41 and needing a new hip???

Hey all....just looking for any advise that you may have for me.

I'm 41yo  and had RNY in March. My high weight was 218 and I am down to 177 today. Getting cardio in has been getting harder and harder due to my right hip.

In 2006 I trained for and completed the Portland, OR marathon. About halfway through our training, I passed out one day from heat exhaustion and fell down a bit of a ravine (thankfully I landed head down so I wasn't "out" too long)!  My girlfriends thought I had a heart attack and were getting ready to run for 911....thankfully they were as tired as I was and no one had anything left to sprint for a phone so no ambulance was needed!!  In the process I tore my right labrum and have since developed arthritis.  I had an arthroscope in 2009 and several steroid injections since then.

I am now stage 4, bone on bone, and just had another injection. This one was of no benefit at all.  I'm currently in PT but I just have such limited range of motion I can't even ride a bike without turning my right leg sideways. 

Some suggested options are 1: another scope with chondroplasty to encourage fluid development and a cam lesion repair (grind off all the osteophytes) 2: total hip arthroplasty 3: a round to synvisc injections (1 shot a week for 5 weeks) to see if that will also increase fluid in the joint.

Anyone out there have a hip replacement? What was your rehab like? Any suggestions would be appreciated!!

No experience but I'm thinking I'd go with the injections until I could get the weight off, then go for a replacement.
I hope you can have peace of mind as you make your decision. Perhaps another doc for a second opinion? Please keep us posted about this.

--gina

I'd try for most anything before the replacement at this point.  Hips don't last that long and you only want to do it once, I imagine.  I'm hoping I can find some relief without a replacement yet for my knee.

I have no personal experience but I have seen and heard many stories about hip and knee replacements. If you can avoid the replacement for as long as possible, I would suggest that. Look into other therapies. It sounds so painful, I'm sorry! Thank goodness you weren't alone that day!

im not so sure ... my Mom had a double hip replacement about ten years ago and walks at least a mile a day ( usually a lot more ) also hikes up mountains regularly etc . She also swims a mile a day when at home in Palm beach ...

My Great Aunt Vera had two knees and a hip replaced overthe course of twenty five years .. none had to be re- replaced EVER .. I think that the wear out factor is just a myth ...

she was also very active .. bicycling , walking , gardening every day of her post operative life . She like my Mom was tottaly pain free in those joints that were replaced .

When Ure bone on bone basically U really dont have many choices ... Ure walking with tremendous pain ... and i dont see why Ud subject Urself to another operation that wont work as well at all... by definition.

U NEED a replacement . Doing it as late as possible benefits the insurance company more than U truth be told ... What does Ur sports doctor recommend ?

The only reason id hesitate is id want to be at my permanent WEIGHT and have my slkeleton achieve the modifications it WILL achieve in at least the first year maintaining that weight before they choosethe correct size implant etc . Or you might end up with too large a one .... and a side to side imbalance .

Now thats a serious factor ... ( on the othe rhand Ure 177 already .... if U explain to the doc that Uve had bariatric surgery that Ur goal weight is a realistic 145-135 range (and that U are an ex marathoner and want to be able to competitively RUN after Ur surgery) and that permanent skeletal changes will undoubtedly follow when U maintain that weight for a while he will probably choose the correct size implant right now

I would just make sure I went to a surgeon my SPORTS doctor recommended ..in other words someone who worked on getting athletes fixed up .. whose goal is to get U running marathons again and getting Ur gait right ... not just making U WALK ... ...

Thanks for all of the help and suggestions!!  My surgeon is a sports med doc, he actually played college football at WSU where I was a trainer. My college degree was in Sports Medicine/Athletic Training and I used to work at the hospital in the acute physical therapy dept....working on getting folks (most of them 70+) out of bed and walking after new hips and new knees. The last thing that I want to do though is to wait too long and waste these years not being as active as I want to be.

Actually, the pain isn't that bad but I do have a fairly high threshold. When I had my c-section I was ready to go home the next day and when I did go home, I put on a yard sale the next day. When I had my RNY I used the pain pump twice....mainly for it to knock me out so I could get some sleep.  I never even used tylenol after I got home.  My fear is that I don't feel much pain so I am doing greater damage. My issue is range of motion.

HONESTLY....I could care less if I ran another day in my life! I didn't enjoy it while I was doing it. But I do want to get back to some longer distance bike riding and I just can't get my hip up to complete full revolutions. 

I have a call in to my surgeon for his next suggestions. I was just hoping to do something this year since I have already paid my out of pocket limit with my insurance.....if I need a surgery I would prefer it be a FREE one!!