I have had pain, stiffness and limited range of motion in my right hip over the past 6 months. NSAIDs, rest, PT and tissue work have provided no relief. An MRI revealed a small region of significant cartilage wear. As such, my surgeon recommended a total hip replacement. When I told him that I wanted to return to heavy squats after the hip replacement, he said he would not operate on me because I would wear out the joint in 10 years and would require a revision.
While I understand he has a good deal of clinical experience to draw on, I do not think he has operated on a large number of people that participate in serious barbell training. So, it is difficult to know if his assertion that I will wear out my hip by squatting is true or not. I know, for example, that Ed Coan, Dave Tate and Travis Mash have all had hip replacements and all of them returned to heavy lifting (and all of them are handling loads much greater than the roughly 300 lbs I would be squatting). But, I also don’t know how long each of them have been training on their prosthetic hips.
My understanding is that the most likely component to wear out after a replacement is the polyethylene liner. But, the “highly cross-linked” polyethylene liners used in hip replacements these days lasts about 5 times longer than the polyethylene liners used 15 or so years ago. So, if those replacements used to last 10 years, I would expect the current generation of hip replacements to last 50 or so years. But, obviously, we don’t have 50 years of data on the new hip replacements to see if that is the case.
So, my question is (as the title suggests): if I continue to squat with heavy weights after a full hip replacement, will I wear out my joint and need another replacement (say, within 10 years)?
For the record, I am 41. So, I am hoping I can get 20 years out of the joint (i.e., one replacement now, one revision around 60, and hopefully that will last me until I pass away).
So, my question is (as the title suggests): if I continue to squat with heavy weights after a full hip replacement, will I wear out my joint and need another replacement (say, within 10 years)?
While I cannot say for sure how long the replacement will last, lifting does not put undue stress on the repaired anatomy. This isn’t medical advice of course, but the physician would not advise you to avoid other activities that place equivalent (or more) stress on the repair. The unfamiliarity with lifting is problematic here, though admittedly there isn’t any long-term data on RT after THR to draw from. A number of studies show better outcomes with RT (various protocols) pre- and post- THR, but there aren’t 10- or 20-year follow-up studies available on this topic.
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply @Jordan_Feigenbaum .
You mentioned “other activities that place equivalent (or more) stress on the repair.” Can I ask what such activities would be? I assume sports that require fast cutting movements (e.g., soccer, basketball) or repetitive motion (e.g. running) would put more stress on a hip than squatting. But, it would be helpful to get your $0.02. Would cleans load the hip more than squats (keeping in mind that I suck at Olympic lifting, so I would only be handling weights that are around 60% of what I squat).
To be clear, this is complicated to “numerize” the forces placed upon the hip of different activities, as different planes may be more or less involved, different durations of force transfer, different net torques of the muscles in different positions and loads, and much, much more.
Still, activities done at high velocity - particularly with a short duration and single leg phase- are likely to produce higher levels of hip contact force compared to bilateral, longer duration movements.
Cleans and squats aren’t really comparable unless we’re just comparing the recovery phase (e.g. front squat) of the clean to the back squat. I would predict reduced hip contact forces in the clean recovery due to the reduced load and hip flexion- though the power phase/landing from the 2nd pull may have a higher peak force. In any case, I would not only clean post total hip replacement over squats due to concerns of the repair failing.
If someone is cleared to run, ski, jump, etc. then squatting should be an easy day.