Hip Surgery - Labral Tear/Impingement

[Annie10]

Interested in this thread . Thanks for the good info

[Sport]

I had THR February 28th. It took me 4 years from when I needed it to actually getting the surgery for a variety of weird and wacky situations.
I am so happy it is done. Due to some of the noted situations my recovery is slower than many, but the relief from pain is huge.
The other thing i would note, is do the surgery while you are still fit, don’t wait so long that your muscles have declined as it makes recovery take even longer.
Over the 4 years, I went from active, riding, doing barn chores to needing a cane to get around. I met with physio yesterday and his response was that my joint was doing amazingly well, but we had a lot of work to do to recover the muscle strength I had lost.

[stargzng386]

Thank you for sharing!! I hope your PT goes smoothly.

[JB]

@Sport I’m so happy to hear you got the surgery done and are well on your way to regaining your life back

Your strength will come, with dedication. It’ll seem like really slow progress at first, and probably will be, but soon you’ll get into the curve of increasing returns and you’ll get better, faster

[S1969]

@Kyrabee

I have had LOTS of ortho surgery and I would rate the post PRP pain right up there with surgical incisional pain. I had 2 hip tendons and the joint treated. The joint PRP didn’t hurt at all but that soft tissue . It took a good 3 weeks before things started going in the right direction. I had a positive response to the PRP and physical therapy for about a year.

I’m glad I didn’t re-review this thread before my PRP injection yesterday. I was a little nervous not knowing what to expect but had forgotten the “it really hurts” comments. That hurt like a mother trucker. He injected the joint and the tendon and they both hurt like hell. He said that mine was harder than most because my joint capsule was so tight. He said “You’re not imagining it. You don’t have a low pain threshold. That was real.” OMG. I don’t really know why it is “so tight” or what that indicates, but he had to push really hard to get the needle through and to push the serum and that felt like an ice pick going into bone. Ugh.

I hope it helps because that was no fun at all. It feels ok today. Sore, but not bad.

@Simkie

Regenerative medicine like PRP? Find the specialist, someone who’s really passionate, rather than someone doing a little on the side. Focus and passion really matters.

I like PRP a lot and have had success, but it’s def not where I’d start, because it is expensive,

Progressing from steroid to HA to PRP to stem cell is not unreasonable. It goes from cheap (and insurance covers) to expensive (and insurance doesn’t cover.)

Just coming back to these comments; although I may have pasted them out of order (apologies!). This guy really is an alternative specialist, and I think he feels the opposite about the order. He dislikes starting with the steroids because he feels that the steroids cause damage and/or inhibit your body’s natural ability to regenerate. I think his opinion is that you try PRP first and if that doesn’t work, then move on to “hard drugs” lol. But in his opinion, once you start down the path of steroids it’s just “getting you through” until you do the replacement (2-3 max, and I’ve heard people describe the diminishing marginal return.)

I’m mentally preparing for the THR, but the timing right now is not ideal, so fingers crossed.

I’m also curious what (if anything) is required by insurance. A friend told me recently that her son was told by his dr. that “he’s too young” for a hip replacement. She said that he is afraid to get a cortisone shot but not sure of his options. Of course I’m sure that’s only part of the story, and maybe he hasn’t even had a referral yet.

That said, I wanted to talk more yesterday about “what happens if this doesn’t work” but a) he suggested I try to be optimistic and not start down that road yet, and b) I was having a hard time focusing after that injection.

I am restricted to 50% exercise this week, then he wants me on the bike, resume strength training, always pushing me to find a yoga class too. No running for 3-4 weeks to give it some chance of improvement before trying. I haven’t run in 2 months anyway.

[JB]

@S1969

I’m also curious what (if anything) is required by insurance.

It seems to vary by insurance provider. I called my insurance to find out what, if anything, needed to be done before I opted for TRH. They said “Nothing, if your Dr says it’s warranted, then it’s covered”. I have no idea if he knew my age and that factored in.

I have heard other companies refusing coverage for someone “too young”, which is SO STUPID. I’ve heard of some refusing based on radiographs and ignoring the level of pain and/or life dysfunction the person was on.

I’m sorry your injection was so painful, I can say my 1 cortisone shot was not something I’d like to have done again

The protocol for easing back into work sounds very reasonable. Let the drugs do whatever job it can do without your body being subjected to excess stress. Fingers crossed!

[S1969]

Thank you!. I have to agree that I’ve heard all kinds of insurance stories it probably doesn’t help to ask. I should ask my own insurance provider. Just thinking ahead - if they are going to insist (for example) on trying cortisone before surgery I want to plan it out so I don’t wait too long and then have to suffer 6-9 more months for cortisone attempts and then for it to wear off before the surgery.

My hip function feels pretty good, but it might be that I’ve hardly used it in 3 days. My hip tendon that was injected (now having thought about it I think he injected it 3 times) is the most sore. My good friend had her piriformis injected (same dr.) and he said it was several injections along a 2-3 inch area or so. She couldn’t sit comfortably for several days. I can understand why.