Question
QUESTION: Sharon,
 Thank you for all your advice in the last year. I have another question for you. I had hip dysplasia when I was born, I had 2 reconstruction surgeries. I had a hip replacement when I was 24. The cup came loose in 2007, had revision done in April, 2007. Had impingement so had the ball and stem replaced in July of 2007. Still had a lot of problems with impingement so in March of 2008, just had another surgery to try and fix it. My question to you is this, did you ever have problems with impingement? They cut my iliopsoas muscle in two spots as I had bone spur and impingement with scar tissue. With this last surgery I can not lift my leg. I have to learn to walk all over again and learn how to lift the leg. I am a little frustrated. Not to mention I have been on crutches for the past year. With all your surgeries how did you get your scar tissue to behave? Thanks.. Deb

ANSWER: Deb

I need a bit more information on impingement.  Can you clarify in layman's terms what impingement is?  The wording is confusing me.

Thanks so much

Sharon

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QUESTION: Sharon,
 Impingement for me was the tendons getting caught in between the cup and the ball or in the last case my iliopsoas muscle was rubbing over the top of a bone spur. Scar tissue pushed down my tendon and the tendon got caught in the cup and the ball thus being impinged. Does that help? Thank you for your time.. Deb

Answer
Hi Deb

OK, yes I do know what impingement is and I have had it as well.  In my case massage and trigger point massage helped me somewhat to deal with the pain and did break up some scar tissue.  But if you have massage, be sure and tell the therapist that you have a hip replacement to ensure they don't put your hip in a position that will lead to dislocation.  Efflurage and petrisagge (massage techniques) will help to break up scar tissue to some extent.

Learning to walk again is also something I had to do and it's painful and frustrating.  Trigger point massage helped somewhat with pain relief and I was able to learn to do it myself and that saved me money.  

Have the doctor ensure that your legs are the same length because since you had surgery on the muscle and it was cut, you need to ensure your legs are equal in length.

You've had a lot of surgery in a short amount of time and it takes a while for the muscle to heal since it's such a big muscle.  Try swimming or pool walking in warm water.  And you may need to rely on pain meds for a while as well.

I wish I had better news for you, and I do understand what you are going through and I wish you the best in your recovery.

Sharon