One Year 10 Months Post Right Hip Open SDD Surgery for FAI

Cant believe how long it has been since my last post....I can remember in my last but one post planning to just try and get on with life and forget about this hip stuff, until I was able to contemplate doing any more about them. Bear with me on this update, it might be a long one.....

I am still super pleased with the surgery on my right hip, it was absolutely the right thing to do. Since I last posted in January 2015, I have developed an issue with the 3 screws that were placed through the head of the trochanter. These screws are only there because of the type of surgery I had, in order to get to the joint they needed to dislocate the hip and to do that, they have to take off the head of the trochanter, and screw it back on. Once the bone had healed, the screws serve no purpose and it seems many people go on with their life never having an issue with them.

But for some people, the screws can become a problem. They can irritate the muscles and tissues  surrounding them, causing pain and swelling. I had thought that my screws had settled down, having been pretty bit sore through the early recovery phase, by 9 months post op, I had stopped thinking about them. But from about Feb 2015, they started to play up. It has been intermittent, mainly brought on by  “too much” walking but also is worse in the cold/damp weather. The feeling is a bit like something sticking in my leg but from the inside out, and also a bit itchy. Sometimes I get pain radiating down my IT band and very occasionally, a bit of groin pain. It is also uncomfortable to lie directly on, and a  press or knock to the area results in pain and the itching feeling. I also have a small swelling at the base of my scar, it often feels like I am sitting on an egg under my outer thigh.

I have tried not to be to disappointed by the problems the screws are causing as I know it should be resolved by having the screws taken out. But as I have just not had the time to be able to take a week off to have the screws out, I have found the pain from them rather frustrating as it is the only thing that makes me think about that hip.

Despite the screw pain. I have spent much of the year, so far, enjoying be able to ride o my horse, which given that my 1^st opinion hip consultant said was an “unreasonable expectation”, I shall forever be thankful to my 2^nd opinion consultant who fixed that hip. I have been limited by my left hip (more on that later) so made the decision to just take things easy this year, no travelling my horse to lessons, clinics or shows. Very little in the way of schooling (since my left leg prevents me from doing lateral work) Instead,  we have been “happy hackers”, riding out 2 or 3 times a week from the yard.

Back wise, I have only been to see my physio (Donna) for two episodes this year,  that said they were both quite horrible back pain episodes. The first was in March, when my upper back went into spasm. It was sudden and disabling pain, which felt like a bolt of lightning in my spine, and was unable to move very far for a good  few minutes.

During the treatments for this, Donna mentioned how rounded my upper back appears, and how I need to try and address my posture to decrease the amount of upper back pain I have, and stop me developing a “dowagers hump” in years to come (Google that and you will do anything to avoid it!) She suggested looking in the Alexander Technique (AT). So I started researching AT. It all seemed a bit “vague” to me, the Wikipedia definition of AT is here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_technique

Having a science/veterinary nurse background, I like facts, and struggle to understand phrases like “Sensory Appreciation” or “let your head and neck be free” and the Youtube videos  I watched seemed very odd, the AT teacher just making minute adjustments to a person as they sat, stood, lay down. But I have always trusted Donna, and if she thought AT could help me, then I would try it. I found a fantastic teacher in Bristol called Lisa Clarke. I went to my fist lesson, and can honestly say I didn’t really understand what on earth she was on about, but it intrigued me. So I kept going every week, from April to the end of June. One of the first things I learnt about AT is that it cannot be learnt from a book or a video, you have to have a lesson to understand it. And so I won’t go into great detail here, suffice to say I found the whole thing immensely helpful, and my posture has improved no end. Just making some minor adjustments in the way I use my back, neck and head I have improved my back pain no end, and If my upper back does feel pinchy, I know it is because I have been neglecting my AT techniques. Here’s a few link about AT:

http://cliftonalexandertechnique.co.uk/
http://www.alexandertechnique.com/
http://www.stat.org.uk/

So from April through to July I felt pretty good, both back and hip wise, the pain from the screws wasn’t to bad with the warmer weather and my left hip was behaving pretty well. I also started Yoga in May. One of my husband’s friend’s wife was a newly qualified teacher and I have always got on well with her when we have met so I decided to give it a go. I think she was a bit worried she might be getting me doing something that would hurt me, when I listed out all my issues, but she was brave enough to take me on and I had a couple of private lessons before joining in the group class on a Thursday. I have found it very beneficial and slightly less intense than pilates,  of course there are a number of poses that I cannot, and some that I should not do, but I know how to listen to my body and not push it to do things that will be detrimental.

July and August are traditionally my most busy months work wise. I run a pet care business and so the summer means long days driving around the many cat care at home visits that come hand in hand with the school holidays, and people going away. I also had some donkeys to care for two weeks. All that aswell as my usual dog walks and looking after my own animals. Something had to give and in the end, it was my lower back and left hip. I struggled through those two months, and had to stop riding my horse because of my left hip. I was having a lot of groin pain, ITB pain and SI joint point. My lower back spasmed a couple  of times, and I managed to control it myself with medication and stretches. Then, in August, it all went very wrong. I was in tonnes of pain, left and right hip and all across my lower back. I sent to see Donna a few times and she said the issues  on the left side were to do with my Psoas and piriformis muscles, and that the issue on my right was my lumber disc disease rearing its head and putting all the muscles on that side into spasm. The last time I saw Donna was the 17^th August and she did some manipulations that she hadn’t done to me before, along with some acupuncture and massage. It was really full on and very painful but oh my word, how wonderful I felt 2 days after. She is an amazing physio!! We were due to go on holiday to Wales the 1^st September so I decided it was best to not attempt riding my horse until we got back from that, to give my back and hips time to settle back down to “normal” 

My plan for my left hip has always been to get it fixed over a winter, as I tend be quieter work wise and as a real outdoorsy person, if I have sit around recovering during any months, I would rather it be the winter ones. I couldn’t have contemplated it last winter, I was pleased with my other hip allowing me to get back to horse riding- and skiing! But through the middle of 2015, I can feel that my left hip is starting to deteriorate, I am getting more in the way of stabbing groin pain,  SI joint pain, and part of me longs to know how much more stable my lower back will feel with a matching pair of correct hips. Plus, I am through with taking it easy. I want to gallop my horse on the beach , school him, go to clinics with him, take him on holiday to see, and ride with my friend in Wales. I want to go kayaking. I want to go on proper walks, the sort of walks where you need to wear proper hiking gear, where you have to pack you rucksack with an OS map, food, a flask of tea, waterproofs, a torch and a fist aid kit. I want to walk the Cornish Coastal Path, the Mendip Hills and Snowdon. The only I see me doing those things is if I can get this gammy old left hip fixed and get properly fit again.  So, when we got back from our holiday, I set the wheels in motion to get my left hip looked at. I have an appointment to see my surgeon in Truro on the 25^th September.

Snowdon