Has anyone worn out their proshetic?

Jimmy:
I went looking for “the hard science” when I had to stop running due to hip pain in 2014. There was very little data and what information I could find was suspect because the sample sizes for my cohort (I was 60 when I had them replaced) were so small. My hunch is that, even though the THA is very common, the number of post-THA runners is still so low that it just doesn’t warrant the attention.

Poignant question – how many web sites are there for runners who have had a THA?

Perhaps there is more info now but my perspective was, and continues to be, that I’ll deal with the 20± year lifespan estimate in the early 2030’s.

I prefer to think of that not as a “head in the sand approach” but as being pragmatic. For one,
cobalt+ceramic is the best design that our species has come up with so I didn’t “cheap out”. But more important is that it’s, arguably, inevitable that the operation we face in the 2030’s will be as successful as the one that we had in the 2010’s because technology is relentless and, further, “that’s where the money is”.

A THA is the most common operation in the US for seniors (I’m 66.9 YO) which means that the amount of money + research going into all facets of a THA is going to increase, the protheses will continue to improve, and the surgical procedure itself will get betterfastercheaper.

What’s the driver for those changes? Demographics. As each year passes more and more Boomers (not me – I’m “generation Jones”) will be getting THA’s or a “revision”. As I see it, that high and increasing demand, coupled with huge voting and financial power, helps ensure that the new hips that we’ll be getting in the 2030 timeframe will be better than what we have now and, as we’re seeing now with a THA, by that time, even revisions will be done on an outpatient basis.

Will my future almost 80 year old body be able to withstand the operation? I can’t be sure of that but I did just put a reminder in my calendar to get back to you. 🙂

This video is quite useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQloOIiZvQI

The surgeon talks in a bit of detail about the lifespan of crosslinked polyethylene, given that it is the liner which tends to be the weakest point of the artificial joint. Obviously it depends on what prosthetic you have, but nowadays the lifespan is quite extraordinary.

Just another video from the same guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYhRSkEbluA

He is doing the experiments we want to see! This one is about the durability of ceramic vs metal heads, and he puts to rest the worry about fracture risk to ceramic heads by… wait for it… dropping them from various heights. Perhaps a bit unorthodox, but it is good to get some visual confirmation of the incredible durability of modern prosthetics.

2 excellent links Bob.
Well worth a look.

Rob