Hip Replacement For Active 30 Yr Old.

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Hi, I had SCFE at 13 years. One hip sheared and was reduced and pinned. The the other was pinned in situ. Throughought highschool I played football, and continue to play basketball. Sport have always caused me pain, but I cant imagine not playing... These days, its much worse than before - I have bone spurs around the ball that limit my range of motion, my osteoarthritis is much worse, and my hips generally feel much more run down. It takes me 3 days to 'heal' after playing ball.

I can go on the way I am for some time (perhaps a few years), but I have begun to research THR, and other procedures. At any point, if I elected to have a procedure, I would expect to recover to at least pre-surgery capacity.

Is this an unreasonable expectation? Today, I still have good leg strength and a good vertical leap. My problem is with lateral movement, and general range of motion.

If I were to have surgery tomorrow, and went through complete proper dedicated rehab and healing, could I expect to pick up from where I left off? Would I have to scale back, even after the joint mechanics and supporting structures had healed appropriately?

Is the better choice to wait for newer technologies and get the most milage with what I have, or should I take action now to enjoy the athleticism of youth, with good hips?

With being active, are there even THR materials that will stand up to the abuse and not require revision? I am 30, and I would like to be involved with sports as long as possible.

Thanks, JAC

-- J Cascio (gardoonza@jasonac.com), April 18, 2004

Answers

Just wanted to let you know that I am a young female who just had a THR as well. Wednesday will be my 8th week post-surgery and I feel like a 16 year old again!!! Trust me, it was well worth the pain in the beginning. I don't want to frighten you, but for me, the pain was incredible (before surgery and during the first three weeks of recuperation). I must admit that my threshold of pain is near "0", but looking back on the days after surgery I think that I was just very scared. However, I feel like a TEENAGER again! I feel GREAT!!! So my advice to you is to do EXACTLY what your Dr. says to do, follow ALL of your hip precautions to the letter and try to stay at an in-house Physical Rehab facility when you are released from the hospital so that you can get all of your Physical and Occupational Therapy that you will need to heal. Remember, that you are YOUNG and that is a BLESSING!!! If you follow your regimen, you can be pain free by the middle of the Summer! God Bless and Good Luck!

Caryl

-- Caryl Quashie-Ford (quashieboo5555@yahoo.com), April 18, 2004.


I am 27 and have struggled with the same questions. I found a great doctor after going to 3 other OS. I trust his eval. and he suggested ceramic on ceramic for me because of activity level. He said that I have a bone spur and cysts(wholes in the bone due to fluid rubbing the bone away). He was worried enough that he open up a day that he does not do surgery to fit me in before he went on vacation in June. I am scheduled for June 4th.

It does worry me but the principal at the school I teach at has had both done(metal on metal done 10 yrs ago and only long term product avail.). She rides horses and get bucked off, has hiked 15 miles in a day with no pain, etc. She has had hers for 10yrs now with no problems. She has really been the one to push me to go for it.

The way I look at it is that I am going into this knowing pretty poitively that I will be having at least one revision but I can hope by then that technology will be better and that I can have my 20's and 30's back to somewhat normal.

My advise is to find a OS that you like and trust. It may take some looking but go to different ones. I actually chose one that was not on my insurance because I liked and trust him as a surgeon.

Lisa

-- Lisa Hamilton (yellowstone@cybertrails.com), May 11, 2004.


http://www.geocities.com/young_hip_patients/index.html

-- Krista (kristola@cogeco.ca), August 12, 2004.

I also am in my 30s and was wondering about the level of mobility the replacement gives. At present I do not have pain but discomfort. I do have 80% mobility however this is at a price. If I play limited sport, I suffer. With a replacement, will I have greater mobility with less discomfort...

Sorry about the golf......

Gerry.

-- Gerry Strong (Ireland) (strong@lucent.com), September 20, 2004.


I'm 31 and am 6 wks post op from a metal on metal implant (depuy). I was involved in a parachute accident that resulted in traumatic arthritis. I debated with my OS as to the advantage of metal on metal and the ceramic on ceramic and chose the metal on metal due to the larger bearing sizes avail = more rom. As far as activity, I'm a Navy SEAL, and although I won't be able to continue in my line of work, I do hope to return to a semi- active lifestyle. As far a impact sports, it all depends on how long you want your hip to last. I know guys that are snowboarding, running and playing b-ball, so you probably could. I've chosen self-preservation, low impact activities, swimming, biking, and walking to stay fit. Abuse is abuse when it comes to the implants, if you abused your body in your youth, as I did, you may want to think twice about abusing a prosthesis. Revison surgeries can only be conducted so many times.

-- d. jaastad (djaastad@aol.com), November 01, 2004.


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