Sean – About me

Hi Sean – find out about Hip Resurfacing before committing to a THR, it would give you two chances as bone is preserved. Resurfacing surgeons are few and far between, and THR surgeons will say there are problems with resurfacing and they won’t do the operation because of this, but there are very successful resurfacing advocates in the US – and Andy Murray seems to be doing OK with his.
I have a resurfaced hip and a THR hip, my bone was not good enough for the second hip to be resurfaced (I was 66 at the time) and both hips work well for running, biking and hiking. In some respects (range of movement, normality of feeling) the ceramic THR is better, but I still harbour worries about the long spike stuck in my femur being an unnatural solution to the problem of ball and socket wear.

Cheers,

Pete

Hi Sean,

I have a dual mobility implant. As the name implies, it’s for increased range of motion, not for running. In my case, I’m a double jointed person who likes to sit twisted up like a pretzel and do yoga. My range of motion is the same as before surgery, except that I’m careful not to put my legs in what my surgeon calls “the W position” and I haven’t tried to do a split. The risk of dislocation with this implant is very low, once fully healed. I do run with it, but I don’t do heavy mileage – I never did.

Cheers –
Hoppie

Hi Sean, I’m 13 years posterior THR and it’s working for me, I’m 63 and still getting faster. Just ran a 3:06 marathon and yesterday came second in a 52K race. I’m not saying posterior is better than anterior, continue your research and discuss it with the doctor and then decide what’s best for you. Good luck, I hope it turns out as amazing as mine. I also run about 2,000 miles a year with just minor issues.

I say don’t get lost and off track in your research and decision making.

Find the best surgeon you can find, period. Tell the surgeon about your goal to return to running. Get to a surgeon who is fine with that goal.

Then let go. The best surgeons pick the best devices and insert the devices in the most skillful way and limit the soft tissue damage as much as possible. Lay people sometimes think that the surgery does itself. Dual mobility isn’t all that big a deal these days because top surgeons have solved the problem of dislocation. They have extremely low dislocation rates.

There are a thousand little factors involved in successful hip replacement. That’s why you just want to get to the best possible surgeon, period. Best surgeons take care of all the details for the specific patient.

Another way of putting this: you can be a good anterior approach or a mediocre or a terrible anterior approach surgery. Same with people who use dual mobility. Having that approach (or device) doesn’t mean the surgeon is any good.

The key factor is the skill and experience of that surgeon in placing the device property and precisely and doing minimal soft tissue damage and then having a great post surgery pain med protocol.

If you want to get into details, ask how many surgeries the surgeon has done using their current approach. And find out how many surgeries they do a year. Some good numbers with be 1,000 surgeries overall and 250+ surgeries a year. Skillful surgery requires regular operations.

And find someone you trust.

I agree with the finding a good surgeons advice. I also found these surgeons on YouTube that do a great job of discussing THR approaches and outcomes to help educate you https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4ukJyPfYu8lRj_Pl8tshJc5FAfdENes_

My story is both hips replaced over the past four years. I had them replaced by a surgeon that likes the posterior approach because he feels he can get a more precise fit. I was back running on my first hip at 6 months and put in 2500 miles before having my second hip replaced in Feb of this year. At five months I am now jogging 5 minutes and walking 1 minute for 30 minutes building back to running and racing triathlons in September.

I hope the videos by the two doctors help in your replacement journey.

Tim

Hey Sean, I love what city of smoking Joe and 0B said above in regards to advice. My orthopedic had an outstanding reputation and also just luckily for me was a friend. He totally understood my desire to be very active and while he hasn’t had replaced hips, is an athletic guy at about age 60 and has replaced a hip of his nephew who is a former Green Beret and has exercise addictions like us 😉
When I inquired about posterior and anterior, he said “posterior only or this conversation is over… there are simply far too many risks with anterior“… that made the decision for me… I greatly trust him, and he was in Fattic. Hope that helps and best wishes! I am just over 2 1/2 years post THR and now contemplating having my other hip done, as I am starting to get more oa pain there.