3 replies to this topic

[mom of parapleg]

Hello! I am the mother of a 27 y.o. son with a complete SCI @ T7. It will be 3 yrs. this month. Over the past 6 months he's developed L sided back pain that has become so excruciating, his quality of life has deteriorated severely. First it was thought to be chronic UTIs, then kidney stones (which were removed), then herniated discs (ruled out), then scoliosis. The other day my son noticed, while sitting in his wheelchair, how lopsided his positioning has become and self examined both hips. He noticed a big difference in the left hip joint protruding out, unlike the right. He obviously has a dislocated hip which has most likely caused the scoliosis.

I am just beside myself. Apparently in this day and age of advanced medical technology, doctors have become so specialized in their scope of practice that they've completely lost their peripheral vision. I think it's fair to say, and doctors would agree, paraplegics can't sense exactly where pain is originating from. At least my son was able to identify the left side. The fact that he's been in agony below his injury line, indicates a HUGE red flag, one would think! Where's the sense of urgency? Evidently embroiled in the minutes and hours of each day of the sufferer and loved ones.

Nursing 101 teaches, in the face of technological monitoring/support, to above all, "look" at the patient from head to toe (for overall assessment) and "listen" to what they're saying. They know their body better than anyone. The long and short of it is no one thought to do an assessment of the complete left side. Maybe I'm just an overly distraught mom, feeling helpless to my son's pain and looking for someone to blame. I honestly would have thought, though, after more recent visits with the spinal cord surgeon and physiatrist, they would have had the knowledge to include the hip when assessing the source of pain in the back of a paraplegic.

From the posts I've read on this website, I can see the prognosis is very poor for a dislocated hip. I am new to this forum and was looking for a para who had perhaps had a hip replacement but it appears everyone is looking for the same! I guess I've vented instead. Thank you for listening to the chip on my shoulder and I welcome any comments, advice, etc.
God bless all of you and your families who are effected by the adversities of spinal cord injuries! There is some solace in knowing you're out there and I am humbled by your posts.

Take care,
Lois

[nomis]

Ouch. I can sympathise. I, like many other SCI's, I suspect, have at times worried over whether I've done myself a horrible injury but can't be sure. And sometimes the medical profession can be a bit dumb to identify problems when they don't understand our lack of sensation. I hope the outcome for your son is a good one.

[brockit79]

hey Lois,

I'm glad you found this site and I hope it brings you the comfort it has brought me. I too have lower back pain which is below the site but I feel it is like real pain and not neuropathic. I too have been told that I have started to develop scoliosis. I developed a wound on the one side of my ass. I never thought of hip problems, I have thought that my pelvis is out of kilter but not thought it caused my my hip; but will for sure try and get it ruled out when I next see my pain management consultant. I'm really glad that you posted. Welcome to the forum.

Thankfully a correct diagnoses was obtained for your son, eventually. We all need to be on red alert and what a shame that we need to pester our doctors when we know something is not right.

Broc

Edited by brockit79, 01 February 2012 - 10:23 AM.

[Beautiful]

I currently have a dislocated hip. It would only pop out if my leg was to the side, but now it's completely dislocated. It's been giving me trouble since last year. I'm going to have surgery in a few months on it. They're just going to put it back in place and put some pins and screws in.

It doesn't have to be a terrifying or scary thing. He will be just fine.