Charles V. Toman, MD - 4/13/2009

Question
sir,
i had a hip pinning surgery on 17/11/08,now i could able to walk with full weight bearing but only for small distance after that i am getting pain in my knee joint.i dont have any pain in my hip.i have leg shortage of .5 cms,now pain is reducing in knee and getting pain in ankle

Answer
Sir,

First of all I would like to say that I am sorry that you are having to deal with this problem.  It sounds as though you sustained a hip fracture and then had it repaired.  Depending on the type of instruments used for the repair, you may have symptoms.  A pinning to me is placing three screws across the fracture.  To some people it can mean an intramedullary rod down the middle of the femur bone, with a screw into the actual fracture.  Do you know which type of surgery you had?  The reason i ask is that if you have an intramedullary nail in place, this can lead to some knee pain.  

Again, I think that by pinning you mean screws just in the area where the fracture was.  In this case the most likely reason you are having pain in the knee and or ankle is because of a Gait or walking disturbance secondary to muscle weakness and your new gait pattern after surgery.

Because you are bearing weight slightly differently and you now have a leg length discrepancy, it is possible that you are walking with a limp or in such a way that you are loading your knee and or ankle in a new way which may be straining these structures.

My advice at this time would be to see a physical therapist and have your Gait and strength evaluated.  A simple set of exercises and some tips regarding the way that you are walking may help you tremendously.

Please note that since I am unable to evaluate you or your X-rays, this is my best guess.  There are a number of different things that may be causing your knee and ankle pain.  If any of this progresses you should visit either your physician or the emergency room.

Let me know if I can help you further or if I missed any points that you requested and I hope that a solution is found soon for your problem.