Acupuncture

It’s been sometime since I’ve last updated folks about my status. Almost five months ago I had hip arthroscopy completed to repair the torn labrum in my right hip and 6mm of femur bone removed to alleviate an impingement. Was it worth it? That’s still to be determined. After three intensive months of physical therapy putting my overall total upwards of 8 months I’ve become fairly mobile, however not pain free. While I am mobile, walking more than 10-15 min creates a steady pain in my buttocks which becomes quite bothersome. So, in my day to day life, working out of the house, going to the car, into a restaurant etc is no issue. Going for a nice long walk is out. And forget about power walking, it’s only at a leisurely pace. No theme parks for me and no traveling for I don’t know how long as they all require extensive walking. The lifestyle modification, while I’ve grown somewhat used to it, is getting very old. Interestingly due to catering to it, most who see me wouldn’t know anything is wrong. I can still go sailing and do a lot of things which don’t require much walking.

At the three month post op stage my doctor believed I should have been close to 100%, which unfortunately wasn’t and still isnt’ the case. In the past couple months I’ve tried a few different medications (Mobic & Celebrex) producing zero results. Then we attempted a cortisone injection with zero effect as well. The ortho at that stage has lifted all activity restrictions and believes he’s done all he can and from this point forward it’s a matter of pain management. I was then referred to an anesthesiologist which specializes in pain management.

So, I went for a consultation last week and the anesthesiologist prognosis isn’t to exciting. He believes the pain could be coming from one of 20-30 different and/or multiple nerve endings coming from my lower spine into the buttocks combined with some pain in the hip itself. In a nutshell his recommendation is while under mild general anesthesia in an outpatient facility inject a small amount of steroid in the most likely candidate nerve of the possible choices and send me home. A few weeks later if it doesn’t work, go back in and select candidate number two and so on until the optimal nerve location is located. All in all, this doesn’t sound to exciting and could grow exorbitantly expensive, not like my medical bills already aren’t. Adding to it, the maximum duration an injection could possibly last once they find the appropriate location is two months. Meaning, depending on my body, I’d have to get an injection under anesthesia every month the rest of my life.

Not overly enthused about my options I went for a consultation with a Chinese acupuncturist highly recommended by my physical therapist. She believes the pain is most likely a form of sciatica and that with 5-6 sessions there is a 90% chance she’ll be able to alleviate the pain. She’s also informed me if it works I will permanently have to alter my lifestyle as there is no known cure and some activities would re-aggravate it requiring more treatment. 🙁

I’m not real happy about permanent lifelong activity restrictions but in life it’s not what’s handed to you that matters it’s how you deal with it. Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself. Faced with the above options at this stage I’ve chosen to attempt the acupuncture. To date I’ve had two sessions and I”m happy to report thus far it has moderately reduced the pain while making some of it shift. I’m taking this as a positive sign as it’s the only thing in 11 months (that’s right folks the accident was almost a year ago) that’s modified the hip pain in the slightest. Keep your fingers crossed over the next month that continued sessions give greater improvement. If not, I’ll be doing a butt load of outpatient surgical visits.