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Pat, Thanks for your website it really helped me
navigate the process. I’m 50, athletic, arthritic (ankylosing
spondylitis), bone on bone in both hips. I had a right Birmingham
hip mid-Nov with Dr. Schmalzried. I would say so far a very
successful story.
He had me get on a stationary bike the day after I got home and
started PT about a week later. Initial PT was focused on
strengthening and stretching as quickly as able, while being mindful
of wrong angles. PT led to a spinning bike fairly quickly then out
on the road at about 6 weeks.
I started walking the golf course with a crutch at Christmas (5-6
weeks), graduated to ¼ swings, then half swings, then full swings,
then carried my bag. In mid April I jogged a 5K with no hip pain. By
early May (6 months) I had built up my bike riding and was able to
cover a 92 mile ride with 12,000 ft of climbing up Mt Baldy near Los
Angeles (Stage 7 of this year’s Tour of California). Bicycling and
swimming along with walking seem to be the best things I can do.
Maybe I have been lucky, but it seems like working up gradually and
diligently the hip has responded to everything. I don’t recall
having any joint pain – only issues were from the soft tissue. Still
feel the scar some times, but no big deal.
Early on I had the clicking that I read about, which was
disconcerting. Dr. did not really have any comments or helpful
advice. My hypothesis is that as I gained strength and tightened
soft tissue back up it gradually disappeared.
Biggest downers was the reaction to anesthesia in the first days of
recovery.
The BHR side is still a very slightly weaker and stiffer than other
side (probably because I am not rigorous on PT exercises), but
clearly better than pre-surgery by a long way.
So, I just wanted to thank you for maintaining your website, it
provided a lot of useful information to help decide on moving
forward with resurfacing. Please feel free to post my comments if
you think they would be useful for someone else.
Ted
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