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My hips are dislocated and I have always faced some kind of challenge because of that but when of them started to becoming painful which I will have surgery to correct it made everything twice as hard as it should be. We use our hips for almost everything like do from walking to bending over and picking something up so when one hip is out it can really complicate things. I have been living with hip pain since the end of November which for many people would be a really long time and such a horrible experience but for me it hasn’t been that bad because I am used to constant pain and know how to cope. The most difficult part for me hasn’t been the pain but the loss of mobility that I hope will return to normal or at least close to it when I recover. My life is so much harder because of hip pain and if I told you it wasn’t I would be straight up lying to you. Hip pain has affected my life is more ways than you know but sometimes it can be difficult to see how it has affected becuase I am so good at hiding pain. In this post I am going to talk about how having hip pain has affected my life and what I do to manage it.
Moving in general is hard- Whenever I try to move in even the slightest way I am immediately reminded of why I am having surgery because even the smallest movement can be very painful If my hip was not giving my issues I could walk up a flight of stairs but I d not see that happening and anything more than two or three steps would be too much for me. My left leg feel fine so they are messing with it until it become problem if it ever does which it may never because it always has been my good leg. My right leg on the other hand is a whole different story and I can’t even lift it without physically taking my hand to lift it. Some days when pain is low I can do it unassisted but most days it’s pretty intense and I can’t do it without help because there is only so much you can do to manage the pain.
Workouts are not the same- I love workout out and recommend it before having surgery to keep up your strength but it’s no the same way when you have hip pain. There almost no exercise that don’t require you to move your legs in some way other than situps which I still do but I also like to do other things so I can work different muscle groups. I mostly do pilates and if you have ever done that you would almost all exercises require to move your legs in some ways. Both of my hips are dislocated but the only one that is giving me pain is the right one so that is the only one they are fixing which one day may need to be fixed but not necessarily. I usually can do very advanced ab moves which I still have the abdominal strength to do a lot of those ab moves but a lot of the time I have to do modifications because it’s not that I don’t have core strength but it requires you to move your legs which is something that is kind of hard so just have to put more emphasis in my abs because if I didn’t these exercises would just be easy and not worth doing.
There is no enjoyment in writing- I don’t know if any of you all of noticed but my blog schedule has not been consistent for the last couple of months. Before I started have noticeable pain I wrote ever Tuesday and Friday which then I moved to Wednesday and Saturday but now I don’t even know what it is. I have pretty given up on creating a blog schedule at least for now because my pain is so unpredictable and some day I wake up and can write eight hours while others I get so uncomfortable and can barely sit still for twenty minutes. People often don’t think that writing with pain would be easy since it doesn’t require you to move but that’s not why it’s hard and it’s difficult because when you write your always thinking about your pain which can give you writer’s block when that is all your thinking about.
Taking a shower is not fun- You can shower less when you have pain but it doesn’t matter how much pain you have you will eventually have to shower even if it’s hard! When you have dislocated hips balance is already an issue and it’s only when one of your hips is giving you issues. I have fallen a little more than I normally would in and out of the shower so I have to be especially careful when in the shower since there is so much water to deal with and it won’t take much to fall. It’s easy to fall in the shower and when your stability is already off it’s even more likely. I have take even more precautions when it the shower.
Getting dressed is chore within itself– Putting on a pair of pants is a little more challenging because usually, I would get on my knees to pull them up but right now I can’t do that because it causes too much pain and I can’t even get in that position without falling. Usually, I can get on my knees without any support but right now it’s been a little challenging, and sometimes even when I am just walking I will just fall for whatever reason. Getting dressed takes longer because I need more support just to put on a pair of pants and what would usually work doesn’t work right now because there is a lot of postions I just can’t get into no matter how much I want to. I usually get dressed even if I am not going anywhere because if I don’t I won’t where my braces and I need to where them to keep my foot in the right position but since it’s so hard I don’t do anything super fancy and only what’s necessary! You will never find me trying to make my hair look nice if I am not going out and there is no reason to do it!
When you live with constant pain you get pretty good at coping and can easily fool people into thinking you’re not in pain which is a good skill to have but the downside to that is people tend not to take you seriously because they think everything is fine when it’s not and you need to rest. I know a lot of people who are supportive of whatever medical decisions I make but on the other hand, I also know some who think I have too many surgeries and I just do them for the narcotics which makes me hesitant and sad that anyone would even think that. I have had a lot of surgeries and do wish I didn’t need as many but that is just part of the challenges of my disability and find it offensive when people accuse me of putting myself through a horrible surgery just to get narcotics because there are easier ways to get them. I don’t even like narcotics because they make me feel terrible and if pain is bearable, I will definitely go for the Tylenol because it doesn’t have nearly as many side effects. I know some people have a problem with getting addicted and I do hope people with these issues get some professional help but to assume that’s always the case is just wrong because sometimes they are completely necessary. What things have been hardest for you with your pain and how do you cope?
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Kathy
Hoping and praying that surgery helps you get back to the things you love.
My Rockin Disabled Life
Thank you Kathy and I am hoping so too! I am recovering from it now and so far there have not been any complications! The process has been slow but I am hopeful that after this is all over my life will be so much better and my quality of life will be hugely improved.
Kathy
I’m happy to hear that things are going well so far.
sara turner
Thanks for sharing your experience. I too have terrible hip pain due to a fracture. It’s been a year and a half since the surgery that placed 3 long pins/screws into my femur. It’s never been the same. It may be due to at least one of the pins “backing out” of the bone as the bone healed around it. I could have surgery to remove the pins but there’s no guarantee that will help and it leaves the bone weakened. It’s also a very big and complicated surgery. So here I am a year and a half later not being able to sleep through the night because of the pain. It’s very discouraging especially since I already have chronic pain due to fibromyalgia.