Posts
24
Joined
7/20/2021
Location
Manchester Township, NJ
US
Edited Date/Time
8/25/2022 5:28pm
Hey guys, I’m 51 starting riding as a kid, had both knees replaced and my left hip is shot just putting on sock and shoes on left side is tough. Due to hip being bad can’t swing my leg over the seat I hate the idea of standing on something to get on anyone who had hip replaced did it greatly improve range of motion to get on bike. I’m planning on doing it few months to be healed by next spring. Thanks
One thing I did, 2 months pre-op, I went into serious training mode on my legs, it hurt like hell at first, but after 3 weeks I noticed a huge difference in everyday pain, and my post-op pt was cut in half and I left the hospital 2 days early.
The last race I did I had to be lifted off my bike after the race.
I was back on my Flat Track bike 5 months after op, slow practice. Mid April I did my first race since Op.
First time in 6 years I am pain free.
Will get back to racing MX in a few months.
The Shop
SUPERpath. no cutting of tendons or muscle, one 6" scar on the side of my cheek and a couple of 2 stitch incisions for the alignment tools they use. Lotta youtube videos on the subject.
Did mine 7 plus years ago at 50, outpatient surgery. Limped in at 7am, walked out at 5pm. Went back to work the following week and rode in 6 months, I was busy and riding wasn't a priority then but Doc said the main reason for failure in younger patients is they don't give the replacement stem enough time for it to graft itself to the femur and it gets loose. I recently went in to have my knee checked and the doc said lets look at your hip to see how its doing. Zero wear.
My advice, don't wait, tomorrow is not guaranteed and quality of life is too important.
Good luck.
Now I have zero issue getting around. Went in for my 1 year check up and Doc said all was great.
You'll be blown away at how much better it is after surgery. Its really not a big deal at all. If you've had 2 knee replacements, a hip will be a piece of cake.
Honestly now, I'm less worried about it popping out of place than I was my old hip prior to surgery. My old hip would pop in and out (not completely) all the time, it was creepy. Now the new one is rock solid.
Doctor told me I was good to go to ride MX. He said in a bad crash there is risk, but he said there's risk of a ton of injuries and hip popping out is likely low on the list in terms of danger.
Hip popping out will suck - it hurts and requires surgery to go back in. So its a big deal. If you get the anterior approach (through the front) you have less risk of it popping out.
FWIW, I've crashed probably 6-7 times in the last year with my hip, landing on my replaced hip - nothing really bad in terms of crashes, but I've hit the dirt a good 6-7 times with it. No issues so far. It freaked me out on the first couple spills, but once I realized it was no issue, my confidence has just kept building.
Can't stress the importance of strength building muscle and scar tissue around the joint (scar tissue comes from working out). That is what helps prevent the hip from popping out of place after healing from the surgery.
Anyone getting a hip replacement should most definitely get it done for quality of life. I've had zero issues getting back on the bike (knock on wood).
He was right, I did the rehab which helped a little but I only got about 3/4 movement back, Its still hard to swing my leg over the bike and kick starting it with my left leg on the ground is possible now but hard so I usually just use my bike stand to put my left leg on. I'm of course still happy I had it done.
As far a crashing and damaging the hip joint he told me the hip itself is very strong once fully healed but my femur is the weak point now since the rod in it is a possible fracture point at the base of the rod in the femur. (See DNF736's x-ray photo above)
My last one felt solid at 3 months, I went trail riding at 6 months and waited a little over a year to race. I was worried about it coming loose and didn't want to risk it. It's been a few years since the last one, I can honestly say I rarely even think about them. I can touch my toes, swing a leg over my bike, walk all day pain free, you're going to be happy with the result. As far as the implants coming loose I was concerned.... about how well the bones grafted onto the implants. I crashed about a year and 8 months ago, my legs spread apart so far my pelvis split in two and I broke my right femur in two places, But the hip implants held solid, both of them. I never worry about them dislocating or coming loose. If that crash didn't rattle them loose I don't think anything will. It'll feel great and solid and strong, but I'd give it close to a year before I'd start pushing it. But that's just me. Other guys say they started racing way before I did, but I really didn't want to get number 4 by being impatient.
Good luck you're going to be glad you did it ! Here's my clusterfuck, "The Berminator"
I'm hoping to be trail riding by the time the So Cal deserts cool off in October. That gives me about 5 months rehab time. Do those of you that have had this done think that is a realistic timeframe? or am I riding the cooler for a few more months? Keeping mind, I'm not super fast anymore and just cruise
Pit Row
Also I searched forever for some sort of padded short that actually covers the hip. Go ahead and get yourself these:
https://www.planet-knox.com/product/defender-mtb-shorts/
They have 2 overlapping pads on each hip that have a pivot point and slide over each other so that your hip is actually protected no matter how bent your leg is, and the pads are the perfect density. Every other padded short is useless compared to these.
Has anyone taken a really good hit and surprised how well the new hip handled it. All the way from casing a jump, to an ill placed foot dab on the rocks, to a crash impact with the dirt? I hope that question made sense...
I couldn't believe what I was doing hours after surgery, like someone else mentioned....I too hobbled into surgery at 7am and walked out almost pain free by 3 pm.
I try not to case doubles as much and if I have to dab a foot I'm pretty careful to keep my toes pointed forward...when I do its pain free. All in all I'm blown away at what i can do with this new hip.....a few crash and burns already and no pain at all....but I thinks its time to stop crashing and save this thing for my senior years.
For what its worth I still ride about twice a week, I take it pretty easy tho and only do a couple laps, couple miles of single track and a random ramp hit or 3.
I took 3 weeks off working out, stopped doing squats and started focusing on doing knees over toes exercises as well as riding my MTB and suddenly all pain was gone. Since then, its perfect. So don't over work it.
I would start mountain biking or just cycling locally. That will build your strength up. No reason you shouldn't be able to ride at 5 months, just take it easy to start and work you way up.
I have taken some hard hits on a few crashes and come up short on many jumps to have no issue with the hip. Landed into the face of a 75 triple last weekend and bike/body absorbed it no issue (for the record, I wasn't trying to hit the triple, I was feeling my oats and just over jumped the piss out of the double). I've also cased a few 100 foot tables when trying to figure out the jumps (flat landing at 90 foot or so), and absolutely no issue with the hip. Never even thought twice about any of them.
I feel I had/have a weird pelvis in the first place always walked like a duck. I know walk straight, but it is not like natural. I also had one of the Allstar surgeons in Orange County, huge reputation. He is good, very good, I’m just one of the small percentage that didn’t have a great outcome.
The one on the right was the resurfacing that came out, next to the thr that replaced it.
Anyway don't freak OP they've come a long way since then. My left side was like what others described. Better from day one and a steady improvement until it wasn't even noticeable. I don't even think about the left side.
As others said go into the surgery in the best possible shape you can achieve. Be light, very light. Uptite and Sumdood passed those excellent instructions along.
I lost my hip after a raccoon dug it out of an ant hill I’d pushed it in to clean off the tissue. I found it in the neighbors yard a few weeks later. It’s now kept in a backpack used when riding an old CB550 around town.
https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/Non-Moto,21/Fake-hips,1338239?page=2
Night train I still can't believe they let you have that chunk of femur lol. The story of it getting stolen and recovered is classic. I bet you never thought you'd say, "I buried a bone in the backyard and an animal stole it, but I got it back later" "Oh did I mention it was one of my bones" ? That's wild that shit would never fly out here. I really wanted my old implant for a paper weight, no such luck. You know carrying that thing around is kind of creepy right ? I mean it's cool, but.... kind of creepy too. You ever pull it out and show anyone ? Doe it have a name like Wilson from Castaway ? lol
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