recovering. It takes a good 6 months to get back to normal things, then 1 year to completely heal. You can't push your body to heal. It will heal on it's own time. If you push, you might end up with problems at this point. Great to be active, but you are still only 4 months post op. I don't know how some people healed quick enough to run marathons, ect early on, but everyone is different. Best guideline I have heard by most doctors, don't push - your body will heal on it's own time. That is one reason why some surgeons don't suggest PT, just walk, walk and walk.
Pat
Hi Brian. I will share my own approach to stretching with my second hip which was resurfaced two months ago. Like you, my current flexion is limited to about 90 degrees. If I push hard to get beyond that point, it does get painful. For me, the primary pain is not in the rear which is where my 10 year old resurfacing feels a good stretch, buy the recent hip feels the pain across the front of the joint, which I interpret as a sign to back off. My surgeon is not a fan of PT because he has seen some cases where pushing too hard for early range of motion has caused problems, so he agreed to prescribe PT for me with the understanding that I would be in charge of how hard we push. We are pushing my strength and balance pretty hard, but I have made it clear to my PT that we stop flexion stretching short of any pain in the front of the joint. I can't say if this approach would be correct for you, but it worked for me last time, so I am using the same approach this time.
Thank you Pat and John !
I think you are right.
I trust my PT but she might push too hard and my body might need more time to go on this direction.
John, the pain seems to be similar to yours : located on the front side of the joint in the hip. Not sure if this is the ligaments of the hip or the anterior iliac spine, but this is this region :-)
It's difficult for me to be patient on the stretches as I've always been flexible and all the other directions for the moves of my hip are now free to go.
I agree with you and have a lot of stretches/exercises to do by myself. Hopefully this is just a question of time.
Thanks a lot !
I will post some updates later then :-)
Hi Brian,
Really interesting reading about your recovery. I wish I was a swimmer as it's excellent all over exercise and great for resistance training plus giving support. I may try just walking in the local pool when the incision has healed to wake up the muscles.
Sounds like your doing great. I'll check in to see how you're are doing 💪🏻👍🏻
Take care
Graham
Hi all,
Some update before my 6 months post-op which is exactly next week-end :-)
In a summary, I am very happy with the results.
I've stopped seeing the physiotherapist after my 6 sessions as the doctor thought she was pushing a little bit too hard.
I'm doing some moves she has advised, but for sure I don't stretch enough.
I am going to the gym between 3 to 5 times a week. Everytime, I will do either bike, elliptical bike or incline walking (8-10%) on the treadmill. And then I will do my workout : upper body or working on my glutes, butt and legs.
I can see the results. I now have my butt back ;-)
I can't wear some of my trousers because they are too small now, which is good as I gain muscles.
I walk without pain and without limping. That's great !!!
My only concerns is that I have a pain when I raise my left knee, even if I am sitting on a chair or already standing up.
The pain seems to be on the tendon and is exactly located in the inguinal fold. I don['t know the name of this tendon.
I've checked and I already mentioned this pain at 3 weeks after the surgery.
The pain will go away if I take muscle heated creams. I like baume aroma and it works well . (The cream Baume Arôma is used for Muscular and Tendino-Ligamentary Pain. It is made with Methyl Salicylate, essentials oils of cloves and of jamaïca pepper.)
I used it a lot when I was doing martial arts and then the other guys used it because it was effective ;-)
I think there is an inflammation which doesn't go away.
I suppose I should see the orthopedist.
The pain is like the pain I had when I started to feel the pain in my hip when I was 20 years old.
I will start running next week as this will be 6 months after the surgery and I will give you an update.
Thanks for your update. I have read a lot of stories and sometimes it takes longer than 6 months to get back to normal. Some surgeons say a full year. Sounds like you are doing well. If you are still having pain after activities, maybe you are being too aggressive too soon. We all have different rates of recovery. Only the body controls it and it takes time to completely heal. Ask you surgeon about it.
Good Luck and I look forward to your future updates.
Pat
Hi,
Thanks a lot Pat for your reply.
My surgeon is back in Dubai on November, so I will check with him for this pain on the front side of my hip on the tendon.
Maybe I need to be more patient.
Update after 6 months :
I've run 2 times this week, done elliptical bike and bike.
The first day I've run was maybe too much ... 10 minutes walking with incline walking (8-10%), then 6 minutes of running then walking again then running 5 minutes then running, for a total of 30 minutes.
-> it was painful for 2 days after the running :-( In fact this was painful on the scar and on the front of the hip. It was sore, I mean like having aches. I suppose this was normal and too much for the first try :-)
I've run 2 days ago only for 5 minutes and I had no pain after, so I will just go slowly and increase the time of running gently.
No problem at all when biking and going to the gym almost every day. Also this is fine when moving the weights and dumbbells.