Update 9th months on

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Hi fellow hippies.  Been a while since I was last on this site.  I had RHR with ceramic on ceramic, cements, posterior in July 2017.  My recovery went fairly well until around month 5 when I started to have awful pain in my thigh and at times could not even put my weight on that leg due to this.

I phoned my consultant and was told that I should push through and keep walking and doing normal things as it sounded like muscle problems.

I realised that my lifestyle means winter is a very quiet and inactive time and I spent a lot of time just sitting around.

Spring arrived and 400 ewes needed lambing at a friends farm, so I just got stuck in as there was no alternative.  Chasing sheep, kneeling and crawling around on straw (and mess !!!), carrying pails of water, bales of hay & straw etc for 12 hours every day for over a month.

Well guess what......I realised that my pain in thigh was very rarely there.  I just get odd times it reappears but I can feel that my muscles are much stronger and my mobility is amazing.  I think that the odd times I do get the thigh pain are possibly just a trapped nerve which goes away if I walk about.

My conclusion is that getting back to an active life as soon as able to will improve recovery.  

My husband recently broke his finger when lambing and had it put in a cast.  He continued with the lambing alongside me as best he could and when he had a check up after 2 weeks the doctor was amazed at his recovery and flexibility of the affected finger, saying that he had 80% of movement in the finger which was more than he would of expected even after 6 weeks!!!  My point is that this also proves that so long as we are careful, getting back to normal activity actually improves recovery.

2

I agree about the normal activity. Even though my thigh bothers me (had THR early January) I continue to keep walking and doing whatever I can. Always feel better after that.

3

Hi Sandra

I can relate to this. With nerve, tendon and muscle tissue damage it was very painful for the best part of 6 months after surgery but as time further progressed and  I was able to do more physical activities these are no where near as painful. I found following instructions from the surgeon & physio as well as knowing my limitations, very important, and then it was up to me.

All the best.

4

Sandra,

Well done on the recovery, and the discovery that more exercise often means less pain! 

Having retired now, and being inactive over winter has caused me some lower back issues, but I am now going to join a golf club to improve my general fitness, and use the gym which also has Pilates lessons .... hopefully that will sort it out.

Best wishes

Graham

5

YES!  Sitting on the couch or laying in bed does not help your body recover or get stronger.  The more you move the better you feel.  (within limits of course, stabbing pain is not good)