Tag Archives: Physiotherapy: Total Hip Replacement

Hip fracture

Anatomy of Hip
A hip fracture is a break in the upper quarter of the femur (thigh) bone. The extent of the break depends on the forces that are involved. The type of surgery used to treat a hip fracture is based on the bones and soft tissues affected or on the level of the fracture.
Older people are at a higher risk of hip fracture because bones tend to weaken with age (osteoporosis). Multiple medications, poor vision and balance problems also make older people more likely to trip and fall — one of the most common causes of hip fracture.

? Signs and symptoms of a hip fracture include:
• Inability to move immediately after a fall
• Severe pain in your hip or groin
• Inability to put weight on your leg on the side of your injured hip
• Stiffness, bruising and swelling in and around your hip area
• Shorter leg on the side of your injured hip
• Turning outward of your leg on the side of your injured hip

? Causes of Hip fracture
• falling on a hard surface or from a great height.
• blunt trauma to the hip, such as from a car crash.
• diseases such as osteoporosis, which is a condition that causes a loss of bone tissue.
• obesity, which leads to too much pressure on the hip bones.

? Types of Fractures
In general, there are three different types of hip fractures. The type of fracture depends on what area of the upper femur is involved.
Intracapsular Fracture
These fractures occur at the level of the neck and the head of the femur, and are generally within the capsule. The capsule is the soft-tissue envelope that contains the lubricating and nourishing fluid of the hip joint itself.

Intertrochanteric Fracture

This fracture occurs between the neck of the femur and a lower bony prominence called the lesser trochanter. The lesser trochanter is an attachment point for one of the major muscles of the hip. Intertrochanteric fractures generally cross in the area between the lesser trochanter and the greater trochanter. The greater trochanter is the bump you can feel under the skin on the outside of the hip. It acts as another muscle attachment point.

Subtrochanteric Fracture

This fracture occurs below the lesser trochanter, in a region that is between the lesser trochanter and an area approximately 2 1/2 inches below .

In more complicated cases, the amount of breakage of the bone can involve more than one of these zones. This is taken into consideration when surgical repair is considered.

Treatment for hip fracture: usually involves a combination of surgery, rehabilitation and medication.

? Surgery
The type of surgery you have generally depends on the location and severity of the fracture. Are the broken bones properly aligned? (displaced fracture. What is your age? What are your underlying health conditions?

The options include:

• Internal repair using screws. Metal screws are inserted into the bone to hold it together while the fracture heals. Sometimes screws are attached to a metal plate that runs down the upper thigh.

• Partial hip replacement. If the ends of the broken bone are not lined up or damaged, your surgeon may remove the head and neck of the femur and install a metal replacement (prosthesis).

• Total hip replacement. Your upper thigh and your hip socket are replaced with an artificial one (prostheses). Total hip replacement may be a good option if arthritis or a prior injury has damaged your joint. This may have been affecting your hip function even before the fracture.

? Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is begun as soon as possible after hip fracture surgery, often within a day. The initial goals are to help people retain the level of strength they had before the fracture. You want to keep moving to prevent loss of muscle. You also want to prevent problems that result from bed rest. The ultimate goal is to restore your ability to walk properly without a limp.

Benefits of Rehab

Rehab will help you:

• Restore normal movement in your joint
• Build up strength in the joint and surrounding muscles
• Ease pain and swelling
• Let you get back to your normal activities including walking without a limp
• Help with circulation, particularly right after surgery, so you don’t have problems with blood clots

If you have or someone you know has fractured a hip or had hip replacement surgery, please call PhysioNow. Our experienced physiotherapists would be happy to help with your recovery! Call today to book an appointment!

Physiotherapy : Total Hip Replacement

Physiotherapy : Total Hip Replacement – Do I really need it?
Physiotherapy: total Hip Replacement

Surgeons often recommend that patients seek out community Physiotherapy

Surgeons often recommend that patients seek out community Physiotherapy : Total Hip Replacement services to continue with your recovery after you have had a total hip replacement (THR). You may wonder how doing extra treatment would help? – isn’t the surgery enough to correct your hip pain?

What is important to remember is that the surgery does take care of the affected joint. However, there is still work to be done to get you back on your feet and back to your desired activities. The surgery involves a cut through the muscles that stabilize the hip. Also, the body has to relearn how to move and function with a new joint.

Normally, the usual process for Physiotherapy: Total Hip Replacement surgery involves:

• Receiving Physiotherapy : Total Hip Replacement as an in-patient for 3-4 days for learning to walk with a walker, using the stairs and initiation of strengthening exercises for the hip
• You also receive education with respect to their precautions and how to ensure you are protecting your new joint and preventing dislocation
• Once you are safe to return home, you will be discharged
• At home, you are usually entitled to receive home care physiotherapy sessions for a few sessions.
During these sessions, the physiotherapist will re-assess your ability to move and progress your exercises as able.

After receiving homecare treatments, it’s then usually up to you to continue with your exercises. This includes progressing your strengthening and conditioning. However, a lot of people have difficulty doing this on their own and need help to further progress. It can be difficult to assess your own strength and safely progress your exercises. Seeking help from a Registered Physiotherapist will help with this process. It will get you back to your optimal function. The physiotherapist can assess where there are still remaining limitations. They will prescribe the necessary treatments to address the issues.
Please check out this link for further information regarding Physiotherapy: Total Hip Replacement.

In addition, we often see patients that have had a Total Hip Replacement, develop Low Back Pain. This happens because the muscles in the hip get very tight after surgery, and tend to tighten up into the Low Back. It is also caused by increased sitting during the recovery process. The good news is that we can help! Registered Physiotherapy and Registered Massage Therapy will help these symptoms to go away.

At PhysioNow, we have well trained Registered Physiotherapists and Registered Massage Therapists available to help you with your recovery. We will help to find the areas that you need in order to walk properly without an aid and get back to all the things you like to do. Call today to get started on your full recovery!