Question
Dear Mrs. Davis,

My father had hip replacement about 11 months ago. He is 65 years old. The surgery went very well and after 3 days he
was home.The first 2 weeks he had fast recovery and the physical therapist who would come to his house said she had
never seen such a fast  recovery and that his leg was very strong.  However, 3 weeks after the surgery he had an
infection and according to the doctor his body rejected the staples (Johnson & Johnson) used in the surgery. The
infection was cured. He was accompanied by the Doctor the whole time.  A few months later, since he still had
problems walking and pain was not improving,  the doctor asked him for several  exams to verify if the prothesis was
in place and to eliminate the  possibilities of an infection. The exams showed that the prothesis was in place and that
he had a small inflammation around the prothesis.
He has also been under the supervision of  physical therapist the whole time (his physical therapy now is done in a
swimming pool and he is walking with no cane.

Unfortunately, he still feels a lot of pain and the doctor says it is a muscle problem. He continues with his physical
therapy and is doing accumputre. The day he has physical therapy he actually feels more pain to walk. Do you have any
advice on how his recovery can be improved?  

Answer
Hi Patricia

I'm so truly sorry for what your father is going through.  

At 11 months post op, all the muscles that were cut in order to insert the prosthesis should be healed.  People continue to sometimes experience muscle pain after THR surgery, but it's not constant, only intermittent, so the fact that your dad still has pain is something to be looked at.  THR patients do have pain on and off post surgery, but it's pretty much on and off and normally disappears after few days.

The possibility I am thinking is that maybe he has suffered nerve damage.  I have some nerve damage in one knee stemming from a difficult revision which was done 10 years ago.  My surgeon told me if the pain does not go away in 18 months, it's nerve damage. Currently I still have pain on and off, and have learned to live with it.  I do take meds once in a blue moon if it really hurts.

The other possibility is that, although your dad's doctor says the inflammation is small, that inflammation may be hurting him.  I would question the doctor and ask, what the possiblity another infection would arise from this current inflammation.

As far as recovery, is your dad doing non impact activities?  Pool walking is very good, and some of the health facilities have hydro-riders which can be put in the pool for use.  I would suggest that he tries to do as much of non impact exercises and see if that helps with the pain.

Sharon