For runners who have had knee/hip replacements..what did you do wrong?

oh, and to the op, i did nothing wrong. i did very easy marathon training for 5 years with it getting worse, but me thinking it was just aches and pains. it used to come and go. i would run around it. the start of a run would be jangly, but then it would all go smoothly. walking was worse.

as i say, i thought it was nerves. then, as above, one race i could hardly walk. it was agony. a week later, i won the local running club mile handicap. two week later, my local race, i nearly gave up after two miles. made it the other 3 to the end and then to the doctor. it went downhill really fast after that. painful to walk for three or four months, then injection. that saw me through another 3 or 4 months, i could walk about a mile, but then it was screwed. i was quickly down to a few hundred yards with sticks. just the one leg was bad but it was really really painful. you forget how bad it was. you are desperate for the op. post op was a nightmare, but i was juust unlucky, most people are fine.

hips and knees are getting replaced younger and younger.

main thing you can do is lose weight and excercise carefully. had i known it was arthiritis would i have stopped marathons? probably not. do i regret my last five marathons when i had this problem? no way.

Maybe marathons aren't the best choice for one who suffers from arthritis and needs replacements. One of the things I have had to accept is that with aging there are things I might not do or do as well. But there are also things we can do better that don't require the body of our youth. This life is a journey; nothing stays the same; we need to make peace with that.

As a 65+ marathoner I endorse this -- yes just QUIT guys, that's your "best choice"! Attrition is an age grouper's friend.

You speak a little too soon. Attrition could come for you in time, too. Next month or soon after?

I saw a study quoted a couple of weeks ago where they compared arthritis among distance runners with the average population and found no difference in outcomes. The interesting part was that if you dug deeper and separated into three groups (sedentary, rec runner and hardcore runner) the middle of the road had the least incidence.

I had superpath hip replacement 6 weeks ago, very little pain. Tylenol only, walking day of surgery. No restrictions but have to let bone heal and hope to be running 20-30 mpw vs 40+ before.

Not too many jogging aficionados on here.

One key decision point for replacement is your age, since the replacements only last a certain amount of time, 15-20+ years depending on which research paper you read, your activity levels, body weight etc. If you have poly liners, then revisions are relatively easy, but metal on metal is more complicated and from what i've read, a 3rd revision is difficult if not impossible without removing the entire prosthetic, a very invasive process especially if it's cemented in rather than just inserted and held in by natural bone growth.

Another guideline for replacement is if you are having chronically poor sleep quality due to pain, then get them replaced, since chronic sleep deprivation has a variety of negative effects. Of course if you're already at significant bone-on-bone condition with necrosis, you need replacement sooner rather than later.

Also, do your research on which type of prosthetic to get, some have early fracture failures. (google hip replacement recall). Some metal-on-metal hips have problems with metallosis, a nasty condition that causes muscle necrosis and systemic metal in your system. Other issues like Aseptic loosening. There is an FDA database, kinda clunky, that records problems of all medical devices, just google US FDA MAUDE.

All that being said, i've read online blogs of people doing full iron man and squatting 500+ pounds with artificial hips. Unfortunately none of these blogs seem to have long term followup. Ya just gotta be reasonable and lower your expectations.

You may have had FAI, femoral acetabular impingement syndrome, a congenital issue. If so, you are much more likely to get hip osteo no matter what you do. This syndrome is where the femoral head is not spherically shaped, and/or the hip socket is overgrown (a square peg in a not-so-round hole), so as they move together they rub slightly and over the years wear down the cartilage and cause bone spurs, further adding to the problem. It can be diagnosed with xrays done from multiple angles. If the femoral head is the problem, it's called "cam" impingement, if the socket is the problem it's called "pincer" impingement - the cam+pincer combo is most common condition.

According to NY Times, bone shaving surgery to correct impingement is one of the most common surgical procedures for pro athletes (Alex Rodriguez, Tyson Gay, many hockey players), but the jury is still out on its effectiveness, and if it's to remove bone spurs they eventually grow back.

Bilateral hip replacements - genetics, runs in family. Surgery 6 months apart in 2012 (age 58). Back to running in a couple of months. Dropped from half marathons to 5 and 10K's as I didn't want to do high weekly mileage.

I had right hip replacement 5 years ago. I'm 62. What did I do wrong?
- Choose not the best parents, kind of. They were not into sports, other problems.
- Started running in 20s, from very low base. Marathon PB 3:29. Marathon running was, though, clearly, over my ability, even with training.
- Age 40+ ran up to 3000 km/yr. Obviously too much for my body.
- Age 50+ tried to do interval training.
- Did not understand importance of gymnastics; did not do running exercises; had no trainer.

No regrets though. Absolutely!

Recovery after op took time. Learned to walk again. Took up long walks, then road bike. Rode 8000+ km/yrs. Had very serious bike accident. Slowly learnt to walk again. Took up bodyweight exercises. Two years ago began to think about jog. Took months to be able get feet up from ground. Then about year of injuries (overload on left leg). Two periods of pain in the prothesized hip (one about month, the other nine months). But now I have built up to jog/run over day. 8 km, speed 6:30 - 7:30 min/km. The other day - bodyweight exercises. Plus regular long walks, and some road bike.

Gymnastics - simple movements - you will appreciate that.
Walks - long and short - you will appreciate these.
You will appreciate, that Fate throws you problems, but God also give you will and power to overcome.

This thread implies running is terrible for the joints. The other 98% of us have never had serious knee or hip issues. (I'm 60 y/o, 38 years running.)

When people say, "You'd better stop that jogging. You'll ruin your knees!" I ask them why and they say, "I can't run at all, it hurts too much."

I say, "Oh, do you think something else may be to blame for your pain?"

"Well, I blew-out my ACL skiing that one time."

When I did roofing- walking up/down 20-45 degree pitches with a 90lb shingle bag or a 150lb wheel barrel load I noticed my stride was very balanced and running hill repeats confirmed this.

Turns out "kneesovertoesguy" made this deficient resistance movement of walking/lunging backwards a wellness industry.

Walking backwards then graduating to resistance like walking on a broken treadmill, backwards uphill lunges all of these isolate the medial l& lateral tendons while recruiting the hamstrings all at once. Movement can be medicine. If something is tight it's weak. The biggest issue now is the right hips from sitting=painful patellas.

Besides kneesovertoes movements another revelation is slow motion body weight squats. A few drills with resistance, switchback/technical trail running, lunges, hills.

Good luck. I hope you have a positive outcome. Take it gradually. Listen to what your body is telling you.

My surgeons told me I should get over 30 years out of my new joints. That's longer than I'll need them. But I'm not throwing myself into sport like I'm half my age.

haha that's the truth and I know it well! . . . like any old racer I've been knocked down and out of action many times, someday I just won't be able to get up again, but until then never give up, and be grateful for every finish, every training cycle, every run . . .

I hope your (mean-spirited) guess of not "next month or soon after" is wrong -- there's Boston to attend to!

Got both done 6 months apart in the last 18 months with the anterior approach. I was born with extra large balls and by that I mean ball and socket joints. Stop it now...I'm not all potatoes and no meat. But I was told I never should've done any sports (hoop, football, ran, baseball), skiied/snowboarded, climbed, or whatever as I was a high risk of dislocation. Surfing actually hurt it the most from sitting on my board. Throw in both cam and pincer FAI deformities and I was overdue to get these done. I may never run again, because I simply don't know if I want to. But I'm pretty good for anything and everything else. My Doc says these should take me through the rest of my life. Get it done if you are thinking about it. EZ PEE Z recovery.

Too much running on asphalt roads and sidewalks as a teen and my 20s. I really didn't think much about it back then but years later I payed the price with a total knee replacement on the right knee and I'm bone on bone on the left. I've always loved running but I've always had a pretty strong aspect about me of being rather obsessive about it which I admit is not a very good way to go about it and will likely lead to running related injuries down the road. My advice is to simply be smart about it --- try to do your workouts on softer surfaces when you can like, for example, dirt running trails. And you don't have to kill yourself on every single run. I'm in my 70s now and I don't run anymore but I'm fortunate enough to enjoy hiking.

I'm 84 and have been running races up to a half-marathon for some seventy years, recently winning over 75 in the Stockade-athon and winning the national masters 12K over 80 (at 83), and second in road 10K and xcountry 5K. I have undergone various injuries almost every year--achilles, calf, knee--but they relent after switching to cross country skiing in the winter or stints on ellipticals.

GG