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DEAR DR ROACH: I’m an 80-year-old female who sustained a right femur fracture in February. I had surgery within 24 hours of the incident. Surgery went well, and I was discharged two days later. Recovery at home has also gone well. I’m using a walker and a cane for mobility assistance. The hospital referred a home-based physical and occupational therapy company that set up a twice-a-week program at my home.
So far, I’m doing well at 14 weeks, just not quite back to my usual activities. When I try walking around my house without the walker or cane, I have a very distinct limp, and my right leg feels as though it’s shorter than my left. The therapists say that this is due to my right leg not having regained its full muscle strength.
My concern is that I may not get my full strength back and that I will have a limp and a right leg that is weak. Is it possible that I just need more time? I don’t want to give up, and I want to be positive. But I also need to consider that I may have already reached my best outcome. -- P.M.
ANSWER: Surgeons work hard to make sure that the leg length is correct after surgery (specifically for total hip arthroplasty, which I think you had). Highly experienced surgeons are very good at this, with 80% of patients of high-volume surgeons ending up within 5 mm of the correct length. People may notice symptoms when one leg is 7 or more mm longer than the other.
It’s common for people to feel as you do after surgery. About 50% of patients feel like their the leg is the wrong length shortly after surgery, but almost 75% of them had their symptoms disappear by a year after surgery. I wouldn’t despair as it’s likely that your symptoms will disappear. If they don’t, a common and effective treatment are shoe lifts or heel inserts.
Finally, I still occasionally see someone get sent home after a hip fracture without an evaluation of why they had it, so a bone density test is appropriate if you haven’t had one.
DEAR DR. ROACH: I read your recent column about the man who suffered from neuropathy in his feet due to chemotherapy treatments. None of the medications that he’d been given helped with the numbness. I, too, ended up with neuropathy in my feet due to chemo treatments with carboplatin and paclitaxel. I didn’t have pain or a burning sensation, just numbness. When the numbness didn’t resolve on its own, my doctors suggested acupuncture.
I was dubious, but my doctors were serious about it. So, I gave it a try, and to my amazement, it worked. I still have some numbness in my toes, but the overall improvement was substantial. The acupuncturist told me that he had treated a number of people with chemo-induced neuropathy and had success in reducing the symptoms for every case. He also admitted that other types of neuropathy, such as those caused by diabetes, weren’t susceptible to acupuncture treatments.
Perhaps the man who wrote to you might want to give acupuncture a try. -- L.D.J.
ANSWER: I appreciate your writing. I’ve looked at the studies on acupuncture for chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, and although there are trials showing a benefit, a recent review stated that nine trials were “all deemed unsatisfactory” due to the quality of the evidence. However, if standard treatments haven’t worked, then I wouldn’t object to a patient of mine trying acupuncture.
I’d note that you were very lucky to be at a cancer referral center with an acupuncturist who’s experienced in this issue. Not everyone will have this resource available.
Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu (c) 2026 North America Syndicate Inc. All Rights Reserved