Best prosthetic material and Parkinson’s considerations

Hi Charlie, welcome!

I have a Zimmer ceramic/ceramic THR, supposedly the Rolls-Royce of hip replacements, and I am confident that it will outlast me (I’m 70). I also have a metal/metal resurfacing and I get checked for chromium and cobalt levels every 3 years because metal bearings do wear. From the Smith and Nephew website, the oxinium coating with cross-linked polyethylene would be expected to both remove the risk of metal poisoning and the risk of ceramic shattering so I would vengure to suggest that your surgeon is probably right on the money.
Not sure how the oxinium bearing is sized but the ball/socket combination ought to be bigger than a ceramic equivalent as the socket could be thinner, allowing a bigger ball and making dislocation less likely – and it’s not likely anyway.
Sorry to hear about your Parkinson’s, I don’t think either a ceramic or oxinium device will affect it.

Good Luck,
Pete

Hi Charlie

I am 4 weeks on from THR of my right hip. I have to say I didn’t spend time researching hip implants, but I did spend time researching surgeons. I took into account 3 things. One was the recommendation from my physiotherapist, knowing he had had patients have good outcomes with this particular surgeon. The second was looking at the surgeon’s profile on the National joint registry – noting that he does a lot of hip replacements and also that his client profile was younger than average, fewer comorbidities than average and hence fitted a pattern of people who were likely to want to be more active after surgery. The third was meeting him and seeing how he reacted to a discussion of my goals.

Having done this, I then felt it was for him to decide the best implant and method of surgery for my needs / goals. I wasn’t going to try to influence the choice of implant A versus implant B, as I don’t have any actual experience to go on. I did however engage in a conversation about cement. I didn’t want to be cemented, but was well aware it was normal to cement post menopausal women. The result was he looked at the health of my bones and muscles during surgery and decided not to cement me.

Hey Charlie, Best of luck on the hip replacement firstly. Are you getting anterior or posterior surgery? I had my left hip replaced last February, it was an anterior surgery with titanium post, ceramic ball and polyurethane socket. Healing was rough the first couple of weeks but the healing process speeds up super fast! I had 3 months of physical therapy focused on returning to competitive running next year, I’m an ultra runner. Since returning to running in May (13th) I’ve logged 800 miles of running and the hip feels amazing! I’ve been gradually building up my distance and speed having ran multiple trail runs at 20 miles now and have mile splits in the 6:30’s. I plan on returning to races next year with ultras ranging from 50k to 100 miles. I’m 57 years old and my running has never been stronger. The first month is going to be hard, take your time, be patient and don’t let all the little bumps get you down, you’re going to be fine and better than before! Best of luck on your new hip and recovery!
Chris

Hi Charlie
An update to what I posted earlier. I have just been in for my 6 week checkup so was able to follow up on what I have. My femoral implant has an oxinium head. Basically it’s oxidised zirconium heat treated to about 5000 degrees centigrade, so it creates a ceramic like surface that’s much less prone to cracking than ceramic. The rest of the femoral implant is titanium. It’s paired with a cup that’s also titanium with an XLPE liner. The manufacturer is Smith & Nephew, it’s their patented technology. The consultant was positive about me running on it. It looks great on the X ray.