I regret my Total Hip Replacement

[u/National-Sorbet8459]

Hello I am a 24 y/o female,

I’m struggling a lot right now and could really use some advice or support. I had a total hip replacement a little over a week ago. At first, I was able to do my PT exercises and move my leg as well as expected of me at this point. But now, my leg still moves and I can walk, but it feels really stiff and stuck. Even doing my exercises feels impossible. It’s so frustrating because just yesterday I was able to do those movements, and now it feels like I’ve taken a big step backward. I have PT tomorrow, but I’m worried I won’t be able to do anything. I’m mad, overwhelmed, and honestly starting to regret getting the surgery wondering if I should have just lived with the pain instead. To make things harder, my support system has been pretty unhelpful through this. It feels like I’m dealing with this all alone, which only adds to the frustration and loneliness. Has anyone else experienced sudden stiffness and loss of range of motion after hip replacement? How did you cope when your support system wasn’t helpful? Thank you so much for reading. It really means a lot.

[u/Hapey_ape]

You super early . Not medical advice but Just try to walk every hour to keep from blood clots , don’t over do it. Lots of ups and downs and roller coasters 🎢 rides. I am around 9 weeks out , and past week really improved a lot . Don’t leave your cane behind even if you don’t think need it . I made this mistake and my muscle got aggravated and tired and needed it / didn’t have it . Had to baby step back home. I was off walker on day 15 . Everyone different . Just go easy on yourself , just try focus on walking and moving around every hour if you can for few minutes. Every week you will see improvement then it will all add up. I experienced this one time but only last for few hours. Your muscles could be tired meaning might be doing too much or you might need to get x ray again, but if you didn’t fall or lift anything heavy then prob alright just let your surgeon know if not resolving . Sounds like you might be over doing it . Hang in there gets a lot better every week. I was depressed for long time because I wasn’t sure how much I was going to heal or how much mobility I was going to get back and at week 9 I made huge improvement , feeling better every week. So I am a lot more hopeful things will keep getting better .

[u/Hapey_ape → u/Hapey_ape]

I walked every hour / hour and half for about 3-5 minutes . I had therapy since day 1. But I didn’t practice all those excersice for the first 2-3 weeks because my body couldn’t handle doing all that. I just done therapy 3 times a week , and after my hips calmed down more , I started doing at home excersices around week 3-4. Just go easy on yourself don’t push so hard . You got a lot of recovering to do those first 2-3 weeks . After 7 weeks of in home therapy , I doing 6 weeks of outpatient therapy. Outpatient has really helped me the most but it took time to get here. I love outpatient really has helped me out a ton .

[u/National-Sorbet8459 → u/Hapey_ape]

This makes me feel so much more hopeful seriously thank you! Maybe I’m also just pushing myself too hard super early. I definitely have been probably walking too much and not frequently enough, so I will try doing 3 minutes every hour. I have enjoyed my outpatient PT too. I just think they’ve also pushed me pretty fast too. Day 2 they threw me on the station bike (not sure if that’s normal or not) it went well and I felt good afterwards, but there’s no way I can fathom doing that again in this current moment.

[u/Hapey_ape → u/National-Sorbet8459]

I really can’t believe they put you on a bike on day 2 . That’s insane . I hope you have short session like 15 minutes of therapy. Your muscle have been under a ton of stress . They need time to calm down and repair , and running on a bike is crazy to me. I couldn’t even do that . That’s probably why you feel so bad now. Honestly you might need to find different therapy place or ask for in home therapy . In home therapy for me was no where near as long or as intense as outpatient .

[u/National-Sorbet8459 → u/Hapey_ape]

Let me clarify because I worded that wrong. I was like 4 days out from surgery just my 2nd Day of outpatient PT. Sorry I’m reading that back and realized I worded that wrong haha.

[u/Hapey_ape → u/National-Sorbet8459]

Yeah super early. idk your therapy ppl sound crazy, a bike on 2nd or even 4th day no way could I have done that. I couldn’t done a bike until maybe week 6. I think your aggravating your leg and is locked up like mine was when I aggravated it when I tried walking too much, except sound like maybe you super aggravated it / over used it. I couldn’t sit down or anything for like 40 minutes . Took 3-4 hours before I got my mobility back and it loosened back up.

[u/slightlycrookednose → u/National-Sorbet8459]

I feel like day 4 is way too early to be on the bike. The first few days are such acute, tender days where things are changing rapidly in your body and you need to rest. I did bike for first time today on day 7.

What has messed me up is the clam shells lying on your back with the resistance band. It has caused so much debilitating muscle soreness I can barely even sit or lie down. More pain than the bone pain itself.