Question
I had a total hip replacement over a year ago and the hip is wonderful.  The problem is that I have pain in my groin area, when ever I try to lift my leg (like up high steps or a marching motion, lifting leg into car, and worst of all any time I try to roll over at night).  I have been through two round of PT and Still have an issue.  I do have a leg discrepancy of just over 1/2 inch, but do have a insert.  I can point to the exact spot where the pain is, but no one has been able to figure it out.  My surgeon has run out of options.  Some of the things that I have found in my own research is that it could be a tendon issue, and there is an option to snip the tendon because it is being stretched due to length difference.  The other is to have the head replaced to correct the leg difference.  I just turned 46 and my fear is another surgery for the head replacement because at my age I will most likely need another replacement anyway down the road because they don't last forever.  The tendon snip, won't that cause that motion to be affected forever.  On top of all of this I had surgery over two years ago for a torn labium on the same hip.  So I have been dealing with hip/groin pain since 2005.  What are your thoughts or suggestions.

Answer
Joan

This sounds to me as if it is not connected with the prosthesis, but with a tendon or ligament.  When the legs are different in length pain will appear in the spine, or lower back and thighs.  You should be wearing your lift as much as possible.  I would in no way or form suggest that you go through another surgery just to replace the ball to make your legs even.  If you need a revision in the future, then you can address that issue, but to have another surgery for 1/2 of a difference, it's easier just to wear the lift.

If you have dress shoes, where you can't wear a lift, a good shoemaker will be able to cut a heel down by about a 1/4 of an inch to compensate for the difference of the legs.

When you sleep, try using a body pillow.  It may be that while you sleep, your legs are crossing and stretching in a bad position.  The body pillow will stop your legs from crossing and also stop any possible dislocation.  I never travel without my body pillow.

If it's a tendon or ligament, it's possible that trigger point massage can help release tension.  Look into that possibility.  The only thing is that trigger point massage may not be covered under your insurance policy.  But that type of massage is wonderful in dealing with pain issues and you can learn to do it yourself too.

You might also try heat, or water walking as those exercises don't do much with the movement of the groin.  

If your surgeon has not given you an X ray recently, I'd also suggest you get one to ensure there is no subluxation going on.

Best of luck to you.

Sharon