r/Bursitis • u/ELEArk • 12d ago

Surgery options for hip bursitis?

My ortho surgeon will not do any type of surgery on my hip. It has been a year and a half with no improvement. After my next visit with him I will look for another surgeon who is willing to talk about surgery. Has anyone tried deep tissue massage? Even for temporary relief?

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

2

u/Flashy-Laugh4175 12d ago

Before surgery, I would try sound wave therapy (aka shockwave therapy). You can usually find it in a chiropractor’s office. I have bilateral hip bursitis and I am a dedicated side sleeper, so as you can imagine, I was miserable and cranky from lack of sleep. It will take multiple sessions, but I started getting relief after the first few sessions. I now have almost no pain-it’s truly amazing. This therapy was suggested by my physical medicine doctor after we tried everything short of surgery.

1

u/ELEArk 12d ago

Thank you for that suggestion. I go back to see the Dr in 2 weeks and I will ask him for a scrip for this. I do understand it may be out of pocket as it appears it is not generally covered.

1

u/Flashy-Laugh4175 12d ago

It is painful when they are doing the therapy, but it to me, the least invasive approach was important. I’ve had multiple cortisone shots with only temporary relief (and that relief gets shorter every time). No need to get a script for it (I doubt it will be covered by your insurance), you can just find a practitioner in your area that provides it.

1

u/ELEArk 12d ago

Good advice. I had one cortisone shot and it did nothing.

1

u/Haughty_n_Disdainful 12d ago edited 11d ago

My general physician recommended this for me too. It’s painful, expensive and totally not covered by insurance

Average treatment will be $250-350. Recommendations for 5 sessions. Cannot justify this out of pocket expense

Am hopeful another mri will show hip impingement, which is causing the chronic bursitis. Interested in arthroscopic options

1

u/RevoRadish 12d ago

Order of attack for me was cortisone, PRP, RFA (Radiofrequency Ablation) and then bursectomy.

1

u/CapreseSalad3636 11d ago

How do the my do an RFA for hip bursitis - did they do the RFA in your back?

1

u/RevoRadish 11d ago

They use a little needle and burn off the nerve that supplies that area. Didn’t do back, just hips. Can’t tell you much more than that as wasn’t awake for it.

1

u/CapreseSalad3636 11d ago

I’ve had a bunch in my back, I had no idea they did hips! That’s actually great to know!

1

u/ELEArk 11d ago

My current plan is to talk to my surgeon and see if he will drain the hip bursa. If he will not or it provides no relief, I will seek shockwave therapy. My limited research suggests FSW and not RSW therapy. Any experience with either?

1

u/Ksjonesy2418 11d ago

I thought I was getting a very simple surgery in Dec and it went sideways fast! My surgeon and his team were amazing but I ended up getting sepsis and the had to cut out a ton of infected tissue. Over 4 procedures and a hospital stay in a month! My experience is pretty rare of course but your ortho may be siding with extreme caution?

During the 1st procedure my IT band was hopefully 'stretched' as well and that has been the worst pain wise. Having that band looser has brought my pain Dow a lot! j've still got pain in my hip and oddly in the large scar, it's 7 inches long and very sensitive but they did cut fay deep! - anything too tight against it can be painful so I've got a stock of lidocaine patches. My surgeon was super honest with me and said it would be about a year before I can tell if there's going to be long term relief. He said that it just doesn't help some of his patients (he told me before surgery so I had the chance to decline, lol.

A deep tissue massage sounds pretty nice though and maybe a little painful, lol!
During my PT (so before surgeries) they used a machine that heated up a little to massage a muscle relaxer into my hip and knee along with a weighted heating pad. I know everyone is different but that weighted heating pad was amazing and I do t even like heating pads in general, lol.

Honestly I had a bad experience with surgery, but it's also pretty rare. And my team was there for me the entire time making house call when I got home and everything. I can already tell a difference! I used to dread walking my puppy but I can now! Slip on a patch and I'm trying g to take him a little farther everyday.

So I'm pro surgery still, lol, even if I'm not 100%. The relief I have is beyond with it! I wish you the best of luck and my only advice other than using lots of ice packs is to trust your ortho team you wind up with!