Well, I am discovering one downside to my new hip. ;) It is allowing me to ski with so much more range of motion and power than before, that it is making my knees ache from all the extra fun. For years, I have been taking Celebrex and Tylenol every day to be able to keep skiing on my old hip, but this winter I am being careful not to take anything to mask any pains, because I want to be able to accurately judge how hard I can push my new hip. I have a feeling that the Celebrex has been having the side affect of masking my aging knees over the past few years. My question is this; if I started taking Celebrex for my knees, how would that affect the on-going bone remodeling around the cement-less prosthesis, that should be continuing over the first year or so (I am seven months out now). This is not an easy question to answer, since there is a fair amount of disagreement among doctors about the affects of NSAIDS like Celebrex. For example, my memory is that Dr. Gross prescribes Celebrex for the first month or so, and did not seem concerned one way or the other after that. A friend of mine who is an orthopedic surgeon was adamant that I stop the Celebrex as soon as Dr Gross's script was over, saying that it would inhibit bone remodeling. I remember reading that Mr McMinn is against NSAIDs prior to surgery, with concerns about it causing and worsening cysts in the joint.
I am hoping that Pat can maybe do one of her informal poles of the top Docs, and see if we can get any consensus about the use of Celebrex and other NSAIDS after resurfacing, especially during the first year of bone remodeling. At this point, my own question is not so much about taking Celebrex for the resurfaced hip that is a youthful seven months, but for the 58 year old knees that are trying to keep up with it. I do not want to take anything that would in any way compromise the bone remodeling, since I can easily live with a couple of sore knees (they never hurt when I am skiing, but they take their revenge every evening) :-\.