Thigh pain after 7 months of Total Hip Replacement

[Arora S]

I got a Total hip replacement due to AVN more than 7 months ago. The prothesis is metal on metal uncemented. My X-RAY, Bone scan etc are normal. There is no loosening, no infection and X ray looks normal. I still have thigh pain. Is there a treatment. No doctor has been able to diagnose the problem.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

How are you?

Total hip replacement like any other surgery can have pain after surgery.But blaming the THR without looking for other possibilities is not right.Other possibilities for this type of pain may be systemic and musculoskeletal problems.Systemic causes include vascular problems, kidney stones, tumors, abscess, diabetes,inguinal hernia and chronic use of alcohol.Musculoskeletal causes include spinal stenosis, osteoporosis, sacroiliac joint problems, and nerve compression.
Ref: http://www.eorthopod.com/public/patient_education/3074/about_a_year_ago_i_had_a_total_hip_replacement.html

I feel that exclusion of these pathologies should be done to find out if pain in thigh after THR is caused by any of these.For this,pls discuss these possibilities with your doctor.

Hope it helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional queries.

[BillieSchwab]

I too have chronic thigh pain after 6 months.....I had to have a revision in July because first hip failed (first done in april). I saw my OS yesterday and he told me the clinical term for what I was describing was ..... get this.....drum roll please......."thigh pain". His explanation (which I'm not sure I buy) was that a very small amount of people experience chronic pain because (this is projection in the orthopedic arena only) the femur is supposed to have give to it and when a rigid prosthetic is inserted somehow the femur reacts to this and he also said some people will begin to grow extra bone and have bone changes in the femur at the base of the prosthetic.  
Don't know if this helps or not.....don't know if I buy it or not either.
Billie