Back pain

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Hi all

I am nearly 7 weeks post op on a revised left hip replacement. I am completely mobile indoors without sticks . I am still using one stick outdoors but trying to walk mainly without using it and walking between 2-3 miles at least twice a day. I have increased my physio exercises and and last week i went swimming twice walking in the pool and doing a little leg kicking and a little swimming.
But the last few days I have had a lot of pain in my lower back. I cant remember from last time if this is normal. I think maybe my gait is still a bit off and tried yesterday to hold myself more upright and hold my abs in. Has anyone else experienced this . It is starting to get to me as both hips are a little sore and up until a few days ago I felt i was starting to make progress.

2

Hi Badger! I am also 7 weeks post Left hip Revision. Unfortunately 4 days before my surgery, I fell & broke my right arm! I am also having back pain. In terms of walking you are doing ALOT more walking than me- 2 or 3 miles a day? Wow!! Quite honestly I couldn’t do that. I find that when I am walking about the house for awhile my body gets tired,starts hurting a bit and then I start walking a bit “gimpy”, with a limp. This limp then pulls on my knee & back. I discussed this with my physical therapist & he said that I should use my cane or walker when this happens. He said it was more important to have proper alignment to prevent further pulls. Although not walking the distance you do, I am doing 30 minutes/day of exercises for strength training. Perhaps you could try cutting back a bit on the walking & use your cane when your gait isn’t proper. I also do back stretches daily. Which approach did your surgeon use? Originally I had anterior approach & with revision I had lateral/posterior approach which cuts into more muscle hence longer recovery. Right now I am focusing on getting my medial gluteal muscle to start working properly. Best of luck to you Badger! Keep us posted!

3

I was always told to keep using the sticks until the penguin walk disappeared.
You are doing a fair bit of walking, is it on paved surfaces or country paths? Walking on rougher surfaces improves your balance and the muscles that control that which otherwise do not get a lot of work. When in my hospital gym I was made to balance on a board which was on a ball - that was very difficult, but helped so much.

Pain in the lower back is as you rightly said, usually from the change of stance, going from your old ingrained but bad ways to a hopefully better more upright one. It takes time for your body to adjust to it and strengthen the right muscle groups.

Take it easy, and don’t try to do it all in one day!

4

Thanks Guys

Most of my walking is on pavements, I will cut back on how much iwalk without the stick and use it a lot more. My physio has me standing on one leg while holding onto something as part of exercises will try to be aware of my gait when doing this and try it in the pool too.

cheers

5

Hi there. at 7 weeks post op my surgeon said one to two miles a day is normal. we all heal differently though. for me this is enough right now. i use one stick outdoors but told to use two if i get tired. i feel pain in my back if i have cone too much.

6

Hi Kay

Thanks for that i have cut back my walking and gone back to using cane whilst outdoor and my back hasnt been as bad.

7

Hi
I am six weeks post rthr. I have upper and lower back pain which developed as I increased activity. Using 2 crutches which my surgeon insists on for 3/12 and these limit distance I can walk as they hurt me.
Envious of your long walks and having the weather to do them in.

8

sorry you’re still having problems. So many on this site talk of problems with their other hip after their op. Hope you had a good Christmas.

carola

9

Hi , some days will be better, am nearly 6 weeks since ist op and hip is great, but am having major problems at night, for last couple of weeks although will never get used to sleeping on my back , when I try to get up I have major back and chest pains and struggle to breathe ,it’s like an elephant is on my chest. Anyone having same issue?

10

Hi Tracey,

Chest pains and struggling to breath do not sound good unless you had these issues before. Be aware of blood clot in the lungs, I got one at 7/8 weeks and I was active.

11

Thank you , it is a thought I had , took all the medication for dvt , have a gp appt on Wed so will ask about blood clot. It seems to radiate from my back , guess now you know symptoms you are aware of what to do.

12

There are a lot of different symptoms for clots. I did not have the classic ones, the hospital only went on about the legs i.e swelling and hurting in the calf but, I had a pain in the stomach it happened twice, the following week I was a bit out of breath when out walking, as a lot of people had colds I did not associate it with a clot. A week later I had an excruciating pain on breathing in just under the breast slightly to the right, had to call an ambulance. After op I had a 28 day course of injecting fragmin but still got a PE.

I hope you have nothing wrong with you but if you do have pain when breathing in please go straight to hospital and tell them you had a hip op, they should know the danger then of clots.

13

Thank you for the advice am keeping a close eye on it , the swollen legs are a difficult one as they keep saying it’s post op swelling, I could actually get around better if they went down, regards Tracey

14

i’ve also been experiencing lower back pain, quite severe at times. i’ve put it down to walking with just the one crutch and have now moved back to two which seems to be relieving it. I’m also trying to correct my posture and I’ve found taking shorter steps helps. I’m 4 weeks post surgery and you are clearly doing far more than I am, but it’s discouraging when you think you’re over the worst of it.

15

Yvonne, in a few weeks I would recommend pilates. I had a problem with my lower back and it took a few steps to be able to stand up straight but, in a short time after returning to pilates the pain went. I would recommend it 100% as it really does realign the body.

16

Hi Guys

Back pain is starting to ease off. I started doing back stretches and plank exercises a couple of weeks ago and this seems to have helped which seems to have helped with my walking and my hip doesnt really hurt at all :slight_smile: I am going to try going back to swimming next week

17

Pleased for you badger, stretching is good for the body, now you can appreciate why I push pilates. keep up the good work.

18

Thanks Jen

Went back to work today for a couple of hours today .It felt good to be back to some sort of normality. Going to try and see physio friend next week and try to get back on a bike and do some gym work.

19

thanks, Jen. i will try out the pilates as I’ve heard others speak highly about it as well.