A year or so ago, when my mum was 56, she had a fall. Landed on her hip and injured her hands. Other than her hand she just had some minor bruising, nothing serious. A month or so later she tripped up some stairs and seemed to pull a muscle in her groin. She was in a lot of pain, limping badly and limited movement.
Took mum about five months to go see her GP despite constant nagging from me. She was given pain medication, signed off work and referred to a limb clinic. At the limb clinic she was told she had groin strain and that it was basically a typical footballers injury. They did an ultrasound of her groin and was told that she had fluid in her hip joint. Her meds were changed to an anti inflammatory and a pain killer and she was referred for physio. NHS physio was taking a while so she went private through her work (first 6 sessions were free).
The physio was really helping, the next time I saw her I couldn't believe how much she had improved - she wasn't limping much at all and she had very little pain. She then started on a phased return back to work, limited hours, restricted duties etc. However, she was doing much more than what she was meant to be doing and started going down hill again. She was still seeing the physio each week and had developed a clicking noise in her hip so he told her to get an x-ray done. At the hospital the radiologist said he couldn't see anything wrong with her hip joint but that the specialist would have to confirm this.
Few weeks later, mum goes to the GP for the results of her x-ray and gets the worst possible, and totally unexpected news that she would have to have a full hip replacement. She has 'severe degeneration of the hip joint' or something a long those lines. There was a lot of other medical jargon involved but mum was in shock and remembers very little from the appointment. Other than him coming straight out with 'you need a new hip'. She's been referred to a specialist, her appointment is on the 12th of April.
The thing is, how was nothing spotted sooner? The first specialist said it was groin strain, the ultrasound didn't show this and the radiologist said her hip looked fine to him. These results contradict all the previous results. Before the initial fall (and after, wasn't until she pulled the muscle that she had a problem) she had no problems with her hip what so ever and she's only 58.
Just a bit confused by the entire thing, mum is devastated by it. Not really sure what I'm asking by posting... Does it seem odd to anyone else that nothing was spotted sooner?
Sadly this does happen (missing the 'bleedin obvious'). But, on the other hand, a hip replacement, especially as she is so young, could be life enhancing. One of my best friends had her left hip replaced aged 32 - she had been told that the hip pain she was experiencing was related to child birth and to let it settle (baby was days old, and she could barely put her foot to the floor without pain). When her boy was 5 years old, she had gone to a local park with him - she was using a stick and had to stop every few yards because of the pain (hardly 'settling down after childbirth!'). Anyway, they were in the park, and he was playing on the equipment - she was sat on a bench watching him, but when she tried to stand she fell and another Mum called an ambulance. In the hospital, she was x-rayed, and when the A&E consultant saw the slide, could not believe that she had put up with so much pain for so many years - the joint was so badly eroded.
A few days later she had a hip replacement and within a week was walking like a 'normal' person. She never looked back - she is the same age as me now, 58.