Hi Rob
I am 64. I had my right hip replaced 7th Sept 21 after a very similar story to yours. I also went private in the UK. My running had been deteriorating during 2020 and finally ground to a halt in May 21. I went to a physio, who pointed me at a surgeon who dealt with active people. The first question I asked was ‘will I be able to run’. He was cautiously optimistic, but I got far more negativity out of everyone else I saw, including the physio the hospital used post-surgery (who wasn’t the person who I had originally seen).
Like you, the operation and recovery went well. I have been back swimming, using the gym, doing Aqua classes etc for a while. I hadn’t intended to try running until I was closer to 6 months, but quite honestly everything is feeling fine now, so I tried a very short trial run this morning. If there are no after effects (and everything feels fine at the moment) I will ease back in gently with C25k.
I had the posterior approach, scar is about 6 inch long. Uncemented. Smith + Nephew Polar 3 so it has an oxinium femoral head – zirconium heated up to a ridiculous temperature to ceramicise it – sitting in a highly cross linked XLPE liner.
I think surgeons who don’t themselves run are cautious about encouraging running because they can’t understand why anyone needs to take the risk when other forms of exercise are available. Those who run, understand. Mine is an amateur tri-athlete.