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Originally Posted by bossygirl  Well it is now 12 weeks post THR and I still have too much pain and cannot walk on my own without cane. I feel discouraged and wonder if it will ever go away? Did other people take this long as reading some posts here, sounds like most people are free of cane and pain at this stage. Is it due to not doing enough exercises? I am just 50, went back to work last week at 4 hours a day and this week is 6. I have a fair distance to walk to subway back and forth and by the time I am home, have alot of pain and not much up to more exercises. Is this normal or should I go back to see my doctor? Maybe it is just me, but I just wish I could walk properly on my own and not have this continuous pain. I do not want to be jacked up on pain meds all the time either. If anyone has insight for me, please advise and thanks for listening. |
Dear bossygirl:
It seems to me that walking a fair distance to your job, working 4-6 hours a day, and then walking back home the fair distance, is quite an ambitious program for only 3 months post surgery. I think all that walking you are doing is enough, that you don't need to exercise too. Just my lay person's opinion. Walking is the very best exercise after a THR they told us at rehab.
Your continuous pain may be your body telling you that you are doing too much.
I used my walker quite a while after hip replacement - I really couldn't tell you how long it was before I stopped using it around home, just for balance and security (I have a cat). I just know that I wasn't worried about how long this would take. Of course, being an old girl and not gainfully employed, I have the luxury of staying home. (I do all my own work.)
My general impression is that you are very early in your recovery and rehab.
Since you have a job outside the home, I realize that you cannot "baby" yourself, but surely you can allow yourself the comfort and safety of using a cane. I still, after more than a year, take my cane along when I go shopping - just in case I start getting tired and need that support. (I also head for the shopping carts right away, because they make good "walkers".
)
I do think that, all along here, you have been very impatient, and this is not a criticism. I too have always been very independent and active and it is/was hard for me, too, to slow down and let my body determine my level of activity or use of walking/support aids. I also did paid work for years after college so I know about work, too! And who of us doesn't feel reluctant to sport a cane! It somehow has old age connotations to some of us - like me, for instance!
Shirley H.
