full weight shower mishap

[Glsec507]

Just had my second BHR done by Dr. Brooks.  This time my right hip.  Surgery was on the 17th and the following occurred on the 22nd so 5 days po.

I have to use crutches for 6 weeks and am only permitted 75% weight bearing on the surgical leg.  Well on Monday I was attempting to get into the shower with the help of my girlfriend.  Unfortunately I do not have a walk in shower and have to go through an awfully elaborate balancing act to get up and over the tub.  During this circus act I slightly lost balance and placed 100% weight onto the right leg....worst pain I have can ever remember feeling.  It shot right from my hip straight down my leg like lightening.  I caught myself immediately with the crutches and my left leg and my girlfriend tried but really couldn't do much(basically there to cushion my fall).  I did not fall to the ground or anything but man I did not realize putting full weight onto my hip was going to hurt that much. 

As soon as I caught myself the pain stopped.  I called the doctors office and left a message.  When Phil called back the next day he did not seem overly concerned and mainly wanted to know if I felt that something is wrong.  I have no idea what to think.  I'm already off pain meds all day so I am feeling more pains that I did during my first BHR last year(which I heavily medicated myself during) so anything I may determine to be alarming could in fact be totally normal.

I'm going to wait until my 6 week post op to see if the x-rays show anything but has any of you accidentally put full weight on their surgical leg that soon post op?  How did it feel?

[Daytona Dave]

I had my op on the 15th so am only a couple of days ahead of you.
I too have had a couple of occasions where I have had full weight on my hip. I find that if its straight down loading there is little or no pain. Its only if there is any twisting going on at the same time as weight bearing that it hurts like hell.
I would hope you have not done any damage, especially as you say it does not hurt now.
Good luck :-0

[Ken B]

For what its worth I was instructed to try 100% the afternoon of day 1. Perhaps you started to achieve a position that would be problematic from an early dislocation standpoint which I have accidently done a couple of times and that did cause some pain. But you obviously did not dislocate so if that is the case the harm was probably minimal or nothing. Hopefully everything is OK but I wanted to chime in that the 100% by itself was probably not something to be overly concerned with:

Look at this guy one week post op - I can't walk like him yet and only try 100% periodically but he doesn't seem too concerned about 100%:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzLadqsO_KM

[hernanu]

Everybody is different, and the damage fixed usually also varies, which is why some of us have 100% loading from the start (I did) and others have less.

The best thing is to follow your surgeon's instructions and go from there. Other people have different situations. The goal is that in the end you get to where you want to be: healthy.

If you don't have lingering pain / problems, you should be ok, especially after having gotten a hold of your surgeon.

I also didn't have a walk in shower, but had an occupational therapist at work who taught me the best way to get in and out of the shower without a hassle. This was important since I lived by myself. Maybe it would help to get a hold of one?

[Glsec507]

Everybody is different, and the damage fixed usually also varies, which is why some of us have 100% loading from the start (I did) and others have less.

The best thing is to follow your surgeon's instructions and go from there. Other people have different situations. The goal is that in the end you get to where you want to be: healthy.

If you don't have lingering pain / problems, you should be ok, especially after having gotten a hold of your surgeon.

I also didn't have a walk in shower, but had an occupational therapist at work who taught me the best way to get in and out of the shower without a hassle. This was important since I lived by myself. Maybe it would help to get a hold of one?

Unfortunately I'm not sure if insurance would cover the therapists since the Doctor did not require one.

And that's pretty wild that some people can walk around no big deal and others are stuck to a bed for weeks.   My first surgery was a lot worse than this one is so far.

[hernanu]

Everybody is different, and the damage fixed usually also varies, which is why some of us have 100% loading from the start (I did) and others have less.

The best thing is to follow your surgeon's instructions and go from there. Other people have different situations. The goal is that in the end you get to where you want to be: healthy.

If you don't have lingering pain / problems, you should be ok, especially after having gotten a hold of your surgeon.

I also didn't have a walk in shower, but had an occupational therapist at work who taught me the best way to get in and out of the shower without a hassle. This was important since I lived by myself. Maybe it would help to get a hold of one?

Unfortunately I'm not sure if insurance would cover the therapists since the Doctor did not require one.

And that's pretty wild that some people can walk around no big deal and others are stuck to a bed for weeks.   My first surgery was a lot worse than this one is so far.

If you want it and it would help, I'd just talk to the surgeon and ask if he or she would advise it.

As to walking around, we all had different amounts of damage. I had a long stretch of degeneration, but dense bones from a whole lot of weight lifting and martial arts. Other folks here would be better off than I due to genetics or activity, some worse.

All in all, it's not how quickly you get back to life, but how well. It's a long stretch and rushing it is not a great idea. Like the great disco philosopher, Leon Haywood notes... "Don't push it, don't force it, let it happen naturally... "

[Glsec507]

Thanks everyone for the input