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

My dad and grandpa both had knee replacements, neither of them ever ran beyond gym class in high school. It seems running has nothing to do with whether you need one or not.

do you have a follow up report? did you get hyalruonic acid? if so what kind? I've been going down the rabbit hole of research on this and the consensus is that it is not effective. But the more i read the research, it appears that the product injected is the key.

Had my first total knee replacement 5 years ago and about to have the other one done.

I don't think I did anything wrong as knee osteoarthritis was likely inevitable. In fact my surgeon believes I actually am probably still very active at 58 because of all of my running years

The only thing that I think may have accelerated the damage in the later stages was running through pain too much and too often.

loosetree, and any runner that cut back on running after TKA

A orthopod told me that people do not run much after getting an artificial knee. One reason he mentioned is because it just feels different. He mentioned the knee is like running on pavement when you are used to running on dirt. The impact on your body is a bit harsher due to the hardness of the materials that are used in a TKA.

Also another point that comes to my mind is that one point of running is to feel strong, yet after TKA, it seems every step with the knee reminds you of a weakness, so you loose the motivation. Another factor is fear of hurting the knee, though I understand that is not really a concern if you show just a little care for it.

What is your experience? Why not run after TKA?

I am a long time runner; age 66. ~1500-3000 miles/year for going on 40 years. However, in 2022 the right knee started hurting, and MRI & X-rays shows moderate arthritis in a few areas. After 2 years of a sedentary life, the knee still hurts when I run or walk long distances. When sitting around, it feels OK, so I do not absolutely need a TKA, if I can take living without running, or even walking long distances.

I really want to run again, but fear even a new joint will not give me what I want. What is the point of TKA if in the end the joy of running is lost and I end up in the sedentary life I have had for 2 years?

Have you considered getting into cycling for solid year or 2. if you can't ride outside due to bad roads or traffic, there are some great indoor alternatives that will keep you motivated to ride. zwift comes to mind! you can race just like you did with running.

I'm curious as to whether: 1) cycling hurts it like running does and 2) whether a long stint of cycling might help improve the knee since it would increase strength.

What do you expect from the 4Chan of running? The Russian/Iranian troll bots are finely tuned.

Yes, there are activities such as biking I participate in, but I want to run again, long distances. However, why do I get the feeling that runners, after TKA, still cut back?

I think because there is a bit of nervousness that if you run too much that you will blow up the knee completely and won't be able to do ANY activity.

Two hips replaced 6 months apart in 2022. So have all of my friends I ran with or against in high school and I"m the only one who ran the whole way through college and I did the triathlon scene on and off for another 15 years or so, but never really ran more than 15-25 mpw after that. I got hurt if I did. Anyway...my surgeon hypothesizes that since he does so many replacements in my/our (friends I ran or against) age bracket and were runners...it was the thick cushioned running shoes at the time (late 80s through mid 90s) that led to unnatural alignments and poor mechanics that wore the hip joint out faster. It's only a theory, but I guess he sees what he sees when he opens people up.

I think this is too buried in a long string. Maybe start a new post.

A counter to this theory isn’t that it was the shoes necessarily that caused the issues due to poor mechanics…instead maybe the shoes allowed runners to run more miles (maybe with bad mechanics…granted) than they had ever ran before, especially on concrete pavement.
I would imagine that the training regimens of many runners increased in terms of volume, intensity and frequency with the advent of these shoes, as many felt that they were capable of running more miles than they had done previously, when shoe design was far more primitive.

There are two analogous comparisons that can be made here…

The first is the argument that boxing gloves actually cause more long term damage than bare knuckle or MMA type gloves, because they allow more blows to the head to be tolerated, therefore leading to the possibility of long term brain issues.

Secondly is the use of weight lifting straps in weight lifting. The straps allow for more weight to be lifted than the normal grip can cope with. However somewhere along the line, this may cause certain musculoskeletal issues somewhere else along the kinetic chain, as the body is lifting weights that it perhaps shouldn’t, due to the help from the straps.

The same thing could perhaps be happening with the shoe design since the eighties. It has allowed runners to log more miles than their feet might have been able to cope with previously. However, in turn, this has caused issues for many, further up the chain.

Maybe, the minimalist shoe people had it right, except for one thing…they bought the minimalist shoes, but then many tried to continue training, in terms of intensity, frequency and volume, as they had done before, which took them straight back to square one in terms of injury potential.

Another way to look at it…which ties in with your surgeon’s theory is that the advent of the cushioned running shoes allowed and encouraged a whole new legion of runners to take up the sport, with the growth in popularity during the running boom of the eighties. Many of these probably had bodies and biomechanics that weren’t best suited to the sport. Which in turn put them ahead with regards to potential injury problems somewhere down the line.

Before the running boom, the sport was more or less practiced by those who had an affinity for the activity. People tend to graduate towards activities that they are good at. This was probably true for most before the running boom. But in the eighties running was promoted as a sport for all shapes and sizes ( as it is today). People who may have no business training for a marathon, take up running, looking for that “runner’s body”. It is a similar phenomenon with those who look for the swimmer’s body, thinking that the training will magically transform them, but with no clue about natural selection.

Maybe not everyone is suited to run, as much as the running media and sports manufacturers would have you believe otherwise. Even primitive cultures understand that the act of serious running is best left to those who are best suited to it. In this video, the others in the group do run, slowly, in spurts…but the serious stuff is left to the one guy who is probably the best at it. The others are there to help him carry the prize home.

This.

My 18 month old hip still feels weird. It completely demotivates me. Fear.

Mind you its a damn sight better than the pain before the op

50 years old. Been running since age 12. Any distance from 800m to 100miles. Still can pull off 10k in 38 minutes. Hips as good as new.

Sad but true.

But the research shows that runners are no more likely to have arthritis than non runners. In fact, every single thing you read about improving the chance of not having arthritis is to exercise and keep your weight down. In going down this rabbit hole, exercise is also associated with increasing the anti-inflammatory cytokines that destroy cartilage. We are just bias because we know more people who run than don't run. So don't blame yourselves!

As for weight being the most important factor in knee (possibly hip?) replacement
success, see the recent article in The Washington Post by a woman who says she lost 35 pounds preparing for her surgery, but still struggled to recover after the knife. The photo indicates that she may have stopped losing weight too soon...

A lot of runners will put a huge toll on their body without providing it what it needs to recover: meat, collagen, and food with vitamin k2.

How many people that run do you think get a significant amount of vitamin k2 from their diet?:

Vitamin K2 is mainly found in certain animal and fermented foods. Rich animal sources include high fat dairy products from cows and egg yolks, as well as liver and other organ meats.

Based on animal studies and the role vitamin K2 plays in bone metabolism, it’s reasonable to assume that this nutrient affects dental health as well.