Hip joint care "instructions"

Author: Li Tao, deputy chief physician, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University

Reviewer: Wang Jian, Chief Physician, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University

For patients with femoral head necrosis, every detail in daily life may affect the development of the disease. The correct lifestyle and exercise methods can not only help relieve symptoms, but also promote recovery to a certain extent. For the health of the hip joint, reducing the load is one of the key measures. In terms of exercise, patients often have many questions, such as whether they need to lose weight first? In order to help patients with femoral head necrosis better cope with the disease, improve their quality of life, and regain health and vitality. Let us take a deeper look together and take solid steps to defeat femoral head necrosis.

If you suffer from femoral head necrosis, what should you pay attention to in your life?

In the early stage of femoral head necrosis, non-surgical treatment methods can be used to preserve the hip. Among them, protective weight-bearing and drug therapy are the main treatment measures, supplemented by maintaining the hip joint in daily life.

1. Keep warm: patients with joint diseases are more sensitive to dampness and cold. Hot compress can relax the muscles around the hip joint, improve blood circulation, and have a certain effect on relieving joint pain. You can apply a self-heating patch to the painful area, or use a hot water bag for hot compress.

2. Maintain correct posture.

① Standing and bending over for a long time while doing housework (×). You can prepare a chair or high stool of appropriate height (√).

② Bend over to pick up something (×). When the pain is severe, use tools to pick up things and avoid bending over. If there are no pain symptoms, the correct posture for picking up things is as follows: take a step back with the affected leg, support your weight with the healthy leg and bend your knee at the same time. Hold onto the wall or table to help support your body (√).

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③Cross your legs (×). Keep your feet flat on the ground (√).

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3. Maintain a normal weight: Patients with femoral head necrosis should control their diet appropriately, maintain their weight within a normal range, and avoid abnormal blood lipids.

4. Reduce the weight: walk with crutches.

To reduce the burden on the hip joint, do we need to lose weight first?

For patients with femoral head necrosis, especially those in the early stages, reducing weight is beneficial to maintaining the shape of the femoral head, preventing the femoral head from collapsing, and creating favorable conditions for femoral head repair. Therefore, reducing weight is an important measure for non-surgical treatment of femoral head necrosis. The load borne by the hip joint when the body moves is more than three times the weight of the upper body. Moderate weight loss can help increase muscle strength, reduce the load on the hip joint, and protect the femoral head. Exercise combined with diet and balanced control of energy intake and expenditure are the basic principles of weight loss.

How do patients with femoral head necrosis exercise?

Exercise principles for patients with femoral head necrosis: Exercises that do not significantly increase the weight of the hip joint, such as walking, swimming, cycling, Tai Chi, etc. Avoid strenuous exercise, such as running, skipping, playing badminton, basketball, etc. Patients who have undergone artificial hip replacement should perform rehabilitation exercises under the guidance of a doctor. After full recovery, they can then engage in sports activities such as walking, cycling, bowling, playing table tennis, swimming and dancing.

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