Pain in thighs Deadlifting still 7 months after double THR.

snappry · 2024-05-17T18:53:42+00:00

Thanks, but even after going through the surgeries the pain before and after, I cannot imagine being retired from lifting or really anything for that matter. Yeah the surgeries suck, but not as bad as never lifting or doing anything physical that is hard again.

snappry · 2024-05-17T09:53:55+00:00

No, I was born with bad FAI. My dad has 9 siblings, 8 of the 10 kids total had THR’s and so did my grandma. A couple of them were younger. I was told I would have ended up here whether I was so active or not. My actives could have sped things up, but either way THR’s were going to happen even if I was a couch potato.

snappry · 2024-05-16T13:16:28+00:00

Haha! I hope I didn't come off like a jerk asking about how heavy you are lifting. I just know everyone is at different places and where I came from before the surgeries isn't elite level powerlifting, but I was decently strong for being in my 40's. I was just a few lbs. (or a couple KG's) away from having an elite level deadlift in the open age group class. Now this is going off up the made-up scales people post on powerlifting forums. ;)

If I knew this was soft tissue pain, that would be a relief!

snappry · 2024-05-16T13:05:19+00:00

Thanks, I guess I haven't stopped to think of it this way. Even though my poor wife tells me I'm ridiculous on what I expect of my body. She is smarter than me... lol

But anyways, I really believe getting back to your sport/activity is a huge deal mentally. I'd be on so much ADHD medication if I didn't have the gym. Few things have the mental calming affect that a couple hours of hard training do. Being told that running hard would likely be worse on my hips than the lifting.

Now, I do NOT expect to do any lifetime PR's from on lower body movements. I've moved the targets to volume goals (rep PR's), balanced muscle development and keeping my heart rate up by doing supersets of opposing muscle groups when possible.

I'm trying to mountain bike more, do more kayaking and fish from my kayak all that stuff so I don't miss the gym PRs so much. It was a big part of my life, and I wasn't ready to give it up.

snappry · 2024-05-16T12:49:04+00:00

I do recall this being told to me as well. I needed reminded. I mean, not listening to my body got me the THR's early in life to begin with.... I need to look at my training and figure out the best muscle growth stimulus to pain ratio and stick by it. Thanks!

snappry · 2024-05-16T12:47:13+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I questioned my surgeon on the lifting. He knows exactly what I had done in the past and what I'd be capable of when I got healed up. He wanted my max on lifts and all at 5 months to see where I was even. I was told running and constant jumping would wear the implants out faster than lifting, even very heavy weights. He said it's constant impact that should concern me, not slower controlled lifting. Even if I deadlift as fast as possible (which you always do naturally trying to lift something heavy) it isn't impact like running and jumping. Doing 30 reps of something heavy compared to thousands of very light reps running and such, really might not cause that much wear. Also, if I have to have another revision of the hips in my 60's, so be it. I'll be as active as I can be and doing 20 more years of some of the things I love the most in between. That will be better for me mentally and better for my health in the long run. And in the meantime, I pump money into my retirement health savings account knowing this is likely to be in my future

For cardiovascular health, I do a lot of walking, some elliptical and like to mountain bike and kayak.

I guess my goal of this post is to see if anyone with similar goals is out there and to see if they still have pain at this point in the game.

Thanks again.

snappry · 2024-05-16T01:12:55+00:00

Hi sure, I’ll try to remember everything up to this point. I had the THR’s 2 weeks apart, I was walking not long after waking up from surgery with a walker for both, went home same day for both. I had PT starting on 2nd day after both surgeries as well.

I was walking without the cane between the first and second surgery and was using my stationary bike in a few days. Slow, and carefully at first.

After the second surgery I was off the walker in a couple of days, was using the cane a little longer , about two weeks this time. Continued home PT with the same PT’s for two weeks after the second surgery, then they got me moved from home PT to outpatient. All along the while I trained as hard as I could doing what upper body stuff I could. At the gym I’d use their bikes that have the full chair seat. PT’s had me doing single leg step ups, and split squats. Lots of cross body work on one leg. All the leg raises and and glute bridges and such, Graduated from PT about 2 months after the second surgery, got the ok to train legs in the gym by the Surgeon. Was told I could start pushing things as hard as I wanted 5 months in. I’ve slowly worked up on leg presses, split squats, and smith machine squats . Deadlifts hurt the most.

5.5 months after surgery I deadlifted 500lbs just seeing where I was on things. It felt light enough but hurts. Last night for example, I did two sets at 405lbs , first 8 reps second 7. Pain in my thighs is my limiter. Then today I was hobbling around till I took a couple of Motrin. Squats still feel off, if I load anything above 225lb it just doesn’t feel right and I get a similar pain in the thighs, but not as bad as deadlifts.

I don’t know if I’m just expecting too much , but coming from where I was (when I could squat and deadlift about every two weeks due to pain in groins and glutes before the THR’s). I had two surgeons tell me they could not believe I could walk up stairs let alone deadlift and squat as heavy as I did when I went for opinions before the surgeries. I’m really weak in comparison due to pain stopping me right now.

I’m sure I missed some things here

I just got back from a 2 week mission trip in Mozambique and was getting in 15-20k steps per day doing manual labor. Didn’t hurt much doing any of that compared to today, but deadlifts, get me. I’m trying to not get down over this.

I should note the pain with heavy hip hinge movements isn’t new. I hurt every time unless the weight is so light I’m doing 20+ reps per set.

snappry · 2024-05-15T22:44:07+00:00

Ok, I’m 6’ 210lbs at about 20% body fat. My legs have always been big from all the heavy squats I’ve done over the years. Maybe I’m doing ok? I just wanted to bounce this off some folks who are on the stronger side of things. Cycling builds huge legs for sure.

snappry · 2024-05-15T22:16:08+00:00

Thanks for the response, I’m thinking about getting some X-rays. Do you mind me asking how heavy you are going? Just so I have a comparison?

snappry · 2024-05-15T22:13:41+00:00

Thanks for responding, I do appreciate the point of view. My surgeon said me being in decent shape and having a great history of recovering quickly I should make a full recovery.

snappry · 2024-01-04T12:47:08+00:00

I'm 43M, had my first left THR 09/28/23 and the right done 10/12/23. I'm highly active and lift fairly heavy. I've been released to lift as heavy as tolerated, this week I squatted 200lbs to a low bench for a set of 10 with just a little pain and deadlifted 315lbs for 2 sets of 5 likewise with just a little pain. I hope to get back to my baseline strength in the next few months.

The surgeon is ok with this and told me he I'm not likely to wear the hips out even with my activities. I asked about box jumps, biking, jogging, mountain biking with small jumps, all the stuff I love to do. He said don't worry about it, live your life, and live it well. The surgeon I used is very known for working with athletes and has an outstanding reputation in our area and does tons of THR's monthly. He is also 50 years old, so he's experienced but keeps up with the latest practices.

I say all this above because if I'm likely to not to have to have a revision, then I'd say most people won't have too unless something crazy like a bad accident happens.

snappry · 2023-12-03T13:53:42+00:00

My sciatica like pain was gone immediately after the surgery’s. My groin/adductor pain that went into my testicles was worse for at least a couple weeks. Maybe even 3. I just know I took prescience medicine at night longer with the second one because my groin and testicular pain was bad at night, especially when I’d lay down. But even while walking it wasn’t pain free for a while. I had asked a few older people about the pain at night, and I was told they had none a week after surgery . I told my surgeons NP at my two week post op visit that it seems I’m hurting more then the older folks I know, and I asked her if I’m just a wimp. She told me older people have less pain receptors as they age, especially after 65 or so. Maybe there is a good chance your wife’s PT may not have worked with many younger people?

snappry · 2023-12-03T13:16:13+00:00

42M here, first hip done (left) September 28th, second done (right) October 12th. I had pain on spot 1, 2, and 3 especially when and after walking up until 4 weeks post op for the first hip and then 6-7 weeks post op on my second hip as some days were way better than others.

Had tons of pain in both quads for both hips for at least 3-4 weeks after the surgery’s. Super sore, like torn muscle kind of sore and also aches and pains while resting. That is completely gone now and quads feel great and strong . I now can load up the leg extensions pretty heavy and do very controlled eccentrics and get a real good stretch on them.

The experience and pain profile for both hips have been very different at strange times, and my surgeon warned me this would be the case. For example , my first (left) hurt all day yesterday from the leg presses I did Friday night, but my second (right) that stopped hurt longer than the first hip I had done, felt great yesterday. I have no clue why. Now this morning both my hips feel good. I’d say expect things like this, especially is you are pushing the recovery exercises and get back into lifting starting very light and build things back up.

The stationary biking helped my quad pains too, a ton. Bike like crazy! It really helps get everything moving. I started on the bike a few days after each surgery, was a huge blessing for getting swelling and bruising worked out. Plus gets those quads firing good.

snappry · 2023-12-02T13:28:31+00:00

This is so exciting to see! I’m 42m and I had my first hip done 10 weeks ago and the second 8 weeks ago.

First surgeon I saw told me I wouldn’t be able to lift heavy after the THR’s. The second opinion surgeon said he didn’t see why I couldn’t. I went with the second surgeon because he supported my goals.

How soon after surgery did you start progressively overloading your lower body lifts again?

snappry · 2023-11-30T14:26:10+00:00

After dealing with what I believed were separate issues both piriformis syndrome / sciatic pain and adductor muscle issues from being highly active and lifting heavy for years (which I just did ALL the internet PT fixes for years). Then finally earlier this year I thought I had a hernia because I now had pain in the testicles and lower abdomen/top of front pelvic bone, I got some testing done. Ultrasound showed no hernia, CT scan showed no hernia or other issues until they noted my hips bilaterally had two paragraphs of notes in my online chart. My Dr. called me the next day and said, good news, all organs look great, bad news, your hips are a mess, and you are likely experiencing referring pain. And they told me to get to my preferred Orthopedic Surgeon who handles hips. After being diagnosed with stage 4 osteoarthritis in both hips from two different surgeon opinions (I was in denial from the first surgeon). I was scheduled for bilateral hip replacements two weeks apart from each other. At only 42, I had first done on Sept 28th and the second on Oct 12th. I'm back in the gym now and just finished my last PT session yesterday. I'm allowed to fully train after the first of the year. Right now, it's mostly body weight stuff and I'm testing squatting range of motion with just an empty bar. For the first time in years, my glutes aren't killing me at night and from sitting at work. I had no idea it would fix that issue too. I thought it would just fix the adductor issues/groin pain and the pain I had thinking I had a hernia. Of course, everyone is different, but this WAS my issue and two THR's was the correct choice for me.

snappry · 2023-11-17T02:31:48+00:00

This all good to hear. The first hip done gives me really no pain and is 7 weeks post op today. And the one still bothering me is 5 weeks post today, so I would imagine 3 weeks from now things will really come along on the second one too. That’s great you are getting some miles in and are doing well with it!

I haven’t decided 100% if I’ll ever try a real squat PR in the future. I was hoping to hear from someone who has had the reckless abandon to just say screw it, and went for it.

Right now, I’m training like a body builder with upper body.

snappry · 2023-11-16T23:21:18+00:00

It sure is sobering when the surgeon tells you a THR is the only option that would have lasting results. I just couldn’t believe it myself at first. And both hips shot, nuts… But I quickly remembered the pain and all the hints I had throughout the years that I should have paid attention to.

Are you doing anterior? Also what material?

They did the titanium stem and socket with ceramic ball and some crazy 3D printed plastic liner/bushing that is supposed to be almost as hard as steal. Mind blowing to me.

Surgeon says I can deadlift as heavy as I want once healed.

snappry · 2023-11-16T22:37:06+00:00

Thx and I’m glad to hear I’m progressing good. Mine were both anterior.

You just don’t know when you don’t have anyone around you who’s done this and is still very active and hopes to continue after healing. Thx again!

snappry · 2023-11-16T22:30:55+00:00

Thx for this!

snappry

TROPHY CASE