Hello. I had total hip replacement 3 days ago. I was just released from the hospital and I’m home recovering. when I me with the doctor post op, he stated that due to my rather large boned frame, it was a challenge removing the old hip. Anyway, day 3 with the Walker and I am experiencing significant knee pain on the surgery leg. Has anyone else gone thru this, and what was the “normal” amount of pain. keeping in mind I’ve NEVER had any surgery up till this, so I don’t have anything to personally gauge it. Thanks
Hello John,
I had never had surgery of kind until my hip op in April either but, was lucky as I did not have any pain. No one can actually say what a pain level should be as everyone’s tolerance is different. some people moan about a little ache others cope with quite a bit of pain before complaining therefore pain is personal.
You have had a big operation, the surgeon has sawn your bone and put an implant in, you may have some pain, it might be in your knee or thigh but, will go, you are only 3 days post op and have a lot of recovering to do. In a week or to the difference will be amazing and recovery after the second week will really speed up. Good luck with your recovery
you can expect some aches and pains for a while. The recovery pain after the brutal op and the getting back to normal pain as your body re adjusts to a more normal stance and way of moving as you recover. Knee pain is quite common. Everyone has a different pain threshold take what you need to.
Thank you for the feedback. I’m just seeing who else had similar experiences. I know I have quite a ways to go as far as recovery. I glad to just talk about it. Never had any other surgery in my life, and at 48, this is all new to me.
Very often people get knee pain, most probably due to walking differently now. Before the operation you will have been walking awkwardly but would have slowly become used to it, now after the operation, you will have had a sudden change in walking stance.
Three days is very early still, but mention it to doctor/surgeon and perhaps keep a note of when it occurs so you can present it to them.
hi john, i think you will find that your knee takes the brunt of the force of the surgeon knocking the femoral shaft down into your femur. I was in hospital with my accident an the fellow in the bed beside me had an thr an asked the doctor how come his heel was so bruised, an the doctors reply was we put your leg up against a wall to knock the shaft in. Maybe they hurt your knee to take the pain away from your hip ha ha. I,m going in for a conversion from an arthrodesis to a thr on the 16th of next month. i am so looking forward to this sore knee everyone talks about. i,d like a dollar for everytime i have heard about this. Bit of time john an i reckon your knee will come good, cheers
hi John. When they dislocate the hip during surgery they have to twist it into not so normal positions. During this a lot can happen causing knee pain. I have the same problem that started 10 weeks post op after a left THR. I saw the surgeon for it and after an MRI discovered a torn meniscus. Unfortunately he doesn’t think surgery would be successful on it. I did a lot of reading up on torn meniscus and icing it while elevated abd wearing an open kneecap brace when doing a lot of walking has helped a lot. I think mine has started to heal on its own. talk toyour surgeon about it because the last thing you want is to fall.
Thank goodness there wasn’t a wall near me during my hip op!!