Grim ME and recovery broken hip with partial replacement op

Unfortunately on 3 January I fell whilst at home alone, took 90 mins to turn on floor and inch to phone to call my husband. Anyway I’d badly broken my hip at the age of 57 (ME since 2006, stroke 55). Apart from lack of pain relief the care was amazing and 10 days later I was home and now having physio at home and onto crutches.


Im learning by error by limits as slightly overdoing it on Sunday and then physio Monday and sleeping since then. I realise that the normal 3 months recovery is 6 for me. As I tripped and fell whilst heading for the printer to pick up my 2023 list of stupid things not to do, I’m taking this as an opportunity to try and recover a bit with ME having had several cumulative bad years after I took over my brothers life when he was seriously sick for 8 months which destroyed me.


So I’m slowing my daily hip exercises down. But would love to know any other experience of breaks / hip replacements and recovery. I use a powerchair outside of the home and on bad days inside. So I’m not in great shape. The fall has reinforced that my life of dog walking possibly 3 days a week can survive but not walks more my dog by river and swimming or just playing with her in one field and no charging off across rough terrain flat out in my 4x4 all terrain powerchair. I’d done this 2 weeks before well covered but in pouring rain and wind. We raced around and it was freedom and exhilarating but I need to be even more careful. So I hold those memories close.


OK all advice most welcome and thank you.


Sally

 

I'm sorry to hear about your fall and broken hip. The only advice I can offer is make sure to move around as much as you are able under the circumstances. My mom didn't do that after her hip replacement and she ended up getting a blood clot and had to spend another two weeks in hospital. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

 

My experience of fractures has been much as you say, recovery is bit slower. But it is definitely a great time to pack in some recuperation, as you don't tend to beat yourself up so much for not doing stuff.

I've never broken a hip since developing ME, though, only a collarbone, ankle, and metatarsal, and it's not the same as having a major joint replacement. But several relatives in my parents' generation had the same op in their late 80s and early 90s, and they all made good recoveries. They had to take their time too, due to their age rather than illness, and just had to do as much movement as they could manage. They all got back onto their feet.

It knocked their confidence for a long while, though, and I guess it'll be much the same for you. In some ways I think that can be the hardest bit.

I'm sure you will be out with the dog again eventually. Good luck!

 

I think Kitty is right about it knocking your confidence and I can imagine the older you are the more that would be true.

I had a hip replacement about 3 years ago and I was very surprised about how careful I felt I needed to be for the first few weeks, mainly going up and down steps. I didn't need crutches after a few days but I used them for quite a while when I got tired.

For a couple of weeks I was most worried about falling over although I don't need a wheelchair and have good balance and strength. It didn't take long to feel fully recovered but I did keep reminding myself that I should be careful for a good year or more until it healed.

Be patient

 

Hi Sally,

I had a hip fracture during a road traffic accident years ago. It wasn't considered a serious one at the time. There were other injuries apart from the hip.

The attitude of the doctors was to downplay all of my injuries and even getting scans was hard.

My experience was that none of the doctors treating me or the Physios understand ME. There was a great deal of prejudice and unhelpful beliefs.

The exercises and rehabilitation they recommended was completely out of my ability and they didn't seem to be able to think outside their boxes. The pain got much worse and I also lost the ability to move the hip and other injured areas even more as time went on.

I saw people like osteopaths and chiropractors to try and help with the loss of range of movement and the pain over theyears. None of this helped and the more forced movement the worse it got.

The most help I got was from a senior neurological physio but that was years after the accident. Stopping physio and all physical exercise or hands on treatment was the best thing for me until I saw her.

My advice would be to do any gentle stretching exercises but not to physically push in other ways. I would not try to walk too much too soon or have other people touch the injured areas.

When I had breast cancer surgery more recently I used that approach and modified the exercises I was given. Started very gently, didn't force past my limits and that was very successful for me.

 

Sorry to hear your experience @Sallycatherineharris - I hope you are able to pace yourself very gently through the required recovery. It sounds as if you are well aware of the need to go slowly.

Sharing the Physios for ME link here, just in case you need to refer to it or share their details with any health professional who perhaps isn’t as aware of ME/CFS as they should be.

https://www.physiosforme.com/

Good luck!