February 26, 2023

It hit me today that today is my 5-year anniversary of having my left hip resurfaced with Dr. Peter Brooks at the Cleveland Clinic. It’s been a wonderful 5 years. At this point, I think very little about my hip. I’m as physically active as I want to be, mostly golf. Hip feels totally normal. No pain. No mobility or range of motion issues. Complete return to normal life. It’s been such a blessing and I couldn’t be happier with my decision. Hope that any of you that decide to move forward with this surgery have as a successful recovery as I have had, 5 years in.

March 11, 2022

Happy to report I’ve just celebrated my 4 year anniversary of a left hip resurfacing with Dr. Peter Brooks of the Cleveland Clinic. Couldn’t be happier. Have gone from experiencing pain with every step in 2018 to forgetting I’ve had surgery on it in 2022. Have resumed all activities with no pain whatsoever.

March 7, 2020 Two Year Anniversary

It’s been a while since I’ve visited this forum. Happy to report that I now spend very little time thinking about my hip. Last week I had my 2 year checkup for a left hip resurfacing I had done with Dr. Peter Brookes of the Cleveland Clinic. X-Rays looked good. I wasn’t expecting any problems as the hip has felt wonderful. No pain. Lot’s of flexibility. Very stable. I’ve resumed a normal life being as active as I want to be. I’m back to playing golf, and have been able to run with my son as he trains for his track season. I am very happy with my decision and am grateful for the skill of my surgeon that made the successful surgery possible. Unless I experience problems my next visit won’t be for another 3 years for my 5 year checkup.

March 6, 2019 One Year Anniversary

I’m happy to say that I’ve pretty much been able to forget about my hip! I had my left hip resurfaced by Dr. Brooks of the Cleveland Clinic 2/26/18. Last week was my one year follow up. X-Rays looked great, everything was where it was supposed to be…so I’ve been released to full activity. I can’t be happier with the results of the surgery. I have been completely out of pain for some time now. It’s seems crazy, but I’m still seeing improvements to my flexibility and stability in my hip one year later. Some of the most noticeable improvements to the feeling of stability have come in just the last 3 months. Living everyday life without pain has been wonderful. It’s been 3 years since I’ve played golf because of the hip pain, so I’m looking forward to resuming this summer pain free.

I feel blessed that this surgery exists, and am grateful for the skill of my surgeon – Dr. Brooks. Truly has been a life-changer.

Donny’s Journey to his hip resurfacing:

December 14. 2017

I’m 45 years old and unfortunately was diagnosed with arthritis about 5 years ago. It’s gotten progressively worse. I went from very active in sports like basketball and golf, to being very inactive due to the pain. I’m considering having my left hip resurfaced with Dr Brookes next year. If I was older I may consider a THR but at my age, I hate to have some of the life long restrictions placed on my activities that it sounds like a THR brings with it.

March 1, 2018

Well, it’s finally over. I had my left hip resurfaced this past Monday 2/28/16 by Dr Peter Brooks at the Cleveland Clinic. Within hours of the surgery I was able to lift my knee almost all they way to my chest and touch my knees together without any hip pain. I can’t remember the last time I could do that. I tried to test out my new hip but had a bout with nausea from the anesthesia and had to lie back down. The pain was manageable through the first night, I would say 4 on a scale of 10. The next day I did two PT sessions. The pain was pretty extreme in my thigh and glute muscles, which was expected. The most difficult part was getting in and out of bed. My experience at the Cleveland Clinic was wonderful. Dr Brooks came to visit me the day of surgery, and the day after surgery. He said the surgery went well with no complications, and the implant was placed perfectly. (See attached) His staff took great care of me during my 2 days in the hospital. I’m blessed to live an hour away from the Cleveland Clinic and one of the word’s top hip resurfacing surgeons in Dr. Brooks.  I’m now at home resting and working on the PT exercises Dr Brooks gave me. I’m really encouraged by the improvement in pain level that I’m experiencing only 4 days out of surgery. The most extreme pain is at the incision site when I get out of bed for the first time in a while. Quite a burning sensation, but after I start moving the pain goes away. I must say that it’s a wonderful feeling knowing that each day that goes by now, hip is improving as opposed to before surgery knowing that every day that went by my hip was deteriorating. Thanks to everyone I spoke to privately as I prepared for the surgery, and to Pat for operating this wonderful site. I’ll do my best to post updates on my recovery as watching others’ recovery process so helpful to me in preparing for my surgery.

March 14, 2018

I had my left hip resurfaced by Dr Peter Brooks of the Cleveland Clinic on 2/26/18. The first 3-5 days I just felt extremely fragile. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how quickly the body can mend. The 1st 3 days or so I REALLY struggled to do the PT exercises. Some of them I simply couldn’t do, my leg just wouldn’t move. Over the course of the next week however I went from not being able to do them, to being able to do them with assistance from my wife, to being able to do them by myself, to being able to do them by myself easily. At the 2 week mark per doctors orders I added 4 new exercises. I’m now doing 12 different exercises, 30 reps of each exercise, 3 times a day. It is getting easier every day. My joint continues to feel stronger and more stable every day, some days more improvement then others. I’m sure you will begin to see the same progress. Mentally it’s been great for me to know that before my surgery every day my hip was getting worse, whereas after the surgery my hip is now getting BETTER every day.

March 24, 2018

I’ll be 4 weeks post op on Monday.  I also had a mild fever the first few days I was home from surgery. This concerned me so I called my surgeon’s office and they said this was very normal. It eventually subsided and never returned. I slept on my back for 3 weeks without even attempting a different position. This made for some horrible night’s sleep, but I just didn’t feel comfortable trying a different position, even though my surgeon (Dr Brooks of Cleveland Clinic) doesn’t have any range of motion restrictions post-op.  I’ve just this week started rolling onto my side, which has been helpful in getting a better night’s sleep. One thing I’ve noticed is that from day to day there are plenty of different types of aches and pains in different places that seem to show up, and then go away. I’ve tried to measure my progress in terms of weeks, instead of days.

April 5, 2018

I’ve had a good recovery to this point. Hip pain is gone, dealing with re-building the leg muscles both from the surgery, and from inactivity for about a year prior to surgery. As you may know, Dr Brooks recovery process is very conservative – 75% weight bearing with 2 crutches for 6 weeks, then a full year with no running or high impact activities. Dr Brooks’ mentality is that you will still see healing/strengthening in the bone for up to a year, and why return to high impact activities prior to when your bone will be at it’s absolute strongest. I did ask Dr Brooks about the cement used in the femur cap, and asked if there have been reported problems with that coming loose, and his answer was reassuring. He said that of the 150,000 or so of these implanted devices, there have been ZERO reports of problems with the cement. He said that there just hasn’t been any evidence to show concern is warranted.

April 25, 2018

This week I passed the 8 week mark since my surgery. I was on a 75% weight bearing rule for the first 6 weeks per my surgeon, Dr Brooks at the Cleveland Clinic. Thought it might be helpful to pass along my experience when I was cleared to increase my weight bearing on my re-surfaced hip at 6 weeks. My recovery at 6 weeks had gone very well. My leg was feeling really good. Aside from some occasional stiffness, there was no pain and I was moving really well on my crutches. When I was cleared to lose the crutches, putting 100% of the weight on my leg was a little more difficult then I expected. I was able to walk, but with a pretty good limp. Over the next few days I was bound and determined to walk my way through the soreness I was experiencing, but my thigh, calf, buttocks, and various ligaments weren’t having anything to do with it. I decided to slow down, take it easy…and wow did that make a difference. The last 4 days I’ve seen VAST improvement as my muscles and ligaments just seem to be settling down and getting use to the additional use. I’m now walking without a limp, with no joint pain. The past few days it’s finally felt like all of this has been worth it. I’ve decided I’m going to take about another month and just live life pain free, let my muscles continue to heal, and then I might start some additional walking and light exercise that has been OK’d by my surgeon. My advice would be take it slow and listen to your body.

July 2, 2018

I also had my hip resurfaced by Dr. Brooks, 4 1/2 months ago today. I can speak to most of your questions. As it relates to clunking, I experienced lots of it in the first 6 weeks. Like you, no pain, but it was pretty consistent during the PT exercises, bending over, and even walking. I called Phil (Dr. Brooks’ assistant) and he assured me that this was normal. He said that this was going to eventually go away as my hip muscles and tendons regained strength and were able to better support my hip joint. He was right. At 4 1/2 months, I do not get clunking during my PT exercises, or during normal walking. If I bend a certain way, I do still get the occasional clunk, but it no longer concerns me. My hip feels so much better that it’s not even worth thinking about. As you’re aware, Dr Brooks is extremely conservative about his recovery recommendations, which I’m 100% OK with. I was very careful not to break the 75% weight bearing rule in the first 6 weeks. Dr Brooks says that your bone will continue to heal and strengthen up to 12 months, so he feels it doesn’t make sense to release you to high impact activities until your bone is as strong as it possibly can be. Given all of the effort I’ve put into this surgery, a few extra months doesn’t seem like a big deal if it improves your chances for a better recovery. 5 years from now I won’t care what I was or wasn’t “allowed” to do in the 6th month. I couldn’t be happier that I had the surgery. My flexibility has greatly improved, and I’m 100% out of pain. I returned from a vacation to Hawaii last week, which required a 12 hour plane ride. This would have been unbearable before surgery, but post-surgery…no pain. Swam in the ocean, hiked 5 miles, etc….all no pain. For the next 7 1/2 months I’m going to enjoy living a pain-free life, and when Dr Brooks gives me the OK I’ll get a little more ambitious.

August 10, 2018

I’m about at the 6 month mark. I couldn’t be happier with the recovery to date. No pain. Most of the time don’t really think about my hip as it feels like a normal hip. I would say that while my operated hip/leg has gotten significantly stronger over the course of the 6 months, it’s still not as strong as my non-operative hip.  For 12-18 months leading up to surgery my left hip had become so painful that I started using my other leg to compensate without even realizing it. Dr Brooks pointed out in my pre-op consultation how much my my left leg became atrophied and lost a lot of muscle tone. As a result after surgery I had a lot of ground to make up – which I think is probably the case for most of us that have this surgery. I would say at the 6 month mark I feel I’ve got about 80% of my strength back, and that’s really just from walking and everyday living. As you know, Dr Brooks doesn’t want any real strength training in the first year of recovery.

October 18, 2018

I’m at around my 8 month mark from a left HR with Dr Brooks of the Cleveland Clinic. I couldn’t be happier at this point. Zero pain. Flexibility is back to where it was 10 years ago before I was diagnosed with arthritis.