|

Answered By
Ross Hauser, M.D.
Add A Comment
About This Article Or Add A Comment About Hip Pain
Return to Hip Pain
Blog
|
Degenerated Hip
Q. My wife has been diagnosed with a degenerated right hip, X-rays show
bone on bone conditions and
calcium deposits around her hip socket. She can
barely walk, especially after sitting for a bit, and NEVER
sleeps more than an
hour at a time before waking up screaming in pain. The pain and severe cramping
start in her lower back and right buttock extending down through her groin,
inside and over her thigh, which cramps severely, and down into her calf, with
cramping also. She cannot straighten out her legs, particularly, when lying on
her back, without great pain. I believe this describes "Sciatica". Her
Orthopedic Surgeon states she must have hip replacement. In your opinion, would
the surgery stop the pain? Would Prolotherapy stop the pain?
A. No
doctor can guarantee that what they do will stop all of the pain but from what
you describe it sounds like your wife has 'end-stage' hip arthritis. As such
she needs a total hip replacement. Because her hip basically doesn't move
because of the 'bone on bone' phenomenon her body has compensated by causing the
pelvic movement to occur at her
sacroiliac
joint and lower back. That is probably why she has pain in her lower back also. It is hoped that having the hip replacement will solve all of her pains. I
suspect it will help most of her pains. If she has residual pain in her lower
back after the hip replacement then she needs an evaluation for Prolotherapy. Prolotherapy to the lower back and sacroiliac joints would hopefully resolve the
rest of her pain.
|