Photo credit: 123RF – Pam Burley
Over 285,000 people have hip replacements in the U.S. each year. Pain due to arthritis, fractures or other medical conditions is often the primary reason for someone to have hip replacement surgery. Most people say they experience mild pain in their hip in the beginning that gradually becomes more severe as time passes. Eventually this pain can limit a person’s ability to get in and out of chairs and walk even short distances. Often, the person must modify their lifestyle in order to deal with their pain and discomfort.
Your hip joint is a ball and socket joint. The socket is the round, cup-shaped part of your pelvis called the acetabulum. The ball is the rounded head of the femur or thighbone. During a total hip replacement surgery, damaged bone and cartilage in the hip joint are removed and replaced with an artificial hard plastic or ceramic cup socket and a metal or ceramic ball and stem that’s inserted into your femur bone. This artificial joint duplicates the motions of your natural hip joint to improve function while reducing pain.
How an Occupational Therapist Can Help You following Hip Replacement Surgery
Illustration credit: 123RF – stellar001
Following hip replacement surgery, an occupational therapist can help you learn how to use your new hip joint to perform your daily activities and instruct you on any limitations in how you can move your hip to keep it safe. For example, an occupational therapist may teach you how to do the following, so your new hip joint stays in its proper position:
- Dress or bathe yourself.
- Sit correctly.
- Get up and down from a seated position.
- Bend down.
- Lie in bed correctly.
- Get in and out of bed.
An occupational therapist can also determine if you’ll need any special equipment at home like a walker, a raised toilet seat, grab bars, a dressing stick, a sock aide or a reacher/grabber to help you perform your daily activities. However, most people don’t require any special equipment. An occupational therapist may also make recommendations on modifications you may need to make to your home to enable you to get around your house easier, such as handrails along stairways, safety grab bars in your shower or bath or the removal of loose carpets or rugs.
The goal of occupational therapy is help you return to your normal activities as soon as possible following your hip replacement surgery. Your occupational therapist wants to make sure your hip replacement surgery has a successful outcome.
ezWalker® Custom Orthotics Help Reduce Hip Pain
While ezWalker® Performance Custom Orthotics can’t take the place of hip replacement surgery if the bones and cartilage in your hip joint are damaged, our custom orthotics can help relieve any residual pain following your surgery. Read about Bea Overton’s experience with her ezWalker® Performance Custom Orthotics:
“I’ve worn the ezWalker® orthotics for only 4 days now (about 6 hours a day) and I’m truly shocked that my hip pain is gone. I can’t believe it would make that much difference in only a few days, but I have no other explanation. I’ve had the left hip replaced three times due to complications, which makes support muscles weaker. I ride a recumbent bike daily to strengthen the weakened muscles. But I still had some residual pain that was beginning to increase in intensity. I had become accustomed to it and tried to ignore it for the most part. I was so shocked that the pain was gone these past few days [after wearing ezWalker custom orthotics].”
Bea Overton, Fishers, Indiana
If you suffer from osteoarthritis, regular use of ezWalker® Performance Custom Orthotics can slow down the effects of this disease on your hip joints by making subtle adjustments in how your bones and muscles perform. Our custom orthotics redistribute weight while relieving pressure on your hip joint and correcting any gait and structural abnormalities you may have. If you suffer from hip pain due to osteoarthritis, or you’re still experiencing pain following your total hip replacement, give ezWalker® Performance Custom Orthotics a try. You may be pleasantly surprised at how quick you experience pain relief – just like Bea Overton.
For more information, visit the WalkEZStore.com. To order your pair of ezWalker® Performance Custom Orthotics today, click this link.
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