broken hip recovery advice needed...............

harry-s

First off, I'm not a rower....
I can assume the full tuck, nose to knees position, but after a few reps (single figures) it becomes pretty painful in the groin area. So, yes, FRM but not pain free. I'm a pretty keen swimmer, although not as keen as I was pre op, and I'm not able to do a proper push-off when turning for the same reason. 4 years post op.
Good luck!

hichoslew

Not a rower either, but range of motion is equally critical for climbers if not more...
Have been lucky on this front, having no problem at either hip or knee. Physio at ISEH even claims ROM of my injured leg is better than that of the good one (it was way better/stronger pre-injury to start with)

Update:
I'm pulling the plug, determined. All booked in for metalwork removal on coming Wednesday. Had a CT scan to be extra cautious.
The last straw was a major setback I've had since almost two months ago. Earlier this year, although not fully back to endurance and mountain activities, I was gradually back at jogging sub 6 minute pace, burning 4k active calories and scrambling grade 2 full day.
It all changed in Oct when I had lots of discomfort and paused everything for good. By isolating the muscle groups I suddenly figured it has been my quadriceps all along that atrophy rapidly. Once I decrease my training load ever so slightly, my right leg regresses. This was the 'dynamic' plateau that I said I hit in my last post. No one can throw me a hypothesis as to why.

Also concerned about AVN in the long run - read multiple papers where AVN is found to be more common with DHS than other treatment, diagnosed cases averaging 19 months post-op. With the implants removed, MRI is always the golden method to detect AVN at early stages.

amse1:
I feel your pain when it's basically written on NHS doctors' faces: you are expecting too high and asking for too much.

sungod:
This ISEH physio I met is more helpful than the other four I used before him. Though on this occasion he has to refer me back to the consultant when I informed him of my decision to take out the implant. My case remains open with him, I hope rehab will resume in a couple of months.

mrhippy

Hello all. Another story to add.

In September 2020, at 36, I managed to fracture my hip from a nasty fall during a run. It was fixed with 3 cannulated screws. 1 was removed a month after the original surgery due to bad placement (ouch), and the other 2 are scheduled to be removed in early March - hurts to lie on that side and wakes me up nightly.

Was sent for an MRI, and no signs of AVN/infection/bursitis, but they have agreed to remove the remaining 2 screws, which I am happy about.

After the original accident, I was sent for a DEXA scan on the advice of the physio and, to my surprise, was diagnosed with osteopenia. As an 85kg male who was spending some time in the gym and was by no means skinny/underweight, this came as quite a surprise. Since the accident, I've been spending more time in the gym and built a solid foundation of strength (and hopefully maintained or improved bone density), so I'm dreading the no-sports period after surgery.

On reading @conceptsails posts from 2009, I was shocked to read that they fractured within their screw holes so long after the hardware removal (4 -5 months?!) as I'd read that the suggested time off from any sport is 6 weeks.

@conceptsails - don't suppose you are still around?

The original recovery was brutal, with months of non-weight bearing, the muscle wastage on the side of the injury was insane. Wondering if anyone has had hardware removed and has any input/advice on return to activity? How soon were you able to take brisk 3-4km walks? I'm going to be terrified of lifting any significant weight for quite a while but wondering if isolation exercises with a physio might help to slow down any loss of muscle strength.

Thanks to all who have posted here. I lurked here and read the entire thread after my injury, and it was very useful to read about the experiences that other younger people had gone through recovering.

harry-s

Hi,

I think I mentioned it a few pages back (doesn't time fly?) but I had a similar injury, with screws removed after 2 years. As you say, the recovery and rehab after the first repair op was no picnic and almost 6 months before I was back on the bike, so I was feeling a bit apprehensive.

TBH, it was a doddle, - the op was in the morning and I was home for tea. The scar was enlarged from the original and the swelling was fairly spectacular. I was able to weight bear almost straight away iirc, although things were very tender for the first two weeks with the swelling being the biggest limiting factor. I haven't gone back to see what I wrote here at the time, but I think I was out and about pretty quickly after the op. A 3-4km walk within 2 weeks of the op, at a guess.

I'd got back to a good level of fitness before the op (which I'd recommend), so didn't lose too much in the weeks after.

I understand it can be a bit of a wrestling match to remove the screws.

Once everything had settled down, the pain I was getting from the screws was 95% gone, and sleeping on that side was fine, - impossible before.

I hope this helps, - good luck.

That must have been quite a fall.

mrhippy

harry-s said:

Hi,

I think I mentioned it a few pages back (doesn't time fly?) but I had a similar injury, with screws removed after 2 years. As you say, the recovery and rehab after the first repair op was no picnic and almost 6 months before I was back on the bike, so I was feeling a bit apprehensive.

TBH, it was a doddle, - the op was in the morning and I was home for tea. The scar was enlarged from the original and the swelling was fairly spectacular. I was able to weight bear almost straight away iirc, although things were very tender for the first two weeks with the swelling being the biggest limiting factor. I haven't gone back to see what I wrote here at the time, but I think I was out and about pretty quickly after the op. A 3-4km walk within 2 weeks of the op, at a guess.

I'd got back to a good level of fitness before the op (which I'd recommend), so didn't lose too much in the weeks after.

I understand it can be a bit of a wrestling match to remove the screws.

Once everything had settled down, the pain I was getting from the screws was 95% gone, and sleeping on that side was fine, - impossible before.

I hope this helps, - good luck.

That must have been quite a fall.

Thanks for the info, Harry. Glad to hear your recovery from the removal was relatively straightforward.

Just read your previous post, and I too was ignored for 2 years about pain at the screw site - I guess it's an NHS policy! Hope they can get to them okay after all this time.

The first screw removal I believe was somewhat complicated as it was particularly hard to find the correct screw under the fluoroscopy, so the op was longer than the original fixation but far less painful! They didn't put a compression dressing on so I ended up bleeding afterward and they wouldn't let me go home, so definitely going to ask for compression this time around. Hospital sleep, or lack thereof, cannot be good for recovery.

Very good to hear it helped you with sleeping on the affected side. Did they have any indication from x-ray/MRI for removal or was it purely based on the pain you were experiencing? I was told they normally need to see something radiographly at my last appointment but then had a surprise call from the surgery bookings team this week!