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I had THR of my right hip three years ago, anterior surgery. I was told no running, but finally my surgeon admitted he runs with some of his patients.
[See the full post at: Help! Fell while running—twice. 🙁]How is your mobility on your left side? I had my right hip replaced in 2020 and noticed while training for the Atlanta half marathon this past spring that I was dragging my left leg and almost tripped a couple of times because I wasn’t getting my foot high enough off the ground. I am now scheduled to have my left hip replaced late January. It isn’t very painful but bone on bone in the front of the hip socket has limited my mobility and caused me to be careful when I run.
No, this doesn’t sound like a hip device problem. I hate to say it, but as we get older, we are more susceptible to trips and falls. I’m about to turn 61. I went through a period about a year after my thr where I fell multiple times. I ultimately started some weight lifting because I concluded that I wasn’t picking up my feet high enough and that some muscles were weak. Haven’t fallen since. I think it was my quads that were the problem.
My suggestion: go to physical therapy. Basically as we age, muscles get weaker and then we compromise form and problems arise. The PT training can help you strengthen your muscles and improve your balance. Balance is a huge part of good pt for runners. And in PT there are lots of exercises for balance. You learn to use all the little muscles that get out whack over time. And unfortunately, as we hit our 50s and certainly 60, it’s easy for balance to deteriorate. But training can restore that.
And the PT can notice if you’re not picking your feet up high enough and help you retrain that part of your form. I went to PT about six months after surgery to get back to running. Frankly the PT was less “therapy” to recover from the surgery and more just straight-up fitness and strength training. My muscles were in far worse shape than I thought. And running relies on muscle fitness and muscle activation way more than I thought. There is the strength part of PT and then there is an activation part. Over time, in bourgeois society, for example, we stop using our glute muscles. Those butt muscles are powerful, fierce and it takes time to activate them even if they’re strong.
I went to PT again later for some knee problems. Both times were highly successful.
BTW: there are great, good and mediocre PT people out there. Find someone you really like. You don’t have confidence in their method, go to someone else. Don’t waste time when you don’t feel you’re getting stronger. You should know in a month if the PT regimen is good for you. It could take several months of PT work, but your therapist will almost certainly want you running immediately. So you won’t have to sit out training as you go through the PT.
Good luck.
Hi Kathy Check the wear pattern on your shoes, we get older and become heal stickers with short strides . It’s easy to catch a toe and tumble. Study up on chi running and change to easy impact chi running. I’m 1 year out of left hip replacement, turning 70 and cleared to return to marathons and Ironman racing.
Thank you, Ltcajs. I figured out it is my stride, plus the shoes I have been wearing since my hip replacement. I have done tons of p.t. and am strong and flexible. So I knew p.t. was not the answer. So cool to hear that you got approved to return to marathons and Ironman racing. 🙂 I have switched out my shoes and am paying attention to my stride.
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