I am 39 and had a left hip (metal on metal socket) replacement on may 29, 2005 and the results have been outstanding. I am a travel agent and my primary business is selling group ski trips. As a result, I spend quite a bit of time in colorado. I skiied about 20 days this year and my hip never bothered me once. The quality of life has improved dramatically! My hip flexition has greatly improved which has made my day to day activities pain free.
I was a very active person (softball, skiing, exercising, flag football, etc) until the pain began to severely limit what I could do. About 6 months prior to surgery I was walking with a severe limp and was really limited to what I could do. It got t the point where I could not reach down to tie my shoe laces. Since my operation, I have cut out softball and football (just about anything that is high impact), but have really gotten into cycling. In fact, I am training to do a 100 mile ride in august which is really exciting.
The bottom line, have the surgery because you will love the results. Be smart about your activities. I ski just about any terrain I want, I am extremely careful about skiing bumps though. That can put quite a bit of strain on the joint so I just avoid them....Most of the time.
Feel free to shoot me an email with any questions and I wish you the best!
| lili_gui wrote: |
| i would like to know the experience of anyone who is a mountainer or hiker, skiier, or love mountains in any of its ways, and had the bad luck of going through a hip replacement. I need one, am scheduled for it in january, and I really love any kind of mountains activities, specially skiing. Any piece of advice or experience on that matter will be really helpfull for me. |