Adhesions/Scar Tissue at Incision Site from Anterior HR

J

jaminhealth

Senior Member
Location
Santa Monica CA
I had a THR (Anterior Approach) in Oct 2010, so coming up on 8 yrs post op.

It's not been the greatest outcome, or even near satisfactory. Only thing I don't have is groin pain.

Many side effects including:

Shorter Leg
Femoral Nerve Damage
IT Band Damage

Now these years later I'm realizing a bulge at the incision site and rubbing and icing it today..So thinking it's scar tissue/adhesions.

My surgeon did a sloppy job so I won't go back to him....may have to find another Ortho to question.

Anyway, anyone have this issue? Massage work could help? Thanks.
 

I had both hips replaced with the anterio-lateral approach 5 years ago. I've never experienced anything like the bulge you describe. I think I'd have it looked at if I were you. It if were I, I wouldn't be rubbing at vigorously until I knew what it was.
 
Thanks, I can't believe mine turned out as it has, went for supposedly the least invasive and ended up with the worse complications. So much nerve damage and I've read on other sites about the nerve (femoral) damage from the anterior.

I have lower back OA and I'm sure so much of it is connected too.

Overall, how have your results been? Brave to do 2 at the same time. I have a friend who had a posterior at 82, then Anterior at 90 and does not walk any more. She was a walker and these surgeries just knock one out. I don't walk well and that's not why I had it done for sure...I was 72 at the time. Maybe younger people do better. I've read SO MANY replacement groups and omg the issues...

I just called the ortho who works with my knee or tries to, and he also does hips but not anterior and he can look at my hip issue. Just need to get there...not easy for me. j
 

I have read that THR is not necessarily the best way to go in the case of hip joints damaged by OA. THR was is more for impact damage? Fall, accident, etc...again ?
 
Well, all I know when I finally went to surgeon for consult and he showed me my xrays, the right groin was surrounded with jagged points of bones, it looked horrible, bone spurs I call them....the left groin was smooth.

Since THR no groin pain but a mess of complications from the surgery.

First 5 months post op were good, then everything in body settled and I went so downhill. Knee and foot/ankle....unbelievable. What we don't know what can happen.
 
jaminhealth said:
Thanks, I can't believe mine turned out as it has, went for supposedly the least invasive and ended up with the worse complications. So much nerve damage and I've read on other sites about the nerve (femoral) damage from the anterior.

I have lower back OA and I'm sure so much of it is connected too.

Overall, how have your results been? Brave to do 2 at the same time. I have a friend who had a posterior at 82, then Anterior at 90 and does not walk any more. She was a walker and these surgeries just knock one out. I don't walk well and that's not why I had it done for sure...I was 72 at the time. Maybe younger people do better. I've read SO MANY replacement groups and omg the issues...

I just called the ortho who works with my knee or tries to, and he also does hips but not anterior and he can look at my hip issue. Just need to get there...not easy for me. j
Click to expand...

Actually I had them done 30 days apart when I was 67. My surgeon wouldn't do both at the same time. My hip joints were collapsing and I would have been permanently in a wheelchair if I hadn't had them done. I could not get across the room without a walker. I put it off way too long -- I arrived at the hospital in a wheelchair and left it under my own power.

My results have been absolutely spectacular. I researched and talked to everyone I could think of about who was the best surgeon for hips and settled on a board certified surgeon here who only does hips and knees. He is considered the best hip guy in town. He does not do the anterior approach -- he told me at the time that he had seen too many problems arise from that approach, nerve damage being one of them, because the surgeon doesn't have enough room to work in the incision. Above, I think I said mine were done with it was the anterio-lateral approach, but I misspoke -- it was the posterio-lateral approach.

I had a fast and easy recovery and was SO thrilled to be able to walk again. I still am doing great. I have no pain at all in those joints. I am thankful and joyful every day because I can walk again. I spent several years screwing around trying to find some other option that would work because I was terrified of the surgery, and I sincerely wish I hadn't wasted all that time struggling and had had it done sooner. If I were having any trouble with my hips I would go back to that surgeon for a revision in a heartbeat. My world got WAY too small when I couldn't get around without awful pain and the constant fear of falling.
 
PS to my last post, Jaminhealth: I was born with a leg length difference and all my life had to wear built-up shoes to walk properly. When I had my hips done the surgeon was able to correct the difference by taking very careful measurements and varying the length of the prostheses and now, NO SHOE INSERTS and I can wear any shoes I want to, right out of the store!
 
Thanks, the thought of cutting on my body again just scares the hell out of me, I'll have it checked out by another surgeon who does anterior....could be what I'm living with is normal with all this, who the H knows what is normal though.

I know I was a lot more normal before the replacement....

Thanks for your clarification. I'm jealous.
 
rgp said:
I have read that THR is not necessarily the best way to go in the case of hip joints damaged by OA. THR was is more for impact damage? Fall, accident, etc...again ?
Click to expand...

Mostly, according to my surgeon, it is used for OA damaged joints. In my case, it was the only option because both the head of my femurs and the acetabulum were worn away and crumbling, so there really wasn't any there left there anymore. I do know two people who tried hip resurfacing with not real improvement and they both went on to have THR. If those bones are bad enough, and mine were, there is nothing else that will fix it.
 
Butterfly said:
Mostly, according to my surgeon, it is used for OA damaged joints. In my case, it was the only option because both the head of my femurs and the acetabulum were worn away and crumbling, so there really wasn't any there left there anymore. I do know two people who tried hip resurfacing with not real improvement and they both went on to have THR. If those bones are bad enough, and mine were, there is nothing else that will fix it.
Click to expand...

Just curious, did you have a really physical life? I danced and exercised all my life from starting at 12 with dance and then the gym life and dancing all the time. My left hip is OK but the right side of my body -- oh boy.

I do have a theory too about sugar and carbs and did a lot for the first 3/4 of my life, mom and her sisters all had OA too.
 
Butterfly said:
Actually I had them done 30 days apart when I was 67. My surgeon wouldn't do both at the same time. My hip joints were collapsing and I would have been permanently in a wheelchair if I hadn't had them done. I could not get across the room without a walker. I put it off way too long -- I arrived at the hospital in a wheelchair and left it under my own power.

My results have been absolutely spectacular. I researched and talked to everyone I could think of about who was the best surgeon for hips and settled on a board certified surgeon here who only does hips and knees. He is considered the best hip guy in town. He does not do the anterior approach -- he told me at the time that he had seen too many problems arise from that approach, nerve damage being one of them, because the surgeon doesn't have enough room to work in the incision. Above, I think I said mine were done with it was the anterio-lateral approach, but I misspoke -- it was the posterio-lateral approach.

I had a fast and easy recovery and was SO thrilled to be able to walk again. I still am doing great. I have no pain at all in those joints. I am thankful and joyful every day because I can walk again. I spent several years screwing around trying to find some other option that would work because I was terrified of the surgery, and I sincerely wish I hadn't wasted all that time struggling and had had it done sooner. If I were having any trouble with my hips I would go back to that surgeon for a revision in a heartbeat. My world got WAY too small when I couldn't get around without awful pain and the constant fear of falling.
Click to expand...

Do you have any OA in other areas of your body?
 
jaminhealth said:
Just curious, did you have a really physical life? I danced and exercised all my life from starting at 12 with dance and then the gym life and dancing all the time. My left hip is OK but the right side of my body -- oh boy.

I do have a theory too about sugar and carbs and did a lot for the first 3/4 of my life, mom and her sisters all had OA too.
Click to expand...

Yes, I was a runner, and in later years I ran on city streets -- cement and asphalt -- which according to my surgeon is the absolute worst thing you can do to your hip joints.

My mother had quite bad OA, and my sister has it also. She has had one hip replaced a year after I had mine done, by the same surgeon who did mine. She had an excellent result also. I also have a dear friend who had her hip replaced just a few weeks ago by that same surgeon and she is doing great. I took her to her checkup at his office 2 weeks ago. She is going to get her second one replaced soon. She was a martial arts instructor in her youth and did all that side-kick stuff, which is what she thinks ruined her hips.

My right hip was the one that first went really bad, followed in about a year by the other one starting to go. Then they both went downhill fast. I personally think that all the walking awkwardly and with a cane when the first one was bad made the other one go south so soon.
 
jaminhealth said:
Thanks, the thought of cutting on my body again just scares the hell out of me, I'll have it checked out by another surgeon who does anterior....could be what I'm living with is normal with all this, who the H knows what is normal though.

I know I was a lot more normal before the replacement....

Thanks for your clarification. I'm jealous.
Click to expand...

I don't think what you are living with is normal for hip replacements. I know a lot of people who've had the replacements and I know of only one who is having any trouble at all, and hers was caused by a bad fall she took about a week after the surgery and she broke her femur. She is going to have revision surgery soon, but they had to wait until they were sure her femur was all knitted up and strong enough to withstand the surgery.

Getting past the fear is the worst of it. I was absolutely terrified -- I mean so irrationally scared that I put it off for so long and went through a lot of suffering I really didn't have to just because I was SO scared. One of the things that help me was talking to a lot of people who had already had it done.
 
Butterfly said:
I don't think what you are living with is normal for hip replacements. I know a lot of people who've had the replacements and I know of only one who is having any trouble at all, and hers was caused by a bad fall she took about a week after the surgery and she broke her femur. She is going to have revision surgery soon, but they had to wait until they were sure her femur was all knitted up and strong enough to withstand the surgery.

Getting past the fear is the worst of it. I was absolutely terrified -- I mean so irrationally scared that I put it off for so long and went through a lot of suffering I really didn't have to just because I was SO scared. One of the things that help me was talking to a lot of people who had already had it done.
Click to expand...

As I said I was doing great first 5 months post op and then downhill. I don't think I'm alone as body becomes out of alignment...I've read too many reports on replacement forums about these replacements.

Good to hear you and your family and friends are good but millions do these replacements. Again, so much nerve damage from anterior is what I ended up with as well as IT band damage...which happens from all I've read to runners. I was not a runner but did a lot of exercise but don't think excessive but a pretty hard dancer.

I can't watch the LA marathon runners anymore running down my street, the agony and pain on their faces.
 
Jaminhealth, if you want to read up on people's latest experiences with joint replacement go to bonesmart.org, which is a forum similar to this one but just for people who've either had or are considering joint replacement. You'll get good (and medically sound) advice and information there, and be able to read a lot of people's stories. I was a member there for about 2 or so years before and after my joint replacements.
 
Butterfly said:
Jaminhealth, if you want to read up on people's latest experiences with joint replacement go to bonesmart.org, which is a forum similar to this one but just for people who've either had or are considering joint replacement. You'll get good (and medically sound) advice and information there, and be able to read a lot of people's stories. I was a member there for about 2 or so years before and after my joint replacements.
Click to expand...

I was a member there for some time but no longer but do go in and check new stories or old ones...enough issues with good reports. Thanks. I so fear more surgery as my hip turned out so awful.

I check in at Topix and Totally Hip Support too and enough problems from members too.

One member on Totally Hip group went thru having both hips replaced, infections set in, had to have them removed, went thru longterm IV's abx drugs, was in wheelchair, then went thru replacements again. Her story was and is horrific. So you are very fortunate and those who have no issues are very fortunate. j
 

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