Muscle pain after hip arthroscopy - can you relate? Or help me advocate?

January 15, 2022 12:56 PM

I went through an arthroscopic surgery in early 2021 to repair slight damage to labrum and reshape bone of both the femur and pelvis in the hip joint. Months later I am having daily muscle tightness and pain and don't know how to start advocating for myself more directly or how normal this pain even is.

Based on previous asks and some light googling it seems I should be back to my normal life by now but instead every day I am in pain and still have limited movement in the joint. Both pain and range of motion have been slightly improved by a recent round of muscle relaxers, but not 100%. I am still doing daily stretches and muscle release with racquetball along with PT exercises to increase gluteal strength, along with some light treadmill walking a few days a week.
Surgical and PT team have been really great before, during, and after surgery, but this doesn't feel right to me. They keep saying it's just a tight IT band but even as a previously very active person, I never had IT band issues.
Everyone, including me, is so stressed and frazzled right now. The anxiety and worry I have about living like this forever coupled with the ongoing restrictions from both COVID and my own pain have wrung me out. I'm not sure how to push for more info or care or treatment with the Dr that won't turn into me just venting from being so exhausted by all this but also won't turn them defensive and just dismiss me because they don't want to deal with it.
Have you been through something similar and it did get better? Or do you have experience with how to successfully advocate for yourself when it comes to post op complications? Happy to provide more details if needed. Thanks

posted by PaulaSchultz to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

I had arthroscopic surgery on my hip to fix FAI and stitch up torn labrum as well. I'm 6 or 7 years out from surgery and it's continued to slowly improve over time, but has never been 100%, it probably tops out at 75% on my best days. Within 9-12 months I was fully active again, just in moderate pain. I still have some pain after activity/sleeping weird/whatever, but it's continued to go down over time.

I've been *awful* about follow through, but whenever I get a bee in my bonnet and go run through "The FAI Fix" stretches and exercises, it gets significantly better for a while. Also changing my diet (you don't want to know, PM if you really do) has helped significantly.

I'm just an interested-party lay person, but at some point read a metanalysis on FAI surgery that concluded it was more or less not useful in the general case. I'm happy I did it, because I did see significant improvement, even if it's never going to be fully fixed.
posted by so fucking future at 1:34 PM on January 15, 2022

Thank you for sharing your experience, fss! I'm sorry it hasn't been a better resolution for you and I'll look up those stretches.
Apologies to and clarification for future readers - the pain pre-surgery was a dull ache in the joint exacerbated by sitting or bending forward, with no limitations in range of motion. That's 100% gone (thankfully) but since about October I've had muscle tightness and pain in the upper side and upper outside quarter of thigh, with limited ROM (can't put surgery side knee down all the way when sitting cross-legged).
posted by PaulaSchultz at 2:52 PM on January 15, 2022

I have the EXACT same issue with not being able to put my (non surgical, no history of hip issues) knee down all the way while sitting cross legged. I feel a pull in my inner thigh that is so unpleasant I just don’t sit that way right now. I see a very talented PT who has prescribed planks (20 seconds each, 3x a day) and bridges (held for 10 seconds each, 3 sets of 10 a day) while holding a washcloth or some other small item firmly between my knees. He says this will strengthen the muscles that stabilize the hip joint. My hip is about 75% improved from when this issue first began about three months ago, but it’s slow going. You mention racquetball, which is awesome but also puts a lot of demand on your hips…are you faithful about stretching after you play?

Surgery cuts through muscle and connective tissue, and it can take a surprisingly long time to normalize after that type of disruption. I think PT will be key to your recovery. I wouldn’t assume that this is a surgical issue even though it’s your surgical side that’s impacted. I’m assuming you’ve had follow up imaging of some sort with your ortho to confirm there’s nothing wrong with the repair that was done? If that’s clear, that’s a good thing!

I’m in my late 40s, and although I’m used to being pretty active I have had hip issues and peroneal tendinitis and knee pain that all felt so bad I was sure each time there was something SERIOUSLY WRONG, but it always turned out to be just some annoying soft tissue bullshit that there was no fix for except PT and time. You have my sympathy!
posted by little mouth at 3:06 PM on January 15, 2022

There is a possibility you have what is considered rare in neurological conditions but surprisingly increasing in findings. It's a condition called Complex regional pain syndrome. It was formally known as Sympathetic Neuralgia and affects arms and legs and the soft tissues of those limbs. I have it and it is usually brought on by a benign injury or surgery that is expected to resolve without complications but somehow the body's response is exaggerated and much more exacerbated by movement to the extent healing takes much longer than it should, you will feel periods of ice cold skin where it looks red and the bluish tints belies a hot and sensitive to touch skin temp. Motion is excruciating and causes swelling even after initial swelling has subsided. It is like fibromyalgia but for arms and legs. It is chronic, debilitating and very painful for some. If you have a neurologist I'd see if you might have it. There is information on line about it as well. I never heard of it until I was diagnosed three months ago. Paula Abdul the former Lakers dancer and choreographer also has it.
posted by The_imp_inimpossible at 4:26 PM on January 15, 2022

I had similar symptoms but it turned out not to be a problem with my labrum, so just a similar thing but no clear diagnosis. I did PT for a long time with mixed success (could be out of general laziness about doing my exercises) or because everyone seemed to have a different opinion. One thing I will echo is that it is frustrating that you have to become your own expert in this. You didn’t have a tight IT band problems before, but my experience with my own hip is that because the whole area was unstable, certain things start to tighten to help out, and you have to retrain certain areas to relax. I don’t know what kind of insurance you have or if you have the financial resources for extra services, but I started to have success with someone who specializes in fascial release. The idea is that there’s a network of fascia overlying the muscle that also can tighten areas of your body. You may want to research someone in your area. Feel free to memail me.
posted by biscuits at 10:27 AM on January 16, 2022

Thank you for all the support and insight! For anyone finding this in the future, the problem turned out to be a severely underperforming piriformis, which also caused muscles around it to lock up and get a little too overprotective and worn out thus limiting movement and causing pain. I am back in PT with a specific focus on this and so far things are improving rapidly.
posted by PaulaSchultz at 11:48 AM on February 27, 2022