Associated symptoms

Pain after hip surgery is often accompanied by other symptoms. Nausea or dizziness often occurs in the first few hours after the operation. The cause is usually the anaesthetic medication and the nausea usually subsides during the first day after the operation.

In the first days after an operation, constipation often occurs because the patients do not move much, especially when they have severe pain in the hip. In addition, pain medications containing opioids cause constipation. To avoid complications in the gastrointestinal tract, constipation should be counteracted as far as possible.

If pain after a hip operation is accompanied by numbness or paralysis, these accompanying symptoms should be clarified without fail. This may be due to damage to a nerve or severe swelling in the tissue, which presses on nerve fibers and constricts them. Learn more about this topic:

Operation for the insertion of a TEP

Diagnosis

If pain occurs after hip surgery, it is important to find the cause. Often it is merely a wound pain that disappears after a few days. Sometimes, however, the pain after hip surgery is based on a different diagnosis, which must then be found out.

Usually, an X-ray is taken to see whether the implants have been inserted correctly or whether the bone is damaged. It is also important that the affected hip and the surgical wound are checked regularly to detect and treat a possible infection early on. This topic may also be of interest to you:

Loosening of a hip prosthesis

Therapy

The first step for pain after hip surgery is a suitable pain medication for the first period after the operation. It is very important that the patient quickly gets back on his or her feet after hip surgery and begins to practice walking and standing again. Pain, which can be easily compensated by painkillers, should not delay this mobilization.

However, if the pain lasts longer or is so severe that it is not possible to bear weight, the cause must be sought and treated. The treatment varies greatly depending on the cause. It is important, if pain occurs, to exclude causes such as incorrect positioning of the implant or bone fractures during the operation.

In this case a new operation may have to be performed. If an infection is suspected, the inflammation values in the blood are first checked. If necessary, another operation may have to be performed to clean the infected tissue and take wound swabs to determine which bacterium the infection is. Only when it has been determined which pathogens cause the infection can a targeted antibiotic therapy be started and the further treatment scheme be determined. This topic might also be of interest to you:

Inflammation of the hip