Left hip resurfacing by Dr Chris Whately - Dubai

[brianflanagan]

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

[brianflanagan]

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.

[blinky]

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.

[ArthriticHip]

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.

[brianflanagan]

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.

[brianflanagan]

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

[ArthriticHip]

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.

[Maureen]

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


Maureen
right hip 3/12/18  Dr Gross

[brianflanagan]

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 !

[brianflanagan]

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.

[Joe_CA]

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. :-)

[karlos.bell]

  Sounds good progress Brian. Sometimes its go ahead then backwards. Your doing well.

[brianflanagan]

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 ...

[Pat Walter]

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

[catfriend]

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.

[John C]

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.

[MattJersey]

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

[blinky]

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.

[brianflanagan]

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

[brianflanagan]

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 ;-)