Mountain sports and total hip arthroplasty: a case report and review of mountaineering with total hip arthroplasty.
Participation in certain sports after total hip arthroplasty (THA) is common. Some high-risk sports such as extreme endurance sports with risks of falls and fractures are often cautioned against, except when the sport was participated in preoperatively and an excellent physical condition is present postoperatively. In this article, current concepts pertaining to this issue in general and in relation to mountain sports are discussed after a description of the activities of a 69-year-old patient who received cementless bilateral THAs in 1987 and 1995 and who resumed, after each rehabilitation, his preoperative sports practice (eg, walking and high-altitude mountaineering [6000+ m]). The patient, who was experienced in alpine and high-altitude mountaineering, was able, after his first operation, to climb classic alpine peaks (4000+ m) as well as participate in difficult and strenuous climbs outside Europe (Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, and Rolwaling trekking). After the second operation and an intensive rehabilitation program, he was able to climb 2 mountains in the range of 6000+ m. With excellent physical training, a long preoperative practice of the sport, and an intensive and careful rehabilitation, patients with a THA are, under specific circumstances, able to perform mountaineering at a very high, even professional level without signs of prosthesis loosening or higher than normal wear of the bearing materials.
Peters
Patrick
P
Institute for Sports Medicine, University Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany. peters.patrick@t-online.de
D000368:Aged; D019644:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009051:Mountaineering; D010809:Physical Fitness