Ex Tennis Pro Wants a Resurf

[george]

thks for the info. iam an ex tennis pro. i just foundout about the resurfacing. i want my life back. ive
been hobbling around for 5 years now. its really bad. ex long distance runner. saw guy in atl. dr. smith
peachtree ortho. told me he would do it. 4 month wait. but needs to keep replacement device on hand
if he goes in and cant do resurface? scares me. what do you think.

[Pat Walter]

Hi George

You need to be careful using the less experienced hip resurfacing surgeons. They tend to revert to a THR if the hip has any difficult problems.

If you want to get back to singles tennis - then you need a real pro doing your hip.  You should understand the difference between the top pros in tennis and the lesser players.  Everyone has the skills - but the top pros seem to have an instictive ability to know what to do beyond the physical skills they have acquired.

The hip resurfacing surgeons are the same way.  The overseas surgeons like Dr. Bose and De Smet are the real pros.  De Smet has done over 3000 hip resurfacings.  The patients of the overseas doctors normally recover faster than the patients of the US conservative surgeons.  You will notice Dr. Bose does a lot of athletes and they have quick recoveries.

We have some good experienced PRO surgeons in the US like Gross, Su, Amstutz - doctors that have done 500 - 1000 or more.  The lesses experienced surgeons having done only a few hundred are good - but don't forget they are still in the learning curve.

Most of the experienced surgeons all suggest using a doctor that has done over 100 hip resurfacing surgeries.  Myself, I like a doctor that has done 500, a thousand or 3000!  You are more sure of getting the hip resurfacing you want.

You are close to Dr. Gross - he has done over 1300 hip resurfacings.  Check him out. 

You should always find out what the odds are the a doctor will change on you.  If they keep talking THR, find a doctor that can do difficult Hip REsurfacings so you don't wake up with a THR after surgery.

Keep in touch.

Pat

[rlm869]

george, you have not given much info about what shape your hip is in as far as x-rays and what your doc says. from what i understand, and in my experience, most surgeons go in prepared to do a thr if necessary. their decision relies upon many things such as bone density, quality and the condition of your femoral neck. you can also ask your surgeon what percentage of his possible resurfs have resulted in thr.

my surgeon, dr. evans of san antonio, is a less experienced surgeon, only has abut 60 under his belt. but, i trusted him because he looked at my bone density and gave me a 90% chance of coming out with a resurf, which i did.

if you are really serious about returning to your sport you owe it to yourself to get as many opinions as you can. i believe pat can give you information about emailing your x-rays to the surgeons overseas if that is an option you can afford.

good luck to you!