Just had hip surgery. The cartilage in my hip had a tear in it. Surgeon cleaned up the mess, and shaved the bone while he was at. I’ll be off the bike for about 10 – 12 weeks. Oh well, I guess I could use it as an excuse to get a new comfy full susser.

Good luck, I’ve had similar done three times, my hips were properly knackered by the time I had surgery though so hopefully you wont have the 4 years off the bike that I’ve had!

4 years. Gulp. I hope its not that bad. Mine was done keyhole. I’ve just got 3 small holes with 1 stitch in each to show for it. That and 2 crutches. I’ve heard the rehab can take months though.

Mine was keyhole tobut the problems were when one was better the other was knackered. Recovery is long but the physio had come on loads for the most recent op. Where did you have it done? If you have any questions ask away.

Hip resurfacing for me on my right hip 3 years ago,only off the bike for 3 months and did the coast to coast 18 months later.Mostly pain free but one or two problems with diferent leg lengths but good imsoles have sorted that out.It has been very good for me.

I managed to get funding to have mine done at Harrogate, but by the time I got to see the consultant it was too late, the impingement had closed right up and surgery wouldn’t give enough benefit. It’s a regular diet of codeine and NSAIDs for me now. On the bright side I now have an excuse for being slow uphill. 😀

I had the surgery 5 days ago at a private hospital (on NHS) in Woking. All went well thankfully, I’ve been told tostay on crutches for 2weeks, baring 50% weight. Got physio appt in 2weeks time. I think this is mainly to check that I’m doing the basic exercises they have already given me correctly. Now the bruising is going down, I don’t think I’ve lost much range of movement. Hopefully in time it will get better than it was before the op.

In the week or two before the operation, the other hip was starting to hurt. I’m hoping that this is just because I was limping quite a lot, and that it will sort itself out. What symptoms did you guys get? I was getting the occasional sharp pain in my hip, mainly when I sat down, but also aches in my quads thats hard to explain. A bit like a dead leg after the initial pain has gone. It always felt worse if I had done a lot of walking or was tired.

Scapegoat – I need all the excuses I can get. I was slow enough as it was going uphill before the op. Have any of you guys gone to a full susser to help keep pain at bay, or found a hardtail okay?

Raincheck. I had the occasional sharp pain but mostly dull ache in the groin especially when riding. Got so bad i had to stop riding. Much better now but can only manage about two hours max. What was your surgeon called, had mine done in Reading. They have a hydro therapy pool which was good to get it all mvong again.

My 4 year old had hip surgery at easter spiker cast and the rest. He’s now on the bike and technicly still doesn’t have a hip joint. 10 weeks sounds a over estimate.

My symptoms were pain in my right hip from the crest to the groin, and then at the back if I sat on my wallet or a bucket style car seat. I couldn’t swing my leg over the saddle after about an hour’s ride, road or MTB. Worst was in bed, as I slept on that side, and the pain meant I couldn’t sleep for more than about an hour at a time, then had to wake and change positions. Pain travelled all the way through my quad into the knee and beyond into the front of the shin when I was tired.

It was diagnosed last July/August following a sleepless night in a tent (!) and it took many weeks of experimenting with painkiller dosages before I could sleep through the night. I rode less and put a stone or so of weight on as a result, meaning I exercised less and could barely walk a mile or more.

I banked on getting the surgery done to restore any sort of life, but when I was told in March it was too late to repair the damage I spent about two days moping until I decided, “**** it, I’m not going to let this beat me.”

I started riding again, taking 400mg Ibuprofen, 2x500mg Paracetamol and 30 to 60 mg codeine three to four times a day. Several things happened. I got fitter, so riding hurt less. I lost weight (2 1/2 stone so far) so riding hurt less, as did the after effects. I had a complete change of heart, and beat it with willpower. Now the pain is under some sort of control it no longer disrupts my life, just puts out a bit of a warning shot if I overdo it.

I ride a susser for long distance epics, as I have found my legs tire a bit too much to stay off the saddle for very long. I ride my Soul for local blasts, and having said that I rode all 31km of Penmachno on it the other day, to find I could stand for most of the stuff I needed to.

Scapegoat, if your symptoms and pain are so bad have you not been offered THR?

Scapegoat, your symptoms sound no worse than mine were and whilst it has been a long and very hard road, I’ve been riding my bike with no pain killers needed for a year or so. I would strongly suggest you get a second opinion.

codeine is bloody good for hangovers though so don’t throw them out 😉

Mr surgeon was/is Mr Dean Michael. I was referred to the Nuffield Hospital via an ankle, hip and knee clinic by my GP. I had been having private physio due straining my back trying to move a washing machine. I mentioned to her, how one morning as I sat up in bed, there was a terrible pain in my groin. At the time IT thought it was a hernia. It was she who first said it was probably a labral tear. She wrote a letter for my GP, who got the ball rolling. Had an Xray, which as explained at the time might show up very little. The clinic then sent me for an MRI. This showed up the tear. Two weeks later or so, I was being operated on. Cannot praise the whole system enough. I think I’m very lucky, as the clinic effectively hire operating time from the Nuffield.

Orthopaedic surgeons don’t come much better than Mr Richard Villar. If you had a hip arthroscopy check out his rehab guide. http://www.richardvillar.com/hip-arthroscopy-rehabilitation.shtml

I’ve been pencilled to have a laberal tear fixed by Mr Villar. On his advice I’m delaying.

Contrary to what people might think this is a big op that can take a long time to recover from. Don’t rush the recovery.

Try and find yourself a physio that has experience hip surgery recovery.

Good luck.

The first symptoms I had I mistakenly put down to a hernia. If I had to bend down or turn awkwardly I would get a sort of “popping” sensation in my groin. Then one day while driving, I suddenly had a stabbing pain in my groin and had to stop. The pain lasted for days. Then for the best part of a year all seemed ok except for slight niggles. Then one morning while trying to sit up in bed, it all started again. During this time cycling seemed to make very little difference to any pain I might be getting.

I think its too soon after the procedure to know how much of a difference it will eventually make.

Chipsngravy – I ‘ll have a look at your link to get some guidance. Although, there are varying degrees of how invasive the surgeon has to be, and therefore how much rehabilitation will be needed. For my labral tear, the surgeon just tidied up the frayed bits. He did not need to sow the ends back together or anything like that (I think). Also although the “cam lesion” had to be shaved, it was quite minimal (again I think).

I hope to be off crutches in a couple of weeks. Not so sure about going back to work or driving.

I have seen several consultants now, one specialising in “young hips” (I’m 49) and one offering arthroscopy to repair any labral tears, shave the neck of the femur and to flush the joint of debris. In order to obtain his services I had to apply for my PCT to fund the procedure as it’s not available locally. Once I’d got the funding via the special cases board I went to Mr Conroy in Harrogate. He X-rayed my hip and told me that the joint had closed right up, and there was a gap of less than 2mm between the acetabulum and the head of the femur, which meant the condition was too far advanced to benefit from the arthroscopy. He pointed out that the left hip is heading the same way, and told me to come back to him if I was getting pain in teh left hip enough to warrant the upheaval of surgery. Typically recovery from his procedure takes 12 weeks.

We discussed THR, but he pointed out that someone my age and as active as I am will wear a new hip out in about 5 years, and every revision of THR does more damage to ligaments and musculature. You have to remember that I had been managing the pain for six months at this point, and in general I was in a pretty good place with it. OK, I spend a lot of time gently buzzing on opiates, but what the hell, it was at this point that I decided to see how far I could push the limits…. after all, I could always stop and pop another painkiller. 8)

Since then losing some weight and getting back on the bikes helps with the pain. It’s often there, just in the background, but the sleepless nights are very rare indeed, and I can’t remember the last time I had to stand up because the office chair was unbearable. There was a time when I couldn’t even sit in the recliner to watch TV, so in relative terms I’m still in a great place. Penmachno on Friday was enough to show me that it doesn’t limit me too much, and my GP and I review my painkiller consumption regularly.

The opinion of both consultants so far is that THR is still an option if this gets so bad that I am severely limited by it. I am confident I can pass teh fitness test required to keep me earning a crust, and as the consultant said, I can look at THR when I retire and become less active. Who is he **** kidding?!!? I retire in four years’ time and intend to be a helluva lot more active!

you retire in four years time, Bastard 😆

I’ve had 3 arthroscopies 2 on one hip, the recovery is hard and longer than for a THR. Sounds like your hips are knackered but as my surgeon said to me, your hips are likely to get worse anyway so just do what you want! Saw the surgeon earlier this year and he compared x-rays to a year before and it showed no deterioration in joint space, so happy days. I’m ten years younger than you though!

I hope to be off crutches in a couple of weeks. Not so sure about going back to work or driving.

like you said it depends how much work they had to do, the first two ops I had felt like I’d been run over by a bus, but they did bone shaving, cartilage trimming as well as sticking and stapling down other bits. The last one I was off crutches after 2 weeks compared to 4-5 for the other two and had it done in mid june and was back cycling gently about September, with some gentle turbo work before that and back on mtb properly by about November.

Still not entirely sure if tear impingment or trauma. I assume that due to the cam lesion shave, it was impingment. Apparantly “in men of my age (47), a labral tear due to trauma is quite common”.

At least the xray should no arthritis, so could be worse.