John G’s Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Amstutz 2008

June 18, 2013

I had Conserve+ Total Hip Resurfacing done on my left hip in August 2008, age 59. Wrestled through college since then played tennis, weekly soccer league plus practices/running and down hill skiing, until the osteo arthritis in the left hip stopped me. Researched the resurfacing and liked what I read about Dr. Harlan Amstutz’s work and his very deep experience. Surgery was great. Was downhill skiing in 6 months. Tennis fine, but I could not get into jogging at all … after 10-15 minutes I’d get intense pain "in the joint." So I basically stopped running but added bicycling, stationary and a little bit of road/mountain biking to the mix. Recently have started to try jogging again adn seeming to do a bit longer … 30 minutes two miles+ and long hikes 3-4 hours. Pain is not as intense adn comes far less quickly. I’ve been back for two blood serum tests and am holding steady at low levels.

Recently, with all the bad press I have had some concerns about the pain when running and whether it might be an indicator of some tissue problem, but other than that, the metrics and life style seem to be quite good. Dr. Amstutz has published an updated white paper, Current Status of Conserve Plus Hip Resurfacing, dated Jan 15, 2013 that I recommend as good reading.