have you had hip replacement or resurfacing?

elly_bean83

Hi everyone!
I'm just wondering if anyone on here would like to share their experience with hip replacement and/or hip resurfacing? I had legg calve perthes as a child, which basically means my femoral head of my left hip is not round the way it should be. I'm almost 30 and have noticed pain over the last couple of years. X-rays have shown that it has become quite bad degenerative osteoarthritis. It has explained a lot of things for me! I need to have surgery on my hip, and after a MRI, I will know whether I am a candidate for resurfacing or will require full joint replacement. I am really worried about the recovery time. One, the fact that I will have to take so much time off for recovery and two, I am worried that I will never be able to get back to the high impact activities that I love!

Have you or anyone you know had hip surgery? If so, what was the recovery like? Are you able to run? Play tennis? Play sports? Any information you wouldn't mind sharing would be SO greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks for your time!!

elsewise

I'm sympathetic! I'm actually scheduled for hip surgery in a couple of weeks - November 6th - so I'd be happy to give you the rundown of my experience.

My hip bones are also shaped 'wrong' - mine's a condition called FAI (femoroacetabular impingement), likely something I was born with, and it means that the ball and socket don't match each other very well. I started to notice my hip clicking when I was 30, as I was training for my first half-marathon. Longer distances would give me a bad ache deep in my glutes. I went through a lot of exams, physio, x-rays, MRI, and eventually got diagnosed after about a year. Whenever my leg is bent at the knee and I'm bent at the waist, the bones rub and complain. The MRI showed that I've also managed to damage my hip lining. Cycling, running hills, kickboxing, yoga... all former loves, all are off the table for now. It's been really tough to limit my activity, but I've found ways around it. I still walk a lot - often for up to an hour a day - and I do some strength training to get my surrounding muscles strong before the surgery. I'm told that this can really help with recovery, so I'm doing my best to stick to it.

My surgery is going to be done arthroscopically to reshape the bones and fix the lining. It's day surgery, under general anesthetic, and I'll be walking that same night (albeit on crutches). I need to stick to crutches for 3-5 weeks (50% weight bearing on my recovering hip), no driving, and I think I'll be starting physio in the 3rd week.

I'm in Canada, so the surgery wait times are loooong, and it's been a 3-year process to get to this point. I did gain weight when I first stopped all of my activities, but careful food tracking has allowed me to lose over 20 lbs since May (which makes me happy - apparently every extra pound you weigh has 3 pounds of impact on your hips, so I'm trying to lighten their load if I can).

My mother-in-law had full replacements on both her hips (in her 50s) and it was truly life-changing for her. There are benefits to both full replacements (easier to swap out for shiny new parts than to try to fix broken ones, truly a night-and-day difference when you come out of the surgery) and resurfacing (less invasive, no need for additional replacements down the line) -- trust your doctors, get as many opinions as you need to feel comfortable with your choice, and work hard to make your surgery and recovery as smooth as you can. You're young (like me!) and otherwise healthy, I assume, which means that your body will have an easier time recovering from any surgery. The most important thing is that you get fixed so that you can get on with your life and get back to the activities that you love.

My personal trainer had the same surgery that I'm getting (with the same surgeon) 5 years ago, and in addition to strength training she plays tennis, ultimate, and skis. There are LOTS of people out there who've gotten back to their sport of choice after hip surgeries, and I'm sure you'll get there too. Take good care!