Knee & Hip Replacement Community

It's wonderful to see you here, Dr. Bolognesi!

Welcome,I have a question. I'm 54 and had a complete knee replacement on Jan.20th. The problem is the loud popping on every step (people turn their heads) and the grinding pops on the lower interior area of the knee.My doctor first said it was scar tissue, but now says I need to build my muscles. I'm type a person and I work hard. My therapist says in her 20 years she has never seen any thing like this. I'm now having shooting pains down to my ankle and am losing faith. What should I do? I might add all the pops are painful.

Dear Dr. Bolognesi;
I'm 67 years old, have had Fibro for 20 years since my dad died, & had knee replacement 1 1/2 yrs. ago. Xrays show my knee is perfect. Yet is swells, stiff, sore, aches, ankle swells, blood pooling spots, I can hardly walk on it. I take Sevella
It works just a bit, but gives me terrible "hot flashes". I feel
I have been robbed of my life. I also suffer from depression and diabetes. I take anti depressants and pills for diabetes.
I excercise my knee and swim with arobic excercises. I'm very active. But I need help with this knee. I feel it is impossible & fear the worse of never getting better.
Thank You.

Hi Dr. Bolognesi,
I am scheduled for the Hana Hip Replacement surgery. I have read so much that I feel overwhelmed! Can you please tell me the do's and don'ts after surgery? Also, what my realistic expectations should be. Thanks for taking the time to be here for all of us. Jo-Anna

It sounds like your surgeon is going to do your hip replacement via an anterior approach on a special operative table that allows the surgeon to control the position of the operative leg. It would be hard for me to give you the specific does and do nots as this varies from surgeon to surgeon. I think you should realize that most people do really well after total hip replacement. It is a great operation for most patients and allows people to return to a wide array of activities. I allow people to hike, swim, ride a bike, use an elliptical machine, stairmaster, downhill ski, and play doubles tennis among other activities. Talk to your surgeon about restrictions and expected activities.

Thanks for the reply. It is appreciated taht you took the time to put some of my fears to rest. I sure am looking forward to hopefully being pain free. Jo-Anna

my dad needs his left hip and right knee fixed or replaced along the right ankle because all three are bone on bone. and he is 75 years old he has been told by one Doctor that by him he (dad)would have to have the most invasive replacement surgery and he now on occasion walks with a cane to use as support -your thought's Dr. Bolognesi

Hi dr. I am a 37 year old woman and have degenerate osteoarthritis I have had my left hip replaced and after surgery my surgical leg is about 2 inches longer than my right leg. Is that normal? My specialist says I have to have the right hip done also and then it will even me out but I was hoping to wait on that surgery for awhile but now I cant due to the pain I am experiencing due to the leg discrepency. Do you have any advice? Just had my first hip replacement on jan29th

Hi, I am no expert, just relaying the effects a hip replacement had on a friend. She had RA and her hip had completely fused in a bent position. Both of her knees were really bad too. In less than two years she had her hip replaced, then the following vacation she had both knees replaced at once. She gained a total of two inches in height, mostly because when her hip was replaced she stood up straight for the first time in years. She had some discrepancy in the length of her legs also after that, and they evened them out as best they could when they did her TKRs.

My husband had AVN in one hip and the ball of the femur had fallen in on itself, he walked with a cane and shims (homemade lifts) in that shoe to try to even out the lengths of his legs. The bad leg was about 1 3/4 inches shorter than the good leg. When the surgeon did the replacement he managed to even them out exactly.

My husband had to wait a long time to have his THR due to other medical problems, almost two years. He just kept putting homemade lifts in his shoe to even things out as the bad leg got shorter and shorter. Have you tried that? The doctors actually have special medical lifts that are made to fit. You can go that route also. it is probably better with that much of a discrepancy. He also used opiate pain management, and took an antidepressant and ibuprofen as well for pain management.

Take care, Annette

thanks for all your help, and welcome, Dr. Bolognesi:
I am now 48, had a total hip replacement november 9 of last year, and then almost exactly three months later on february 11, fell on some very HARD ice and shattered my femur, same leg....i am going into week nine of no weight bearing; i have 12 screws, a cadaver bone, and metal plate in this leg now..first break started right under where the hip hardward ends, it was clean, but the next one was not. i did everything right after my hip surgery, physical therapy, exercises at home, etc...still had some pain but was coming along, minus a bit of a limp still, but now i have pain in that hip as well, my left hip is hurting a lot now because of having to carry 180 pounds around on this walker, and i am wondering if i will have to start all over again with therapy for my hip as well...also, i just had a bone density test last week and they said it was within normal range but he wants me to take fosomax beause the bones are not great...i haven't even gone thru menopause yet, LOL...i wondered if the hip replacement was so recent that that leg was already still weakenend from that...i know another woman that the exact same thing happened to, so i just wondered what your thoughts are...do you think the fosomax would help prevent this in the future? i never want to go thru all this again..also, i have had a spiral fracture at 4, badly sprained ankle at 16, broken elbow at 23, broken tailbone at 31, and hip replacement and broken femure at 47...have i always had bad bones? LOL, sorry this is so long, and thanks so much for your help..Becky

I had a knee replacement about 13 weeks ago and am still having very painful issues with it. I sleep until about 4 AM then awaken with pulsating pain in my knee and hip. I get ice and heat and try to reduce the pain. Wish I had known I would be this way and I don't think i would of done it. I also have siatica nerve problems which really doesn't help.this came after the knee replacement.

042510 my name is mark turik. dr bolognesi performed a minimal invasive metal on metal total hip replacement on my right side in june of 2008, i had this done because it was hindering my karate performance. i just received my black belt at karate international of raleigh last fri night. on june 7th i am sched. to have the left side done. i will beable to progress to my 2nd degree bb much faster then! my experience both with duke and dr B. was incredibly positive. i will be glad to offer my experience to anyone considering a thr. my email is turik@hughes.net. by the way, my new hip is as good as when i was in high school! (thanks dr b.)!!!!! i likely would never had been able to get my black belt if not for your skills!

mark

Thanks for the kind words Mark! Glad you are continuing to do well!

We really think people can make improvements following knee replacement all the way out to a year following the procedure. I am sure you are not having a great time with it but I tell all my patients to expect improvement out to at the least that one year mark. We encourage patients to use ice, tylenol and anti-inflammatories to try to negotiate the early months following the procedure. If patients can tell me they are making minor improvements by the week I remain confident they will get a good result in the end.