Back
on course with new hip
In healthy hip joints,
a layer of silken cartilage cushions turning thighbones in their bony
hip sockets. In Si Levine's joint, an X-ray showed that bone ground against
bone, the cartilage worn away. The active retiree found that things he
loved -- global travel, golf -- were becoming too difficult to continue.
"I was hurting pretty badly," said Levine, 70, an ex-New Yorker who moved
to west Boynton Beach nine years ago. "I've gone to Hong Kong and Australia,
and the hip was slowing me down."
So Levine made the same decision two years ago that has been faced by
professional golfer Jack Nicklaus and 150,000 other Americans each year:
He opted to have his worn-out joint replaced with a prosthetic. Levine's
greatest worry was that the surgery would leave him much more restricted
than his damaged joint. His concerns turned out to be unfounded. Six weeks
after surgery, he was swinging golf clubs again, beating even golf great
Nicklaus in the race back to the green after surgery.
Nicklaus took about three months to recover. "I remember the first time
I swung the club I thought I'd fall on my face. I didn't," Levine said.
"I was a little tired, but when you're 70 years old you're tired." Most
doctors recommend that hip replacement patients wait, like Nicklaus did,
for three or four months before golfing after surgery. But orthopedic
surgeons agree that a total hip replacement is not a contraindication
for playing golf. Mae Yahara, director of outpatient services at Pinecrest
Rehabilitation Hospital in Delray Beach, takes the issue a step further,
advocating golf as great physical therapy after hip surgery.
"If we know they're golfers, we try to incorporate that into their recovery,"
Yahara said. "I have seen hundreds of joint patients go out onto the course." The
surgery itself requires an incision of 6 to 10 inches over the hip joint.
The top of the thighbone is removed, a hole drilled into the bone,
and a metal rod with a metal or ceramic ball is dropped into it. A hard
plastic socket is inserted in the pelvis, secured tightly on its own,
or with the help of cement. Recovering from hip replacement surgery happens
in stages.
Fort Lauderdale Dr. Michael Reilly, a surgeon
with Broward Orthopedic Specialists, has his patients standing with a
walker within 24 hours. "The faster you get someone up and moving, the
quicker the recovery, the better it is for the patient," Reilly said.
"I get my patients up the first 24 hours and they do so much better." Patients
usually return home in a few days to a week, depending on whether they
have a spouse or live-in helper. They can bathe after five days.
After about 11 days, the sutures come out. During the healing process,
certain movements are out, such as crossing the legs, bending more than
90 degrees, or sinking low into a soft chair. All of those things can
cause the joint to shift out of place. Reilly said some of his golf-loving
patients have gone back to chipping and putting after three weeks. He
will not let them take long drives for three months, however, because
of the risk that the twisting motion will dislocate the new joint before
it has healed into place. Another caution to golfing after hip surgery:
Bending over to place the tee can be a problem.
Yahara likes a device sold over the Internet that can place the tee and
the ball for you. The tee stick costs $24.95 plus $5 shipping, and is
available at www.sharpdesigns.com/teestick. Yahara also suggests those
with artificial hips use an open stance, dropping the left foot back
if
they are right-handed. "What that does is minimize how much you can turn
your body," Yahara said. She also warns her patients not to wear shoes
with spikes, to prevent twisting. The only real change in her patients'
golf game, Yahara said, is the addition of golf carts. Prosthetic hips
do wear out over time, so she asks her golfing patients to ride rather
than walk. "It's good for you to take a walk, but if you take that to
the extreme you can wear out the joint," Yahara said.
Originally
published in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.