hips

[boviner]

has anyone who has had a hip replacement done a marathon

[Ember]

I know someone who had a knee replacement and he was told NOT to do high impact sports, i.e. running, jumping. I would imagine a hip replacement would warrant the same advice.

[froggequene]

I very much doubt it, I think you might be better off asking a GP this question. There is a preference to perform hip replacements on the elderly.

[Kit]

Long answer in a few parts as AB wouldnt accept the original!
Total hip replacement (THR) is ball and socket, with a metal "ball" attached to a long stem that inserts into the femur (thight bone) and plastic "cup". There are several reasons why they *tend* to be done in the elderly, as Froggequene says. Firstly, most hip replacements are done for osteoarthritis. This is mainly a problem of the ageing body, unless you've previously had an injury that has damaged the joint surface, eg come off your motorbike and had a hip fracture into the joint. (There is another type of replacement that they do for the kind of hip fracture that old people get - however, this isn't a THR and if your bones are brittle enough to get this type of fracture, I certainly wouldn't run anywhere.)
Secondly, the stem is cemented into the shaft of the femur, and has a tendency to loosen after a while. This means that the stem wobbles about and if under extreme stress, eg running, the bone could crack. If very loose, the THR has to be taken out and replaced. You can get round this problem by using cementless THRs, where the stem is specially coated and the bone cells grow into the coating. Advantage is that they don't loosen. Disadvantage is that if anything happens to the THR, you'll never get it out again.

[Kit]

Part 2: Thirdly, the THR is low-friction and moves easily. It accomplishes this by having a small ball - unfortunately this makes the joint unstable. While it's safe as houses to stand on it, if it's ben more than 90 degrees, rotated inwards and taken towards the other leg (eg sitting with legs crossed) it can dislocate. Therefore a THR is less likely to be done in people who need a lot of joint flexibility (eg athletes.) In younger, fitter people they are starting to do joint resurfacing - don't know much about this yet, but there don't seem to be the same dislocation problems.
In answer to the original question: I have no idea if anyone has run a marathon, but I wouldn't risk it for the following reasons: training regime that restricts the hip to 90 degs bend sounds distinctly dodgy; if the THR has been done for arthritis then the other hip and the knees are likely to be worn as well, so might not stand up to the training; I'd only do it on an uncemented THR, which aren't done routinely in people young and fit enough to contemplate marathons.
Having said that, there's *bound* to be someone mad out there who's done it. And been lucky to get away with it, I think.

[boviner]

thank you Kit i am not contemplating doing a marathon but i am only 51 and was wondering just how much flexability i will have when both of my hips are done . onn being replaced this month , i am a butcher by trade and am wondering what amount of work i will still be able to do,. the hospital and surgeons have explained most of my queries well all of them in fact but not everyone is the same , anyway thank you for taking your time in discussing this with me . kind regards from D. Campbell. . boviner.

[Kit]

Cheers, boviner! In my book you'd come under the category of "younger fitter people", has your consultant mentioned resurfacing or don't they do them in your area? Might be worth asking since I'd guess your job involves a fair amount of lifting in awkard positions, so hip flexibility would be an advantage to avoid backache. Hope all goes well, they're a lot less hard work than knee replacements and round here most people are out of hosp within 5 days (including surgery day!)

[robber1]

I knew a fat bloke who done loads of Snickers. Not a marathon though.

[froggequene]

Good luck with the operation, I hope it goes well