Hi Morwenna,

I didn't know anyone had replied to my thread re: core decompression-femoral head. I just wanted to thank you for your reply and let you know how I've been.

I work in a physio clinic as a PT aide, but I was the first "hip" my boss had, so we were both just reading and learning as we went. I was NWB for 8 weeks, PWB for the next 2 weeks, then crutches for any long distances (my walk to work is .8km) and a cane for general use up until about the 12th or 13th week. I did rehab as per a knee reconstruction - lots of SLR (all 4 planes) supine first, then standing. As I progressed, I moved to the stationary bike and standing SLR with theratubing. I maintained a very low impact level until the end of the 5th month and have slowly incorporated the treadmill and lots and lots of walking.

Fast forward to the 6th month. I had my follow-up with my surgeon Monday and the x-ray revealed almost no radiographic evidence of AVN. The hip looks almost normal. I was released to normal activity Monday and went out and played volleyball-woohoo!!!!! The hip feels good, very little to no pain, except at night.

I'll still have to monitor the hip every six months. I have an Wikipedia reference-linkMRI at 9 months to check on the healing process, but for now, it looks good.

Thanks for replying.

Teje