Marty is ready to return to pony cart racing after SuperPATH total hip replacement surgery.

• June 25, 2020
• teamhri

Marty cancelled the Calgary stampede before COVID. Even though he’d been racing pony carts since he was a boy, he knew he couldn’t participate this year. He could barely walk!

As a cowboy, Marty is no stranger to pain. The pony carts reach speeds of 40 mph, and there’s very little between the driver, the back of the horse, and the ground. A friend of his who rides bucking broncos said he’d never be crazy enough to get on one of those carts. But arthritis in his hip had reached the point that Marty wasn’t just worried about not participating in the rodeo anymore, he was being left behind in his own life.

Marty’s first step was to check in with his doctor and find out the options. After an x-ray the doctor told him he had arthritis and would have to learn to live with it. Three months later what Marty was doing didn’t feel like living.  He found an orthopedic surgeon near his home and underwent a consultation. The surgeon confirmed he was a good candidate for total hip replacement surgery, but he would have to wait. A few months after that the pain in Marty’s hip, back, and groin was so severe every time he walked that he was done waiting.

Phoenix Spine and Joint showed up on an internet search as having a program just for Canadians like Marty. The price of the procedure includes all routine services and is guaranteed. After a teleconference with his surgeon, Marty was determined to come down to Phoenix and have minimally invasive hip replacement surgery. His wife came with him on the trip down to help.

Marty walked into the ambulatory surgery center in that morning and walked out after lunch with a new hip. His surgeon went over the procedure and answered all his questions. The surgery took less than an hour. He doesn’t remember much of the spinal anesthetic, but he had no trouble walking up. His usual pain was gone when he woke up. He and his wife took a shuttle to the hotel and he took it easy for the rest of the night.

They gave him a walker at the ambulatory surgery center, but Marty hardly touched it. He didn’t need to. He didn’t take the pain pills, either. He didn’t need to. The hardest part of the first week of recovery for Marty was not doing too much. After years of pain from osteoarthritis of the hip, he was ready to go! One-week later Marty was cleared to return home on his post-operative visit.

Marty managed to take it easy for a month after his SuperPATH hip replacement surgery, then he gradually returned to full activity. Like the anterior hip replacement surgery, the SuperPATH procedure has no restrictions and no precautions. Additional physical therapy is not required.

It’s been six months since Marty’s minimally invasive hip replacement surgery. If COVID hadn’t canceled the Calgary Stampede this year Marty was ready to compete. Next year, Marty. And hang on to those reins around the corners!