Are you experiencing persistent hip pain? Is this discomfort interfering with your enjoyment of life and making it harder to simply get up and move around? If your hip is giving you a significant amount of trouble, it might be time to take corrective action.
The decision to have a joint replaced is no small step and there are a number of critical factors to consider before having this type of operation performed. Dr. David Miller MD, suggests turning towards a replacement procedure should you be experiencing any of these six signs that could be cured with this form of surgery.
1. Pain and Sensitivity in the General Area
If you are feeling any level of pain or discomfort in the region between your hip and groin throughout the day, chances are you may be demonstrating signs of hip arthritis.
You may be relying on painkillers to solve the problem but you certainly don’t want to be dependent on any substances merely to get through the normal routine of your day. Those of you with this issue may also need the assistance of a cane and demonstrating a slight limp. Neither of these should be a component of your daily life either.
2. Unable to Sleep
Forget about being on your feet for all or part of your day, if you can’t get to sleep or stay asleep due to the grinding discomfort emanating from your hip or near your knee, then you could very well be dealing with a serious issue that needs to be addressed with replacement surgery.
When you lose sleep, your body begins to suffer even greater problems and that can affect your health.
3. Stiffness
You just don’t seem able to move around with ease like you used to before. It may be very tough to even reach forward to your feet or to bend down to retrieve something from the floor. Stiffness doesn’t necessarily need to come with serious pain or discomfort to signal you may be having a hip problem.
4. Trouble Walking
Your hip or groin pain could be keeping you from getting the exercise you need. Do you find yourself having difficulty walking to the mailbox or down the stairs without some form of pain or discomfort? The problem could be your hip and it could be solved by getting it replaced.
5. Testing Your Limits
One of the ways to determine whether or not you have a potentially significant hip problem is to stand on the leg where you are feeling some level of discomfort. Try doing so for a minute or two and if this proves to be too challenging, even if you’re hanging on something to help you keep your balance, you could be dealing with some serious hip damage.
6. You’ve Tried Everything Else
Many patients who are experiencing pain and fear they have developed a growing hip problem will opt for other non-invasive treatments and remedies to see if the discomfort subsides. This is a smart choice, one that has helped many a hip pain sufferer.
But sometime those alternatives prove to be temporary fixes to a nagging problem and when those treatments have brought little to no relief, it might just be time to have that hip replaced altogether.
