No. He won’t have to carry you. You will use crutches to get up and down stairs. And you will only need them for the first week. You’ll have PT coming to your house to help with navigating and setting you up with exercises to help with a speedy recovery.
I had mine replaced in my mid 40’s. There was no cartilage left between the bones. I had hip dysplasia, one leg shorter than the other and I was a runner for over 20 years. I waited until I couldn’t stand the pain any longer. Ended up wishing I did it sooner. I own a pet sitting/dog walking business and I was gradually getting back to work after about 4 weeks.
Also, a had the surgery almost 20 years ago and I still have the same replaced hip. And I walk average 5 miles a day and ride.
My husband had his left (?) hip replaced via Direct Anterior approach about 8 years ago? one overnight stay in the hospital and was walking with a walker the next day. Getting him down two steps and up two more to get into the house was an effort those first few days. He stayed in the house for a few days and did his PT RELIGIOUSLY. Do your PT!!!
I know nothing about hip replacements but do you think it would be possible to purchase a treadmill and teach your younger whippet to run on it? I know it’s not ideal but maybe a temporary, imperfect solution?
Thanks to everyone for the responses! I’m sure we can make do, just worried about those first few steps, but luckily we have a bathroom on all levels – the problem is the bathroom on the middle level is down a flight of three steps.
Don’t worry, I plan to do PT religiously and have been through PT before for several issues, none as “serious” as this, though. I am completely religious and dutiful about exercising and stretching, I’ve had back pain for many years and have been through many different therapies, but about 10 or 15 years ago I just decided to commit to “doing my due diligence.” I do a lot of physical stuff for my age, and want to get back to it as soon as reasonable! I felt confident that other COTHers would be similar to me since we are mostly all of a similar mindset.
So PT comes to you?? This may be problematic because of how crowded our place is, I’m not sure where I could do PT here since there’s really not much room because of the set up of the house.
Treadmill, lol! I have thought about that in the past, mostly jokingly – but there’s really no place in our townhouse for a treadmill. I have a small elliptical in the back corner of the basement and I use it every day, our place is not roomy - and is cluttered with couches and beds for my damn whippets who demand comfort everywhere. Our living room is rectangular, which makes things tough – downstairs is full of storage for my horse stuff and leftover things from four deceased parents. My husband works from home down here, so it would be disruptive if we spent all day crammed in a few feet away from him. Younger Whippet needs to run is the thing!
My father had his hip replaced 4 years ago (he was 65 and not super fit). He could not leave the hospital till he could navigate using the stairs, walk around the hospital with the help of a walker, get up and out of a chair, put on clothes, etc. They teach you which leg to put your weight on for the stairs and getting up/down sitting. They get you out of bed after the surgery same day and he only spent one night being monitored. My parents have a two story house with the bedroom upstairs (15+stairs), and he slept in his bed the first night he got home. They do PT right away at the house till you are cleared to drive yourself to PT. He had zero hip pain right after surgery and only felt the incision pain the most. His surgery was a posterior incision through the gluteus - so probably why he felt more pain. From all of the people that I know that have had total replacements, they always say they should have done it sooner!
Talking to DH about “rearranging things” in preparation - ugh, couches will need to be moved but to where?
How much pain is there for those of us with “pain issues”? I take Tramadol and Meloxicam and Robaxin daily - need it to function and MOVE and stay fit because of my fibromyalgia and chronic musculoskeletal pain. I had breast reduction surgery about 6 years ago and was in agony for.a full week; the opioids barely touched it. The office was pretty surprised but sympathetic, and tried prescribing different options (Dilaudid did nothing ), but I have “grooves” in my pain pathways. I would just lie in my chair and cry and moan. I was on such a high dose of opiods that I was unable to poop for TEN DAYS - which was kind of adding insult to injury. (And yes for pain I have tried everything; I have an Osteopath/pain doc.)
I am NOT a wimp, and push through pain all the time - but am concerned that this may interfere with doing my necessary PT.
I am 36 years old and I had my left hip replaced in October. (traditional posterior approach) I purposefully planned my surgery for that time of year so that I would have the winter to regain strength/muscle in the “off season” for riding. We’ve had a really bad winter (snow and blizzards) so I just finally rode for the first time last week, and then got 2 more rides in after that. I just rode along the road as the ditches are still full of snow and there is no where else to go, but it felt great to be back in the saddle pain free.
I have probably had a labral cartilage tear for 10+ years or more. It’s one of those things where you think back and realize you’ve had trouble for a long time. But what led me down the rabbit hole of a THR started about 3 years ago when my hip “got stuck”. Literally. I bent over to pick up one of my children’s toys off the floor and… pain and couldn’t stand up straight again, until I got it “unstuck”. I went in and that lead to the diagnosis of the labral tear. I have too much dysplasia so I was not a candidate for the cartilage repair surgery. And I was “too young” and “not bad enough” to have a total hip replacement. So the plan was for physical therapy and steroid injections.
First one I got 6 months of beautiful relief! Back to normal! Then it “caught” again. Next steroid shot only lasted 2 months. Third shot did nothing.
The pain and limitations were just getting worse and worse. Even something as simple as dragging the garden hose up a slight hill to water some plants; I couldn’t do. I could lift or bring my leg forward. Last year, I could no longer get on the normal side of my horse. Couldn’t lift my leg and would hurt too much. Started affecting my riding as I could feel myself riding unbalanced to avoid putting my leg into the positions that hurt. My horse Red was worse b/c he is so wide built. Lilly is more narrow but she is so sensitive and so feely, I was messing her up with my cues because she could tell I had more weight on my right seat bone, and such.
So I am 1000% happy with my decision to proceed with surgery. I am pain free and back to doing things I missed out on doing.
My right hip is fine. Never had any issues on that side.
As far as approach (posterior, anterior, etc etc), it just really depends on the surgeon. I did two consults in my area with two different surgeons. For various reasons, I chose to the posterior approach. Mainly, I will likely need a revision at some point because I am so young for this. It’s going to be easier to do the revision with the posterior approach on the original surgery, or so I am told. My only “no-no” position is putting putting my knee INWARD and reaching my upper body to the outside … which is extremely akward anyway. The only real life scenario I am careful of is shaving my legs. When you reach down to get the ankle, I make sure my torso stays INSIDE my legs, and I do not cross the plane to the outside. My PA had someone dislocate 9 months after surgery by doing that.
Pain, I did great. Didn’t even need any of my pain killers. I had a bit of trouble coming out of anesthesia and kept throwing up so it’s not like I could have kept the pain killers down if I tried. (I have never had surgery for anything before but I’m not surprised b/c I do tend to get motion sick and such, so I figured I would be puking after surgery). I just took Tyelnol for a few weeks and iced regularly. Honestly, my hip joint itself was pain free immediately after surgery, which was mind blowing to me. The only thing that had to heal, was the incision and muscles surrounding. Hip was good to go.
Stairs I did fine right away. Just went slow, and one at a time. I used a walker for the first 3 days or so. I didn’t NEED it but I walked better and without a limp when I used it, and that’s the important part --> do not let yourself limp. I used a cane for about two week. Again, I didn’t need it, but it seemed the tactile sense to be touching the cane allowed me to walk normally and without a limp, so I used it until I could walk subconsciously without the limp.
My greatest therapy every day was walking out to check on my horses! I called them over to the gate, gave them each a cookie, and made sure no one was dying. LOL.
My surgery was out-patient. No hospital stay. And they encourage you to walk as much as you can.
I did NOT have any PT scheduled after surgery. (maybe I’m too young??? they really didn’t know what to do with me, LOL) But I scheduled two sessions myself because I wanted to. And my medical deductible was used up, so I figured might as well.
I’ve really enjoyed being able to work out again (hadn’t done that in about 2 years) and gaining my flexibility back. I don’t think my left side will ever be as flexible as my right side, but it’s getting pretty good and I guess it’s only been 4 months. (as of 2 days ago)
Honestly, be happy you have an active job. I get the most stiff (still) when I am sitting and not moving. Desk job would be horrible! At my work, I am usually constantly moving throughout the day, as in at my computer for 10 minutes. Walk to get a patient. Sit and talk for 5 minutes. Stand up. Sit down. Etc. It’s a good mix of moving and sitting. So I went back to work at about 3 1/2 weeks (could have honestly gone back sooner) and it worked really well for me.
The only restriction I had is that I was not supposed to bend past 90 degrees for 6 weeks. (You need to let those muscles heal.) But that will depend on the approach you have. Then I was not supposed to lift over 20 pounds for 3 months. I mostly followed that, or tried to anyway.
I know there are multiple hip threads here on COTH that if you haven’t already, take a read.
EDITED to add that I was back to driving in like a week. But I had my left hip done. Yours might be longer, as yours is the right hip but your doctor does need to “clear” you to drive and you need to be off all pain meds. So that’s something to think about too.
Thank you, @beau159 - though your experience was obviously different because of your age, etc. – all of these anecdotal stories are very helpful!
The not being able to drive thing is really going to suck. Will have to get my husband to drive me places, and my students are just going to have to hang in there for a while! I hope they don’t leave and move on in the short term because of this. I probably should have done this over the winter when my horse was on vacation, but I was still teaching students – and also wanted to see whether the injections would help and for how long.
Loop your pain management person in here. They should work with whatever surgeon you choose on your post op pain management, or, you should be referred to the hospital’s pain management team. If your pain person doesn’t have privileges at the hospital where you’re having surgery, absolutely go with the in house pain team.
If any surgeon is dismissive of your concerns here, and isn’t planning on bringing in pain management for your case, that’s a pass. Find another. This is a totally manageable aspect, and you don’t need to suffer. Just takes some planning.
Jumping in again to say that practicing stairs using your left foot and crutches prior to surgery is a great idea. Djones link is great but for a bad knee. Hip directions could possibly be different.
We have 17 steps from the first floor of our house to second, which is where beds are. I had to be able to negotiate that day 1. As I recall, the instructions were to support on good leg, settle crutches on next step up and hop up. Rinse and repeat. Coming down stairs it was the same basic thing. Weight on good leg, stabilize crutches on the next step down and hop down. I don’t recall them telling me to forego a crutch to hold a railing. But as I said, TBI.
I got pretty quick on the crutches within a couple of days, zipping up and down. In short order, I began carrying a bit of weight on the “bad” leg, and would single foot the steps just using the crutches to stabilize. When I fractured my knee in November, this skill came in handy and the muscle memory was still there.
Dr.D you will be glad to have gotten your hip replaced ~ a difference in pain noticed upon waking up ~ you will wonder why you did not do it sooner ~ as you will ‘get your life back’ !
Yes, read and gather information AND know you will get through this easier than you are imagining ~ the medical team from surgeon to OT to PT will make sure of your success
I had basically no pain. I did have a bit of “restless leg” at night for the first few weeks, which sometimes made it hard to fall asleep.
Also, while you’ll be able to walk (with a walker) right away, you may need someone to help you get up out of bed. You will be given some restrictions on how you can twist and bend, so getting up out of bed can be awkward.
I will say, I was never offered crutches, only a walker. My surgeon said the #1 risk for post-surgery dislocation is falling, so it may be he is more conservative and prefers his patients using a walker (which gives a lot of stability) rather than trying to hop around on crutches.
), but I have “grooves” in my pain pathways. I would just lie in my chair and cry and moan. I was on such a high dose of opiods that I was unable to poop for TEN DAYS - which was kind of adding insult to injury. (And yes for pain I have tried everything; I have an Osteopath/pain doc.)
