Osteoarthritis (OA) can involve cartilage that has worn to the bone, bone cysts, and bone spurs (osteophytes). All of these things have the potential to cause pain and loss of range of motion. So it isn't unusual for those with advanced OA to experience pain even when at rest. As an example, before I had my THRs, I experienced what I called "sciatic" pain running down my leg from knee to foot that would bother me even at night. I would wake up every time I turned over in bed because it hurt if I moved wrong. Another phenomenon with hip OA is referred pain. What this means is that pain is felt that seems to be coming from somewhere else such as the knee or leg or back, but is actually pain that is referred from the arthritic hip to the new location. Sometimes knee pain or back pain send the patient off to the doctor and the source of the discomfort turns out to be the hip.

Has your husband consulted his doctor about the severe pain he is having? Assuming that he has already consulted a surgeon who diagnosed OA and prescribed THR? Does he have a regimen of meds to take care of some of the pain? I relied on naproxen until my surgery. It helped me some (I couldn't move without it) but in the end it wasn't enough and the only remedy was THR. Is there a particular reason that he is trying to put the surgery off?

As a veteran of bilateral THRs, I can attest to the miracle that is the THR surgical procedure. I look back and cannot believe that I put up with the pain and disability for as long as I did. No good reason except that I was scared of the surgery and didn't really want to believe I could need it at my age. I considered it a procedure for old people.