Mike Bailey, is a 49-year-old Environmental Manager for an electricity utility company in Wiltshire. Two years ago he had a car accident which badly damaged his hip joint. This eventually resulted in Mike having to have his hip replaced with a Cormet Resurfacing Hip, a new device developed by a British company, which is specifically designed for the younger, active patient.
I have always been a fairly active person, with hobbies that include walking, hiking and rugby in my younger days, and I often went on walking holidays before the car accident. Part of my job entails undertaking visits to various company locations in England and Wales, with occasional trips overseas and often long periods spent driving. My general health before the accident was very good, and company health check-ups showed nothing of concern except being overweight.
The immediate damage to my hip resulting from the car accident was repaired, and I was back on my feet in about three months, although walking with some difficulty initially. About six months later, it became increasingly apparent that I had a problem, as arthritis set in causing more and more pain and loss of movement in my right leg. Walking anywhere was a discomfort and doing even simple things such as climbing stairs and getting in and out of a car were becoming more and more painful. Sleeping at night was difficult, with my sleep disturbed most nights by the discomfort of the hip. It got to the point that I would opt not do an activity rather than endure the discomfort and my quality of life was deteriorating.
In discussion with my consultant it was decided that the only solution was to replace the damaged hip joint. If I was to be as active as before the accident, a conventional Total Hip Replacement
(THR) was not really suitable, as it would wear it out sooner rather than later and a further replacement hip would probably be needed. Resurfacing of the hip joint was proposed by my consultant as an alternative for more active patients, as well as being more stable so allowing greater activity levels than a conventional implant. He stressed that
Resurfacing was a relatively new technique although results to date were very encouraging.
The suggestion of a new type of implant initially gave me some concerns, so I decided to find out more about the technique from various web sites and discussion groups on the web. All the information was very encouraging so I decided to opt for a
Hip Resurfacing. The ‘icing on the cake’ for Hip Resurfacing was its acceptance by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) just before I decided to opt for the
Resurfacing technique.
The Resurfacing operation was carried out in Spring of 2002 and entailed removal of some of the metal screws and pins that had been placed in my hip joint following the car accident, and then fitting of the new metal components of the
Resurfacing joint. A small bone graft was necessary in the acetabulum and this meant that I was unable to bear my full weight or start full physiotherapy for about nine weeks after the operation. Intensive physiotherapy at the Bath Clinic resulted in improved leg muscles and normal walking at about 18 weeks post op. My initial recovery was longer than anticipated, due partly to the bone graft and also because of the very weak muscles in my leg from lack of proper exercise.
However, once I was back on my feet recovery was rapid and I was able to walk without sticks quite quickly. The main aspects of the physiotherapy were to get me walking without the gait that I had developed over the months of pain in the hip and to strengthen the weakened leg muscles. I had started to walk with a bias to the left side of my body and this needed correction. I am pleased to say that I am now walking normally and able to walk quite considerable distances (up to about
five miles) without difficulty and have booked my first walking holiday since the accident.
If you discount the time the bone graft took to heal then I was walking unaided after about
three weeks and able to climb stairs unaided at five weeks. I was able to drive again at about
seven weeks. I have been able to return to an almost full active life since the operation and have returned to work full time. I can walk normally, climb stairs two at a time, cycle and do gardening. I am gradually regaining my stamina for long distance walking. The best thing about the operation is the ability to do normal things again, safe in the knowledge that the resurfaced joint can be treated like my own.
The operation has completely restored my lifestyle. After enduring months of pain following the onset of arthritis after the car accident I am now pain free and able to carry on a normal life. The debilitating effect of constant pain has completely disappeared and it is wonderful to be able to walk normally again. I can thoroughly recommend the operation.
