Can walk again

“I’ve never known a life without pain”

Senior physician Lukas Pichler was able to help 20-year-old Verena Pehböck from Pierbach.(Bild: Ordensklinikum Linz)

20-year-old Verena Pehböck has struggled with walking problems since childhood. The young woman was fitted with two small special hip implants at the beginning of the year. Since the operation, Pehböck has been undergoing regular physiotherapy and can walk again without pain.

The luck of the earth lies on the back of a horse - at least that's what the old saying goes. And since a special operation at the Religious Hospital of the Sisters of Mercy in Linz, 20-year-old Verena Pehböck has been able to find happiness again on the back of her horse "Ikarus".

I am very grateful to the doctors. My pain is gone and I can walk again. Now I can continue my training and I'm very happy.

Patientin Verena Pehböck

"Six months before the operation, I couldn't walk at all and was dependent on a wheelchair," says Pehböck. At the time, her dad carried the 20-year-old from the ground floor to the nursery every day. She could only visit her beloved "Ikarus" in the stable in a wheelchair, riding was out of the question.

Pain came at the age of six
"The patient had a collapsed femoral head on both sides, caused by dying bone tissue. Despite opiates, she was in unimaginable pain," says Lukas Pichler, the doctor treating her. But the truth is that Pehböck's ordeal began much earlier. A developmental disorder caused pain in her hips at the age of six, which made it difficult for her to coordinate when walking. This led to severe teasing at school, and the 20-year-old also had to drop out of her apprenticeship twice.

Before the operation, she could only visit her beloved "Ikarus" in a wheelchair.(Bild: privat)

Life completely changed
She finally received real help at the beginning of the year at the Linz Ordensklinikum. Two special hip prostheses were produced and fitted during two operations. Since then, Pehböck's life has changed completely. She has been able to resume her apprenticeship as a retail saleswoman and can walk again. "Pain-free, like now? I never knew that before," says the strong woman happily.