Pain in knees and hips

Edit Post

So aside from some minor aches my recovery until recently was going quite well. I had been doing more squats at physio in an attempt to build strength but I seem to have injured myself in the process. My knees and hips are in a lot of pain when walking on crutches which is really stressing me out as I feel I've gone backwards by about 2 months in terms of mobility. I spoke with my doctor who advised to avoid squats as it puts too much pressure on my joints although he's not sure how long it will take to recover. Has anyone else experienced this? Its really got me down at the moment.

Edit Post

Ironically if I hadn't been doing as much physio I wouldn't be in this position with my knees and hip pain. I overdid trying to get strong too quickly, so important to take things slowly and listen to your body, although it's very difficult sometimes to tell if it's good pain from exercise or bad from injury until it's too late.

It's essential though to try and do stretching etc everyday if you can otherwise your body will seize up. My doc has advised me to exercises that just target the muscles and don't put any stress on the joints. Really hope my knees and hips improve soon as even certain stretches are painful right now.

Edit Post

Thanks for the suggestions 5cm, I might look online to see if there are any cheap electro devices although as far as I know from talking to my physio I think they are mainly for muscles, maybe it might help with the muscles around my hip area.

I really hope this isn't a serious injury and goes away in a few weeks. I feel a bit depressed at the moment as it's like I've gone way back instead of forward with my progress.

Edit Post

Hey Cyborg. I do use a stationary bike but I find a slight niggle on my knees as I cycle so I'm afraid to push too hard in case it makes things worse. From what I've read I think it's patellar tendonitis, it's really set my progress back. Im currently doing isometric exercises but they're pretty limited in terms of building strength. It's been almost 5 months since surgery, was hoping I'd be walking by now but guess this is how these things go sometimes. My left knee has improved slightly but my right is still no different.

Edit Post

@Cyborg, my current strengthening routine is pretty basic, 3 sets of wall sits, glute bridges, leg raises for quads, stationary bike and walking, I do notice slight increase in muscle strength it's just incredibly slow! If you have any other suggestions I'd love to hear them. What supplements did you take? I was also considering using some anti-inflammatory gel but I'm worried in case it might interfere with consolidation, I've read inflammation is necessary for bone growth.

@Movie, thanks for the motivational words dude. I only did 5.5cm, I wanted to be able to play sports again so my thinking was by doing less it might take less of a toll on my biomechanics. I started doing squats around two months after surgery, I started feeling very slight pains in my joints but just put it down to the usual soreness after exercising. I think if I had been sensible doing the squats I would've been fine but one day I pushed it too far with one of my physios who had me do the usual squats followed by about 45 reps of standing up and sitting down unassisted. I felt terrible pain in my knees the next day but thought it would go away in a few days but no such luck!

I hear what you're saying about pushing myself and I normally would but sadly I think I need to be pretty conservative in my approach for the time being which sucks, really feel I'd be walking by now if it wasn't for my knees, if I try to walk unassisted I get a really sharp pain. You're totally right, it will take time for our bodies to adjust to the new length, I just wish my recovery was half as good as yours lol

Edit Post

Thanks man. I try my best to stay positive but there are days I do feel a little discouraged, it's been 7 weeks and there's been almost no improvement with my right knee. You were lucky you didn't injure yourself more seriously, there's no way I'd play any contact sports with the nails still in, you're a brave man lol.. I find the screws hurt a bit too with certain movements or exercises I try and be super careful with them, I feel them even when lying on my side in bed. Hopefully I'll turn a corner soon and be able to up my game, I just wanna be able to walk again haha.  How has your bone growth been, have both bones consolidated yet?

Edit Post

I was wearing a brace for a while but it didn't help much

Your x-rays look good man! It's weird how the bone growth sort of bulges, I think mine is growing in a similar way to yours although I haven't had an x-ray for a while coz of the pandemic, hopefully everything is okay. Are you gonna remove the nail once you've completely consolidated or keep it in for a while as a precaution?