Severe Nerve Pain after Hip Replacement Surgery

I have been living with chronic and debilitating pain deep in the groin shooting down my left leg to the base of my knee. It hurts to walk and to roll over in bed. I can sit without pain but getting up feels just like it did before my hip replacement. The surgeon who did the replacement sees no cause for the pain, after x-ray and bone scan. One neurologist said it was from my spine but the MRI doesn't support that. I had ESI injections to no avail. I've taken flexoril, hydrocodap, lyrica (which did nothing so the second neurologist switched me to cymbalta). I have to use a cane just like I did before the hip was replaced. Please know that I had had my other hip replaced but the same surgeon used a side entry procedure. I have had no pain in that side. I've also tried physical therapy, heat, medical massage, traction, getting off lipitor for awhile and acupuncture. Nothing seems to work. I'm considering going to a Pain Management Center. Has anyone else had chronic pain like mine after the anterior hip replacement procedure? It is a procedure where the surgeon cuts in the front while you're in a traction table on your back, but does not cut through any muscle and then pulls the opening apart to do all the rest of the replacement actions. I'm thinking that the surgeon may have damaged a tendon and the attached nerve with all the pulling. There is a lot of scarring. How can I find the cause of the chronic pain?

It has been three years since receiving a titanium hip on my left side. The first two years were great. I could walk without pain, work at stucco and plastering without pain, even to lifting heavy objects and walking with them. But in the last 6 months I have experienced sharp, crippling pain from within the surgery site, specifically the socket area that will sometimes radiate down my outer thigh. Terrible! My doctor said he had no clue. My Chiro said it was my lower back and started treating me. He put me on an unit that hangs me upside-down and it did quickly help. I also, under his guidance, took 2 enteric coated aspirin every 4 hours. Yet still times arrive when the pain becomes so much I can only sit and watch life pass me by. I know where the pain is, but no doctor takes me seriously. At times it feels like the socket has come loose and/or the pin for the ball portion has pulled loose of my thigh bone. These pains are no joke, and I wish someone would take our problem on in a serious study to find the cure. Maybe going in with a little camera and looking around, pulling and twisting the leg to see what happens in real life.

It has been just over two years since I had a titanium hip on my right side. I have been in pain since day one. The pain is deep in my groin shooting down my leg to just below my knee. Inner thigh and buttock area too. I can't sleep at night and hurts to roll over. I am in pain 24-7. My surgeon said sometimes it could take two years for recovery. I went for a second opinion, they took x-rays and said they look fine. Sent me for a bone scan and everything looked good their too. Said it might be from my back, so they sent me to a back specialist. They took x-rays and said their was some problems, but not too bad. (I know that this pain is not from my back). They sent me to a pain management doctor. He gave me at least a dozen cortizone shots of which none of them relieved the pain for even a day. Then he said he could not help me. Then I went to a Chiro... and helps for a day or so with some pain relief, but not much.
I don't think my doctors realize how much pain I am in. They are running test again, now that it has been over two years and the pain is only getting worse. If anyone has suggestions or want to contact me, my email is _[removed]_
Hopefully someone will find out what this is!!

I just saw your post which is several months old. I have had 2 hip replacements (left and right). In the first hip replacement, my lateral femoral cutaneous nerve(Sp?) was damaged and I suffered acute nerve pain for almost 2 years. It was treated with Neuratin( an anti seziure drug). The nerve pain gradually subsided and now I am pain free on the right side. Three years after the first hip replacement I had my left hip replaced. It will be 2 years in December 2009. Despite many months of physical therapy I can not walk without a cane and I have severe and persistent pain in my prothesis. The Doctor did a bone scan and an MRI and says that the prothesis is not loose, but the pain persists and I am becoming more disabled by the day. I am only 62 years old and otherwise in good health. Can anyone offer any advice or suggestions?

I was diagnosed with a congenital hip problem at age 31.. I had a surgical hip dislocation done on my left hip in 2006. Six months later, a second surgery to remove hardware, and clean up the joint some more. I was able to rehab and resume normal activities.

In August of 2008, I had surgical dislocation of my right hip. The surgeon discovered I had severe damage along with a labrum tear. Soon after the surgery, I had joint popping and tremendous pain. After that, I had three arthroscopic surgeries done in Oct, Nov, and February to try to relieve symptoms and pain. In July (2009) I had total hip arthroplasty performed by a new surgeon (my old surgeon does not do hip arthroplasty). I also had severe retroversion, and my pelvis had to be broken and reset to re-align the acetabulum. Since the surgery, I have had little pain relief. I am almost four months out, and am now seeing a pain specialist. My pain has not improved. On the fourth surgery my psoas tendon was debrided. At that point, I could not lift my leg at all. Currently, any sort of flexion causes tremendous lower back pain that radiates through my buttock. A MRI was performed, and I do have a herniation between L5-S1. The facets are slightly being compressed. I have had my SI joints ablated, one epidural and facet injections. My pain subsided a bit, but increased significantly the past two weeks. I am unable to sit for longer than three hours. I saw my hip surgeon today, and he said that the pain is back pain, the hip looks structurally sound per the x-ray. He referred me to a back surgeon. I am currently on disability and I feel that my surgeon has just bounced me to another doctor. My pain specialist has me on Mobic, Skelaxin, and Percocet. I am attending Physical Therapy twice a week, however my pain limits my recovery. I am also going to a Muscle Activation specialist, and water therapy. I do not feel like my pain is any better prior to the first surgery. The pain also got noticeably worse after the fourth operation.

My life has significantly changed. I was an avid runner, and exerciser. I can barely walk around the block at this point. I am unable to clean my own house. Sitting is horrible. I get relief if I lay down and get my feet up. I try to do little activities daily, but I feel that I am limited by my pain significantly. When I see friends, they notice a change on my face/demeanor within several hours.

I am getting discouraged because I assumed I would have progressed much further at this point. I feel that I am being disregarded by my current hip surgeon. My job required me to travel weekly. I know I could not return to those activities at this point. I feel that my surgeon does not believe I am still in pain. My pain specialist is in the same practice, and was asking me earlier this week if I was feeling down. I am, because I feel like there is no end in sight. i do however, keep plugging away at my rehab and trying to move forward.
Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated. I am going to try acupuncture next week.

I had a total hip replacement on my left hip in Jan.1999 at the age of 37 due to a car accident . I started having problems with my lower back two months after I started walking again on a full time basis. I again went to my surgen who told me I had arthrisis in my lower back and hip. He told me to go to physical therapy again which helped. Well I lost my job due to the fact that I had limitations. I did ok until Apr.2005 and every since the I have been in nothing but pain til this day. I have gone to doctors and they have continue to tell me that there is nothing wrong with my hip. I have pain in my groin, in the socket area, thigh area, I have had aloud thump noise from the socket area when I move my leg up and down and at sometimes extreme pain, pain when I get up and begin to walk, lower back and down my left leg front back. I have been prescribed all diferent medications which did nothing to help the pain . I can't sit for long periods of times and have trouble sleeping. I turn to alcohol and drugs in attempt to get rid of the pain which only worked until it wore off. I have learned to just block the pain out in my mind and not think about to the point that it is unbearabe to this day. I have did different jobs which I shouldn't have been doing and even at that I could not tell them my condition in fear of not getting hired to do the job in attempt to survive in society today. Because of my condition I have lost everthing I owned and become homeless because of the pain and some days I can barely walk sit and stand up due to pain. I have recently begun going to VA Medical Center in search of some relief of this chronic pain I have been enduring for some four years. And guess what they found that there was something wrong with my hip come to find out my hip is loose in the socket , the socket lining has been breaking off into pieces into my body, and in that area I have some bone growth. I am scheduled to have surgery on my left hip in Dec.2009 and after that they are going to look at my lower back afterwards. Until today I Thought that I was alone in this extreme pain that I have been going through for all these years until I read this today and have found some relief that this is and have been a problem with others with total hip replacements. And that for all the trips I have made to the doctors I was not being made out to be crazy and it was nothing wrong with me and the pain was only in my head. I THANK YOU ! I will keep everyone updated on what happens.

I was 11 when i was diagnosed with cancer in the bone of my right hip, i had Chemo and they removed my right hip bone, they cemented it in just above the knee i believe and basically, i had a pain that got worse and worse that was also described identically to the grandfather of this post, it got to 3 and half years in, and it had reached the point, i couldnt manage any longer than a few hours at school then i would be crippled rest of the day/night in pain. The next morning however the pain would be completely gone, i would go to school again, and it would happen again, although i lived through it for too long. I went back to my consultant and had xrays etc, there were no signs of loosening or anything wrong with the implant, Still i had an operation to have it replaced i believe, although it was a case where, they went in, checked if the cement in the bottom of the implant that kept the bottom of the implant and the bone above my knee together, and that seemed fine, they then checked the socket, when they first did my operation, they didn't change the hip cup, not sure of the term if there is one, but, basically, it was severely worn, the metal ball had been scraping away, and i was told was very viewable that it had been damaged, they basically put in a new cup, not sure what material, but in all honesty, i hated having to go through it all again, and at the age of 15 and having 2 hip replacements, it ruined my last childhood, and i just wish i'd had it done normally, i used to go out on my bike because it seemed my hip could last longer that way, but at the age of 15, i needed to be able to walk further, like a normal person, i once went on holiday, found that the whole holiday was useless, i could go to the bottom floor of the hotel, go to the restaurant, and that was about it, i couldn't go anywhere do anything, on the last day i decided to try the pool, it was indoor and didn't seem appealing so, i put it off until i was bored out of my mind, that last day i couldn't walk normally, but lets say i could walk x15 what i could the previous days, although that was just a quick fix, that was something that proved to help my leg until the operation. I can happily say now, i do get the odd pain in my leg, don't even know what its down too, although my life has improved dramatically, i went from basically a cripple 95% of the time, other than most things like less muscle etc, and not being able to run, I'm basically normal again, i can walk as far as i want, lets say, the pain in my right leg when i've walked too far, is the same as my right, and is just "normal" if that makes sense, i mean fingers crossed it doesn't happen again any time soon, if ever, but i just wanted to share my story because i put it off as long as i possibly could and i just wish i could turn the clock back and of told my surgeon to put the cup in, in the first place. Please don't put it off if you have these symptoms, i needed to have the operation and i kept putting it off due to fear basically.

I hope this helps someone :-)

Hi all...
Febrary and April 2008
I had a left hip surgical dislocation to resolve impengment syndrome
the surgeon found there was no cartilge left on the ball or cup.
xrays and mri's did not reveal this, only surgery
replaced left hip 12 weeks later. both posterior approach.
I have had hip pain due to bursitis for a long time since the surgery,
which is being treated with injections and PT
The hip pain we cannot solve is if I spend any time standing, i feel as if
something is trapped and suffer sharp pain with each weight bearing footstep.
Doctor says there is nothign wrong "inside", yet there is where the sharp pain eminates.
I stood for 3 hours yesterday wrapping presents, and suffer today with a contant dull ache and sharp
pain with each step.

My mom has had severe pain in the hip that she had hip-replacement surgery on for the last 7 years. If not for the pain medication that she takes to control the pain ( and she does need a higher dose that what is typical) she would not be able to live - she says. We just went through a horrific weekend where she ran out of her medication and the refill medication was late getting to her. She has seen many doctors and had many scans and x-rays and no seems to be able to help her. After seeing all these similar posts, I wonder why the medical community cannot do more to help these people?

My husband had hip replacement in 2006, revision in 2007 along with find out his psoas tendon had been severed in half. He had been in constant debilitating pain ever since. He has had every test possible, had an injection into the psoas tendon with 6 hours of relief for the first time since 2006. but we cannot find a surgeon to release the tendon, everyone is now telling him that it is in his head. What is your physician name..

My husband had a hip replacement 15 mos and has gone perhaps 10 days without severe pain since that time. It is awful. We have been from doctor to doctor - again he is discounted, he's heard the story about the back also - and has seen two neurosurgeons who find no lumbar problems. They have treated for an infection and ultimately put in a Pic line - followign a nuclear medicine study that indicated there was no infection. All signs indicate no infection at this time and yet he's in bed with pain unable to get up and so, so depressed. Hip replacement was supposed to be a relief. If anyone has had any luck - please pass it on. I am really getting angry at his orthopedic surgeon - there was no counseling that this was a possibility. My husband is a young man - it's just not right - and it is really not right to not listen to him.

I am 62 and broke my hip (9/12/09) when bucked off a horse. They performed a THR on my right hip. I had a DVT in my right calf. I have followed all instructions, eat healthy, exercise, did swimming and PT and continue to PT and exercise. I am an active person who is not overweight. I have had chronic pain in my hip joint, groin, mid thigh, and buttocks since the surgery. I cannot tolerate most pain medications (severe stomach pain) and have tried homeopathic and acupuncture. I feel like they did something wrong. I have talked to 6 people who had hip replacements and they are without pain and very happy with their new hip - one person I know has had both hips replaced and is still fighting infection in both. They all had degenerative reasons for the THR. I am struggling to live with this pain and very frustrated that there do not seem to be answers WHY? I nearly lost everything I have worked for all my life in financial collapse during the course of recovery (or lack thereof) from this hip replacement. My doctors avoid me and have no answers. I am really frustrated about where to go next and do not want to hurt like this for the rest of my life. I have never believed in suing as an answer but now I feel like there is no other way. Has anyone ever sued over chronic pain after THR? I would like to hear from you if you have. I feel like I have been "left out to dry"

Previous post - 62 yr old with hip replacement. My horse accident and hip replacement occured 9/12/08, not 09 as posted.

62 yr old woman in excellent health bucked off horse, broke hip, had THR 9/12/08. Followed all instructions, had PT, swimming, eat healthy, exercise. Have had continual hip, buttock, groin and mid thigh pain. I have severe stomach reactions to main medications so am living with this pain. Doctors avoid me and have no answers. I am at a loss as to what to do. Sitting, walking standing, laying in bed for any period of time HURTS! Over time my lower back on the right side (THR) has begun to hurt. I limp. I have had severe financial loss and lost my medical insurance. I feel like something was done wrong. Has anyone ever sued over this lingering chronic THR pain? I would like to hear from you. My sympathies go out to anyone who has ended up in this situation.

I had deformed hip since I was little. In fact my left leg was shorter about 40mm. I had S-Rom Ceramic hip replacement in March 2009 at North shore Hospital in New Zealand. My surgeon told me he will aim to equal my legs before operation but all depends on my nerve flexibility.
After operation he informed me that my left leg has been stretched and now is only 5mm shorter than my right leg with now sign of nerve pain in my heal ( I have measured and it is 9mm short not 5mm). Three month after operation I felt something like pain but not quite right( hard to describe the feeling) in my left heal when I bent. A year on my leg is perfect with no pain at all and I am going to see him this month. I will ask him if he is able to do something about that 5mm short. I am now 49 year old. I hope this can help you guys with your hip operation outcome.

Cheers
Nader :-D