OP -Originally Posted by Brian Harlin
TL;DR
* Get it done ASAP.
* Hip replaced in 1997 (24 years) is still functioning, but there is wear and could be replaced
* The more active you are close to the replacement date, likely makes the recovery easier and shorter.
Tell them you want the surgery. If they ask, "can you be here tomorrow," say "yes."
My Father's experience:
Jan 1942: born
Feb 1997: replaced right hip
Primarily worked 3 manual labor jobs in his career to this point. Delivering sides of beef (generally carrying on right shoulder) - 20 yrs. Delivering gas/diesel - 10 yrs: Farming - 20 yrs: Farming overlapped with other two for a number of years.
Surgeon said it was the worst hip he had ever seen.
I do not know anything about the artificial hip or his rehab. It was probably extremely short based upon the rehab for the 2020 replacement.
Jun 2020: replaced left hip (surgeon said it was "mush").
At age 78, he is active with multiple jobs. Climbing in equipment (dump trucks / skidloader, etc..), cutting down trees, putting in septic fields.
He was "working" a couple of days before the surgery. Extreme pain and an obvious limp.
Rehab: home the following day. Took one pain pill (other than acetaminophen / ibuprofen). Apparently, any pain from the surgery is not noticeable compared to the pain associated with a shitty hip. He walked into rehab 5 days later pretending to use the walker (surgery on Wed / rehab Mon). Only went to rehab for 2 or 3 weeks. Stupid fuckers showered him with praise and said, "we've never seen anyone move as good as you this soon." Two week follow-up with surgeon: X-ray tech: "Wow, you're doing better than anybody we've ever had." Fortunately, the arrogance he gained from the "professional's" comments and all the activities/movements he did that he was told he should not do did not cause him to end up back in surgery to fix the new hip. We took his car away for two weeks because the Dr did not OK driving, but he climbed in the dump truck and headed to the bar (beer, not olympic).
The only useful thing I saw in rehab was the sit/stands (squatting). I do believe he lost some ROM with the 1997 hip because he did not do enough of these.
If you are deadlifting now, I think you'll find the replacement a breeze. Bone density and all that goes along with weight bearing activities.....
Well, you learn something new. I will definitely consider these new opinions and facts when making my own decision. Thanks OP and others.
My surgery was anterior. Based on my research, I would recommend an anterior approach.
My implants are Smith Nephew Anthology and R3 acetabular. Though, I’m not sure how much I would be concerned with the manufacturer. There are 3 or 4 major manufacturers and they are probably pretty competitive. I was more concerned with the mating materials.
My materials for femoral head and acetabular cup are both Biolox Delta ceramic. I went with ceramic because of my age. From what I have read, there is some reaction with poly materials from the body. as the materials break down, the particles drew an immune response which lead to deterioration of bone (keep in mind I’m speaking from memory of things I read over 2 years ago). That was in older poly materials. The newer poly at the time I was researching had much lower wear rates than previous gens and I think they were working on the reaction from the body. I chose ceramic because the wear rates were much lower than the newest poly at the time and from what I read, the body seemed to ignore ceramic particles.
I would also advise get as strong as possible before surgery and start moving as soon as possible afterwards. Let pain be your guide. If it hurts don’t do it, but move, and titrate frequency, volume, intensity and ROM as you go. I started air squats on the bed, then the toilet starting at about week 2. Lots of walking and stairs. I used a walker, then crutches, then nothing. I really only used the walker for the first week and then to get up to grab crutches. I never needed a toilet riser (but if you get posterior approach, you certainly would) I did get a shower seat and used it for about a week. But I had both done at the same time. If you are getting one done you will advance faster. I stayed one night in the hospital, but that was not the plan and mostly because of the anesthesia. My surgery was at approx 7am and I didn’t wake up for more than a couple of minutes until after midnight. At that point I walked with a walker to the bathroom and back. Went home at about 11am the next day. You will probably be same day. I was squatting with a bar in the garage at probably about 3 and a half weeks, to a box. In fact I just ran to the garage to look at my log. My surgery was on Oct 11 and my first post surgery entry is Oct 26 with air box squats, press and deadlift.
I have not had any grinding or squeaking.
Hope that helps
Much help thanks...Yes anterior approach has already been decided for me a while back. I am interviewing another surgeon on Monday because the second surgeon
uses all poly and lacks the balls to tell me to do what I want...except run..I dont plan on running anywhere ever. I can't remember how old you are but will look back for your
age. Thanks.
The problem, as was explained to me by two surgeons (do with that info what you will), is that the problem is that after two knee replacements there was a significant amount of bone that had to be removed that a third was never viable. After that comes fusion. Of the knee. A significantly active lifestyle cut down the life expectancy to as little as five years for replacement joints. One surgeon refused to consider doing any joint replacements not absolutely necessary due to things like trauma or cancer in the bone or cartilaginous tissues if the patient was under the age of 65. I was significantly younger, and had a substantial amount of reduction in cartilaginous tissues which has caused arthritic pain. Military years and shitty genetics.
My personal view hasn't yet refined beyond "probably not for arthritis, but sometime before it gets down to bone-on-bone." I have not seen any remarkable breakthroughs or advancements in the last 15 years to bolster my confidence in the medical advancements in tissue regeneration or artificial joint technology or surgical techniques. I don't know everything, though. Maybe there's good reason or something on the horizon I haven't seen.
That being said, maybe SLDLs with fused knees at 70 would be better than waiting too long. I honestly don't know. I do know that you can wait too long, though. I have seen family go through that, and it is heartbreaking.