Every Case is Different

Hello Hiprunners,

I haven’t posted in quite a while. I wanted to check in. I had a THR because of a birth defect in April 2017. My recovery took longer than most of the blogs I read here and certainly longer than I was expecting. I really felt that there was something wrong with me because I wasn’t running a marathon by month three. I ran right up until the day before surgery, even though I was on heavy pain medication by that point. My surgeon told me that my operation was difficult. They stretched my right leg an inch and a half. It was always shorter. It’s now nearly equal in length. However, I have muscular legs so it took some real tugging. The issue wasn’t the muscles and tendons (I was told) but the nerves that can only take so much stretching. Anyway, six months after surgery I was still on pain medication and still in pain the last time I checked in here.

I just wanted to tell anyone looking at these posts for help and encouragement that after a year and two months I am almost completely pain free. The small amount of pain that I do have some days is mostly back pain caused by years of being off-tilter. I was off pain medication in December of 2017 and rarely even take Tylenol now. I was walking several miles a day after Christmas and have even broke into a run here and there in the past month.

I don’t mean for this to sound conceited. I only say this again to help anyone who is discouraged. I was VERY fit going into surgery. I do weigh 200 pounds but very little of the weight is fat. The part that was most discouraging is that I felt my fitness would really accelerate my recovery. Perhaps I pushed my physiotherapy too hard. Maybe the fact that my leg was stretched….or maybe I had more serious back issues than I thought.

What I really want to stress for readers is that you may not be one of the lucky ones who is pain free before you even leave the hospital. Maybe not even three months post-op.  BUT DON’T LOSE HOPE.

Each person is different. Each case is different. Each extent of damage is different. You will heal. Life will get better. And eventually…just like me…you will be saying to yourself and everyone around you…I should have done this years ago.