Pete M’s Hip Resurfacing 2015
November 18, 2021 7 Year Update Left BHR and 4.5 Year Update Right THR
My turn to announce another anniversary – 7 years of BHR left hip, and 4.5 years ceramic THR right hip.
No hip problems as such, although I always feel the BHR side around the scar and there is an occasional clunk. I also have a little more range of movement from the ceramic hip but not a problem when climbing, biking or running.
Had an excellent season of running from October 2020 until June this year, managing to beat county Gold Standard times for 70 age group at all distances from 1 mile to 30km, and last year’s longest walk in the hills was 42 miles, but since June I have been restricted by sciatica/lower back problems which are finally resolving at 6 months – hopefully!
Still racing 5k parkruns every Saturday, coming up to 400 by Xmas, but currently way off my 23:27 PB from March – but I hadn’t run that fast since 2016 so there is every hope that I can still get back there.
November 19, 2016 UPDATE – my left hip’s second birthday!
All is still well. I suspect the scar will always feel a bit strange but the joint itself is great and gives no concern despite all the use it gets, which includes 46 5km races, one 10km race and bike rides up to 55 miles in the last 12 months. It has also been subjected to a fair amount of walking, rock climbing/bouldering and gym workouts without complaining. So far, so good!
The only things restricting activity nowadays are my remaining natural hip and old age – the right one was given a two-year lifespan by my surgeon but it seems to be no worse at the moment than two years ago so there is no immediate rush to get it done (but I do worry that some agency like NICE could decide that over-55s should not get BHR in future). Old age is OK except for long recovery times after big days out, as noted by Woodstock and others. I would have liked to have raced a half marathon by now but having trained over the distance last year it took a couple of months to get back to faster running again, and I am sticking to 5km at the moment with a view to getting my 250 shirt from parkrun by Christmas (number 246 tomorrow!).
One highlight of the year was meeting Tri Hard Alan at Imperial College hospital in the summer for a tour of their musculoskeletal department, meeting Professor Cobb and members of his team, being shown some of their facilities and answering their many questions about our BHR experiences. They are apparently working on a pink ceramic device that will be suitable for women and smaller men, which will be good news for many in this country, but they need people to spread the word that THR is not the only kind of hip operation. As Alan suggested, this message needs to be disseminated by the GPs that are the first link in the chain leading to surgery.
Thanks again to Pat for this site and the rest of you for your company over the last couple of years, here’s to many more!
Pete’s Original Story
February 20, 2015
I found this site after my BHR op three months ago. My main worry after doing all the research was that I had left it too late – 63 years old and a slight cloud over bone quality (DXA scan after breaking my wrist in a small cycling fall showed substandard hip density for age). I found a consultant who operates at the local Spire hospital who I knew had performed successful resurfacing (family friend, 10 years and still going strong) and who was also a hillwalker and told him I wanted a BHR to allow running, climbing and cycling etc. Having examined my X ray and DXA results, and given me the stern warning about all the risks (to which I replied that he was talking to a climber and motorcyclist!) he agreed to do the operation. Then I spent a month wrestling with the pros and cons before committing myself – and it has worked out really well, so far.
I originally just ran to get fit for climbing but running became a habit so I ended up doing marathons and eventually longer events in the hills – I was never as fast as you, best half of 1:23, marathon 2:54 – and when the kids came along and my job changed I backed off regular training for years but restarted about 6 years ago and surprisingly quickly got back to sub-1:40 halves. But the near-permanent aching and stiffness in my groin and quads would not go away so for the last year I resigned to just doing parkrun on Saturday mornings and hobbling around full of Ibuprofen, with less and less speed until a month before my op.
In theory I must wait a year to run again but with the miles I have walked since day 6 (nearly 200) breaking into a jog has proved easy and painless so I have already done a few gentle parkruns and can beat my wife again. Being very careful but no regrets at all at the moment. The other hip has about a year of use yet so another op is imminent but I would heartily recommend the procedure and my surgeon, who has only done a couple of hundred resurfacings but seems to have placed mine perfectly and done minimal damage in the process.
Of course, being older means that the prosthesis does not have to last as long as yours but I am still hoping for at least another 15 years of activity – and I have been cycling with a chap who had a Treacy BHR in 1997 who is still very happy that he had the op and continued fell running etc until recently (age 70 now, can still out bike me).
March 20, 2015
The UK midlands have just had the perfect first day of spring, and a decent partial solar eclipse to add even more interest. Hit 4 months post-op this week and the BHR hip is working perfectly, so I reckoned I would take advantage of the conditions to bike outside for the first time this year. 14.6 miles in just over 52 minutes was actually better than my first few rides last year over the same course, which is pleasing. Then went for a 2.7 mile walk with my big lad when he got home from work, which brings my total post-op mileage on foot to 306.7 (approximately)! Biking has been mainly indoors, which I don’t like very much, but the total is now 125 miles.
New hip painless, old hip starting to grumble but I hope to get at least this summer out of it while I am still young!
April 17, 2015
Final consultation with my surgeon last night at 21 weeks, he was very pleased to see me in one piece and enjoying myself and has given me the OK to carry on what I have been doing (climbing, jogging, cycling) and just using common sense not to overdo things. My painful right hip will need doing eventually but not just yet – the left one was much worse on x-ray even though the pain could be similar at times. This will limit how much running I can do, which is probably a good thing! He reckoned he could use me as an example of just what is possible with a resurfacing. He also mentioned he had recently seen a 9-yeat post-op ASR recipient who was still doing well with very low metal ion levels, and it seems to come down to placement angles. My BHR is fixed at 42 degrees which is what he intended, he reckons that by the time you get to 30 degrees there could be edge-loading when cycling.
I mentioned that Sky News ran a small feature over the popularity of parkrun over Easter and that I got 10 seconds of fame being interviewed about running with a replaced hip, fortunately he had not seen the item but it did make him smile! Once we had finished I headed off to the climbing wall for another good session at 6a/+, practice for my first outdoor climbing post-op, tomorrow, on Stanage gritstone.
May 22, 2015
Just wanted to give my update at six months- and found the forum broken! Well done to Pat for getting things back to normal again.
At six months I have a metal hip which is better than my other one both for pain and range of movement and I am very pleased with the way things are working out. My operation was done with a lateral incision which made abduction very hard for the first few days but allowed me to walk well with two crutches (only allowed partial weight-bearing initially) from day 6. No ice, lots of swelling and lots of getting up in the night to pee – as reported by many others here. Stockings and aspirin for six weeks, could put my own stockings on by the third week.
Some physiotherapy but mainly walking to get muscles working again – encouraged by the physio, who said research indicated walking was as good as PT exercises.
By 6 weeks I had walked 60 miles but then overdid things by walking too far too fast (6.4m at 4mph) on the day I was allowed to drive again. This set me back to using one crutch for another week but by week 8 I was back on the climbing wall. Later that week I jogged my first 5k with no problems.
To date I have done 520 miles on foot and 240 miles on bikes, static and road, with longest walk of 21 miles around the Peak District and fastest 5k of 24:36 (which is my best time for over a year) and longest run/jog of 8.4 miles. I reckoned I could run further but basic fitness is the limiting factor at the moment.
My surgeon was very understanding and gave me no restrictions apart from the initial partial weight bearing, saying I was not to knock the head off my femur in the first 6 weeks. He knows I climb and run and is pleased that everything has gone so well for me, but is not happy to have a go at the other hip until it becomes really necessary. Fair enough, I suppose, but it will be a limiting factor very soon and I am not getting any younger.
August 19, 2015
Update at 9 months/39 weeks – 817 miles on foot, 533 on the bike. 5km time down to 23:45 but not run further than 10.4 miles yet.
Interval training is now back on the menu, 6×400 metres at a speed I once averaged over a marathon! It might be slow but it is working to improve my 5k time.
Thinking about the local 10 mile race in September which I did six years ago and which became the beginning of my later-life racing career and lead to a couple of sub-99 minute half-marathons. Not worried about the BHR but my natural hip would resent the abuse I suspect.
November 19, 2015
Yesterday my BHR hip had its first birthday. Everything has gone really well in the last year, bar one minor overuse setback at 6 weeks, and my metal hip now out-performs the natural one in all respects.
I have kept a log of how much walking/running/biking/climbing I have done and the current totals stand at 1074 miles on foot and 702 miles by bike. This includes about 40 5km races, 1 10km race and a half-marathon training run. Longest walk 21 miles around the Peak District, biggest hill Ben Nevis. Other hip will need attention eventually but has held up quite well so far, hope it lasts another year but would love to get the BHR benefit sooner rather than later (assuming the process went as well, which is not guaranteed of course).
Thanks to Pat for this site, which I only found whilst in hospital, and to all my current and prospective hippy friends for their company, wisdom and encouragement!
May 18, 2016
18 months post-op that all is going really well and that my metal hip is probably the best bit of me!
Running is getting better all the time, still not doing major mileages in training because my natural hip can get ‘limpy’ but speed is improving with intervals and treadmill work, current PBs are 23:07 for 5k and 48:11 for 10k (last Sunday) and these equate to a Master’s percentage of 72.5 (my best ever was around 74% so I am not complaining). I can run for a couple of hours/13 miles but when I did it ruined the speed I had managed to build up last fall – but I might risk a half-marathon race before the end of the year.
Biking is no problem, no long rides yet this year but managed a PB around my local speed-test circuit last week (by a few seconds) and in the same week had a beautiful afternoon on Stanage Edge (a gritstone crag) and managed to climb a couple of routes (Goliath’s Groove and Left Unconquerable) I last did about 40 years ago!
In the last few weeks there have been minor aches and pains from various muscles and joints but these have all cleared up quickly, and my BHR has been totally indifferent to all the increased activity over the last six months…
Big thanks to Mr McMinn for the invention and Chris Kershaw for the fitting – I think the natural hip probably has another year in it but I shall have no hesitation about getting another BHR when the time is right!