Hip Dysplasia is one of those things that has the potential to affect every single area of a person's life. This can differ for every individual, and can depend on how much the condition has progressed between one person and the next. This may come across as a negative post, however, it's something which is pretty scarce in the literature, so in my latest post, here are some notes on the multifactoral nature of this condition.
Activities of Daily Living
When hip dysplasia symptoms begin to worsen and affect mobility later on in its trajectory, daily activities such as cooking, housework and shopping become difficult to undertake. It can make life quite hard for a person and those around them such as friends and family members. Being in a constantly needy position and having to ask for help with things impacts on your independence. A good and understanding practical support network is vital for these times.
Sport and Exercise
Sport and Exercise
This is usually the first thing to suffer during the early symptoms in adulthood, particularly with impact sports such as running or netball. For patients with a known or potential dysplasia diagnosis, not being able to get back to exercise after physiotherapy intervention and an attempted graded return to activity could be one sign that there might be something needing more investigation. For those with a previous diagnosis, managing hip dysplasia in the long run and keeping fit and healthy is a challenge, but it is do-able. Swimming and pilates are things that are suggested that can be helpful. Those who have had a long journey to diagnosis may have found themselves struggling to exercise for longer due to chronic or even mild symptoms and so staying conditioned and within a healthy weight might have been more difficult for them.
Work and Education
Experiencing disability, multiple surgeries and lengthy rehab post-op can have an effect on work and education. Younger people might have their schooling interrupted and get behind. Adults might have to liase with work that extra bit more to negotiate numerous or extended periods of sick leave, and then a paced return to work. This is particularly tricky when the prognosis is uncertain or when surgeries don't work out. People have been known to lose their jobs or be threatened with redundancy due to ongoing mobility issues, and they've had to seek out what their legal rights are. Remember, though, that this is harder to do if a person has no clear diagnosis for their hip pain, because it's harder to explain to an employer.
Family and friends
Family and friends
Anyone with a long term condition will know that it doesn't just affect the individual suffering with it, it affects everyone around them too. It can be draining for loved ones to have to carry the extra burdens of daily routines and childcare. For those not living in a family unit, time after surgeries can become isolating further down the line. Some friends who visited in the immediate post-op days might eventually stop coming round. Remember the genetic factor too and that hip dysplasia often runs in families. A person might be managing with their own hip problems and at the same time be caring for a child in a harness or spica cast.
Relationships
Relationships
Theres no doubt about it, long term disability and pain can definitely put a strain on a relationship. Needing help with everyday tasks might mean a loved one has to act as carer, even for things like washing and dressing in the initial stages after surgeries. Hip pain can also have an affect on sexual intimacy due to pain or difficulties with positioning. Relationships sometimes suffer or break down because of these things.
Mental Health
It is well known that long term pain and mobility problems carry with them a higher incidence of depression and anxiety. Going through diagnosis and surgeries can turn somebody's world upside down and the future can seem very uncertain. There is a huge psychological component to undergoing Pelvic Osteotomies which have a long recovery and rehab process. Post-traumatic stress after multiple and major surgeries in childhood or adulthood is not unheard of. Those who have had a long circuitous route to diagnosis can feel in some sort of psychological limbo (Gambling & Long, 2011); experiencing pain and gradually worsening mobility but with nothing to be able to pin it on, and it's sad that not all have had positive experiences with healthcare providers.
Body Image
Body Image
Those who have battled with their hips for longer can sometimes start to feel self-concious of the way they look and their 'waddling' walk as they go through young adulthood. This can be something that influences decisions about having surgery (Gambling & Long, 2012). Young people and young adults don't want to feel like 90 year olds.
Financial implications
Being out of work, sometimes long term, and having extra costs that inevitably always come with a long term condition can have an impact on a persons finances. Most with hip dysplasia end up needing to go further afield for
accurate diagnosis and treatment. Transport, overnight stays and extra
food costs all add up over time and it can be an added stress on top of everything else.
References
Gambling, T. S. & Long, A. F. (2011) An exploratory study of young women adjusting to developmental dysplasia of the hip and deciding on treatment choices. Chronic Illness, 8 (1). 17-30
Gambling, T. S. & Long, A. F. (2012) Experiences of young women living with developmental dysplasia of the hip: insight into their experiences of surgery and recovery. Chronic Illness, 9 (1). 16-28
References
Gambling, T. S. & Long, A. F. (2011) An exploratory study of young women adjusting to developmental dysplasia of the hip and deciding on treatment choices. Chronic Illness, 8 (1). 17-30
Gambling, T. S. & Long, A. F. (2012) Experiences of young women living with developmental dysplasia of the hip: insight into their experiences of surgery and recovery. Chronic Illness, 9 (1). 16-28
