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Sorry for the delay in response. I think it is most important to figure out what the next intervention should be. If you have had two manipulations and are still stiff then you should not have any more manipulations. The scar can removed with an arthroscopic procedure or with an open procedure. It is critical to make sure that the implants are all in ideal position and that all are appropriately sized before having an isolated scar excision. The scar removal procedures are not lkely to work if revision of the implants is needed. It is hard to make firm recs without an examination and radiographs. You need to seek out a physician that has a lot of experience in revision ("re-do") knee procedures if your surgeon has suggested that there is no more that can be done. I have to say that there are times we see patient for a second opinion that have implants that are placed perfectly that become stiff. I wish you the best and would suggest you look at the surgeons at the larger academic centers like Rush University and Northwestern for a second opinion. I should point out that there are likely surgeons outside of these centers that have enough experience to help you out.
Mike BView Thread

Some of the symptoms you describe are concerning for possible loosening of the femoral component. This is the part of the hip replacement that is in your thigh (or femur) bone. You need to make sure you are communicating all of these symptoms to your surgeon. When I am concerned about this possible mode of failure I will get serial radiographs over time and look changes in the implant position that might suggest it is not well fixed. Once a patient is over a year out from the surgery I will sometimes get a bone scan to see if there is any suggestion that the femoral component is loose. You also have to make sure that some of these symptoms are not coming from your back. You would not be the first patient that had a hip replacement go well and then have some persistent pain related to a lumbar spine condition that would not have been addressed with the hip surgery. It is not uncommon for hip and back problems to co-exist. Hope this helps.The main thing again is to keep the lines of communication open with your surgeon.View Thread


Sounds like your hip really bad off. I think that it is normal for patients to be apprehensive and nervous. I suspect you will actually be very happy that you went through with the operation shortly after it is over. I am in no way trying to trivialize the operation. Most of our patients stay 2-3 nights in the hospital but there are many patients that can go home after one night. It varies how much physical therapy different physicians require of their patients. I tell people that they should be about 75% recovered at 6 weeks. I hope at that point they are not requiring any assistive aids for walking and most have been off pain meds for some time by then. You will hopefully be encouraged to hear that one of the well known medical journals recently idenitified total hip arthroplasty as the "operation of the century" becasue of the excellent results associated with the procedure. Best of luck to you!View Thread

I have not had the procedure but I have colleagues that perform the operation. As you likely know the reverse prostheses are often used after regular shoulder prostheses have failed or when a patient has a rotator cuff tear that can not be repaired and bad shoulder arthritis. The recovery from the operation is likely like the recovery from a regular shoulder replacement and may take a full year to reach maximum recovery. There will be physical therapy afterwards and it is likely critical to be compliant with the PT to optimize your outcome. I do a lot of knee and hip replacment procedures but have many patients that have had shoulder replacements as well. Most indicate that the recovery from shoulder is harder than hip and more like the recovery from a knee replacement. Hope that helps and good luck!View Thread


I am sorry to hear what you have gone through. The occurrence of peri-prosthetic infection is rare but it does occur. The key to the managment of the infection is early recognition and surgical intervention when indicated. The surgical history you describe is extensive and a lot for anyone to go through over six months but that can often be the course in the face of infection. If you are still having a lot of pain you need to be worked up for persistent infection versus implant failure or loosening. You should discuss your concerns with your surgeon given that you are over a year out from your last procedure and still not doing well. If you do not feel that you are getting answers then you certainly could consider a second opinion. I wish you the best.View Thread

It all depends on what part of the hip replacement fails. There are times when a revision hip replacement just entails a change out of the liner in the hip socket portion of the replacement. This is generally a pretty easy operation to recover from. There are also times when the femoral component (thigh bone implant) and/or the acetabular component (metal part of the hip socket implant) fail. These are bigger operations and are associated with a longer period of recovery. There is not doubt that surgeons now have much better implants to use in these "redo" situations. It is hopeful that the options for these redo procedures continue to improve as we go forward. It is most important to make sure you keep an appropriate follow up schedule with your surgeon so that early signs of failure are not missed.View Thread
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