Athletes Stories

Hip resurfacing helped triathlete compete again

Link  www.dallasnews.com

The patient before: Michael Montgomery, 33 years old,  of Trophy Club was a 31-year-old Ironman triathlete.

For more than three years, triathlons offered him some semblance of normalcy. Most of his life revolved around a stressful job in which he traveled the country as a business-applications consultant.

That is, until he began having intolerable hip pain after the 2006 Ironman Arizona. In four months, he went from finishing a marathon to being unable to run a 5K.

An old hip injury from his college wrestling days probably caused avascular necrosis, a condition following the loss of blood supply that resulted in his hip tissue dying and the bone collapsing.

Initially, Mr. Montgomery thought total hip replacement was his only choice and that he would never run again. Through research, he learned that cyclist Floyd Landis of Tour de France fame had a similar diagnosis and had undergone a newly approved option using the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing System.

Dr. Jay Mabrey, chief of orthopedics at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, had just become certified to use the device. He had chaired the Food and Drug Administration Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Devices Panel, which approved the implant in May 2006.

It's riskier than total replacement and appropriate only for young, active patients.

The patient now: Six months after the procedure, he completed the April 2007 Ironman Arizona.

What is it? The Birmingham Hip Resurfacing System preserves more bone than total hip replacement. It's similar to a tooth cap. Doctors shave and cap a few centimeters of the bone within the joint with a metal implant rather than replacing the entire joint.

Why he chose it: Mr. Montgomery wanted to resume running. A total hip replacement device can't withstand the impact of running.

What you need to know: The Birmingham Hip Resurfacing System has a higher failure rate than total hip replacement. Total hip replacement makes sense for most people who are content to do low-impact activities.

 

Collapsing bone threatened to sideline triathlete Michael Montgomery (left),
but a hip resurfacing procedure returned him to competition. He and
Dr. Jay Mabrey examine his X-rays.

Link  http://nwanews.com/nwat/News/64008/

BENTONVILLE — John Hill has run several Boston Marathons over the years, but crossing the finish line in 2006 was anything but pleasant.

Hill, a Bentonville resident for more than a decade and an executive with Nestle in Rogers, was accustomed to tackling the 26. 22-mile marathon in Beantown in as little as three hours, 27 minutes. But on April 17, 2006, Hill’s time skyrocketed to just shy of six hours. And he was in excruciating pain on top of that.

“ The only way I even made it to the finish line was to stop every so often and put more ice in my shorts, ” Hill recalls. “ I knew the end was near. It was going to be over for me. I wasn’t going to be able to run anymore. ”

Once a confident long-distance runner, Hill had been diagnosed with osteoarthritis prior to legging out the 2006 Boston Marathon. And at 44 years old, the condition had nothing to do with age. Instead, an extra piece of bone on Hill’s hip was rubbing against cartilage in the right joint of his hip, causing the protective material to deteriorate at a much more rapid rate than usual. The only surgical procedure being prescribed was total hip replacement — and that would mean giving up running altogether.

While attempting to stomach the fact that part of his life would soon be erased, Hill stumbled upon a story about a new surgical procedure called hip resurfacing. The procedure was so new, in fact, that it was not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration, few had been performed in the United States, and the majority of insurance companies were not covering the procedure. Still, a glimmer of hope was ignited that has led to Hill holding on to the life he has always known.

On April 21, Hill, now 46, will be among the more than 20, 000 runners from across the country competing in the Boston Marathon. More importantly, Hill, who underwent the hip-resurfacing procedure 14 short months ago, expects to run the world’s oldest and most popular marathon pain-free, and even has his eye on finishing in under four hours.

“ If I think about it too much, I get overcome with emotion, ” Hill said. “ A year ago, none of this would have been possible. It wasn’t even imaginable. When you get a second chance at life like I have, you can’t help but feel humbled. I had already been told to start developing my exit plan from running. And in a few weeks, I’ll be doing the Boston Marathon. ”

The hip-resurfacing procedure, performed on Hill by Dr. Robert Barrack in St. Louis on Jan. 23, 2007, has been practiced in Europe for several years but has just recently started to gain acceptance in the United States. Rather than removing the entire hip, the resurfacing procedure introduces a special metal into the hip joint where the cartilage once was. As a result, bone-on-bone contact, which causes arthritis, pain and disability, is replaced by metal on metal.

The realization that he would not have to lose his hip meant Hill could continue to run marathons. But, more importantly, he would remain the father and husband he had been to that point in his life.

“ I coach my 6-year-old daughter (Mary Lou’s ) softball team, and there was a time when I was having trouble getting from one end of the field to the other, let alone running, ” Hill explained. “ I have a 9-year-old daughter (Sophie ) and an 11-year-old son (Brody ) that run AAU. I’ve always been right there, running with them. I enjoy being involved. My family is a priority. When my doctor performed the surgery, that was the thing I told him. I said, ‘ Now I can play with my kids. ’ ”

Read Complete Story   http://nwanews.com/nwat/News/64008/

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Here's a nice story, if it happens: Lightning coach John Tortorella has given captain Tim Taylor the option of playing in the team's final game of the season April 5 at Atlanta. It would be a way for the center to finish his 13-year career as a player instead of on the sideline, where he has been since Sept. 7 hip surgery.

"He deserves that type of respect,'' Tortorella said. "He's been a loyal guy to the organization and has done a lot of things on and off the ice people don't even know about, so he deserves that right.''

The surgery is called hip resurfacing and corrected his painful, right-hip dysplasia by shaving and smoothing the head of the femur, topping it with a chrome alloy cap and fitting it into the hip socket that also was coated.

Taylor, 39, said he is "ecstatic'' at the results. He has skated since mid February but has practiced fewer than 10 times.

Read Tim's Hip Resurfacing Story by clicking here

"I don't want to say yes. I don't want to say no,'' Taylor said of playing. "Now I'm practicing every day. Maybe the last day of the season, maybe I get that itch.''

If Taylor doesn't play, he will end his career with 746 games, 73 goals, 167 points and Stanley Cups with the Lightning in 2004 and Red Wings in 1997.

Seemed the more we talked about it Monday at the Ice Sports Forum, the more Taylor liked the idea of playing.

"That would be nice,'' he said. "To sit on the bench at the end of a game and to know, 'Okay, it's over now,' would be really nice.''

Dave Grigg Ten Year Anniversary

L C+ 3/24/1998 R C+ 2/12/2004 Dr. Amstutz

I'm saying hello on the eve of my ten year anniversary. In early 1998 there were fewer than 40 resurfacings in the U.S. and of course no surfacehippy group or knowledge base. My thanks to Keith and all you posters.

My story

A former runner, I had been crippled with OA for a decade and needed crutches just to stand more than 2 minutes. Dr. Amstutz said he'd only seen one or two more diseased hips in his career. I placed a lot of trust in him and it sure paid off. I was riding the life cycle 5 days post-op and skydiving 7 weeks post-op (not doctor approved). My other hip was resurfaced by the good doctor early in 2004. I moved to the Palm Springs area 19 months ago and took up competitive tennis, both singles and doubles and have won a couple of local tournaments.

Other than airport security delays, I couldn't be happier.

Dave C+, Dr. Amstutz, L 3/24/1998, R 2/12/2004

Link Link http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8029116&nav=menu66_5_1

March 17, 2008

Reported by: Britney Glaser

Each year, 200,000 Americans undergo total hip replacement.  For younger patients leading active lives, this surgery can oftentimes leave them with physical limitations they did not have before going under the knife.  But now, there's an exciting new hip procedure - one that's transformed the cycling career of a Tour de France winner.

For 15 years, cycling has been Floyd Landis's passion - but when he broke his hip while training in 2003, the arthritis that developed eventually became unbearable.  "It's hard to explain arthritis if you've never had it," says Landis, "it's just something that's always there - and it affects everything, it affects your mood.  I'm quite happy that it's been solved."

Landis peddled with the pain until 2006.  After winning Tour de France, he chose a revolutionary technique called Birmingham Hip Resurfacing to repair his hip.  Orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. John Noble, performs the BHR procedure locally and says it's the ideal alternative to total hip replacement in younger patients.  "I would say that the young, active patients who have significant arthritis or significant dysplasia - that is a shallowness of the socket - those are patients who would benefit from hip resurfacing," says Dr. Noble.

BHR uses a bone-conserving technique where surgeons shave just a few centimeters of bone rather than removing the entire hip joint.  "We divide the tissue directly over the bone," says Dr. Noble, "we make an exposure to dislocate the hip and move the hip and ball out of the way to allow exposure to the socket and then we ream the socket with a device that looks like a cheese grater and then we implant the socket."  The size of the implant is matched to the patient's own joint, reducing the risk for dislocation or uneven leg length.

Dr. Noble says the results have been phenomenal.  "99.5 percent of the patients were either pleased or very pleased with their procedure," says Dr. Noble, "and those are pretty extraordinary results - we just don't see that very often with many operations."

It's been a year and a half since Landis had the BHR procedure.  He is now back to riding and says his determination *and hips are the strongest they've been in years.  "It's as good as new," says Landis, "and certainly is much better than it was the last two years when I had the arthritis problem.  I'll certainly be better off and not just because of that, but more determined than ever."

*If you're wondering what brought Floyd Landis to Southwest Louisiana, he took part in a ride over the weekend that raised $5,000 for the Calcasieu Community Clinic.

*To learn more about the BHR technique, click here.