Hip Replacement

Bones, joints and muscles
1

I had a hip replacement a month ago and everything OK for a couple of weeks. However I have now developed painful
swollen ankles/achilles tendon on both legs, worse on the operated hip leg. Its not a blood clot or anything like that but this is the second hip replacement and the first one was nor like this. Anyone else out there experienced similar. Would appreciate hearing from you.

2

Yip and i was told immediately, raise them for a period of time 3x per day and within hours it worked.
Still have swelling behind the knee but using ice with that

3

I had pain in both calfs and achilles for about a week after the op. I was running quite a bit before the op and never experienced this tenderness before . I was very active as soon as I had surgery and it really was me walking differently that was causing it . Like wearing flip flops for first time in years and walking give same experience . this went away after first week as I lengthened stride and got more back to normal. And do put feet up above heart for a week or so to take down swelling it does work

4

hi. the other thing I’d add is wear supportive shoes to your heel esp it should help. tbh after a couple of weeks all sorts of aches and pains come out which after a week or 2 just disappear. I’m sure it’s all part of the healing process. the swelling def is - that’ll go with ice and elevation. I’m 14 weeks and still get puffy feet if sat and not elevated my feet all day - drove for 2 hrs over the bh and feet swelled but now settled again .I know when I got extra aches I just took extra dose of ibuprofen -which helped a lot as well.
best wishes in your recovery

5

Thank you. Am icing but not elevating, so will do that.

6

Will have to elevate more!

7

Thank you. Did you get swelling on your other ankle as well?

8

hi. both my legs including my feet etc swelled. seems to vary from person to person. my op leg was worse than my non op side tho. the best thing I did was elevate my leg. I’d put on a stone on weight immediately post OP when my swelling started and within 2 days of elevating my leg I’d lost half of that ( peed loads lol ). I got myself a stool so when I sat I was elevating one or the other. be careful you dont try to elevate it too high as itll hurt. I found somewhere your leg needs to be in line with your hip . and also advised by hosp not put anything behind your knee as it can alter how your hip sits. always remember the way your toes point is the direction your hip is sitting - why they advise you to sit if pos with your toes pointing upwards. dont bend foot inwards or outwards as can lead to dislocation in early days. once you get passed 10-12 weeks you can usually relax some of the restrictions. it’s a minefield of things to begin with .

9

Thanks for that Julie.