Experience, get well, repeat: A 78-year-old’s return to her Harley after hip substitute surgical procedure

At 78 years previous, Louise Correnti has logged over 425,000 miles on her Harley-Davidson bike, attends Pilates thrice every week, and retains up with energy coaching in her residence exercise room. But in 2024, her mobility was severely restricted when an damage throughout a pickleball sport aggravated her preexisting hip arthritis. 

However, Correnti didn’t let the damage cease her from participating in an energetic way of life. For the subsequent yr, she did her finest to maintain up along with her Pilates and train, however the ache turned so extreme that she knew hip substitute surgical procedure was the one actual resolution.

Nearly a yr after her damage, Correnti underwent a profitable hip substitute surgical procedure at Loma Linda University Health from orthopaedic surgeon Parke Hudson, MD, to get her again to her energetic way of life. 

Before her damage, Correnti’s choice to begin enjoying pickleball at 76 years previous was supposed so as to add one other wholesome exercise into her energetic way of life. Unfortunately, Correnti’s try to sustain with extra superior gamers led to an surprising damage on the courtroom. 

At first, she assumed the ache was from a pulled muscle that will heal with over-the-counter treatment and relaxation. But as time went on, her mobility worsened. 

“I struggled to walk even short distances and had to cling to grocery carts just to make it through a store,” Correnti recollects. “I was hanging on for dear life.”

When the ache didn’t go away, X-rays revealed that her preexisting hip arthritis was severely aggravated by enjoying pickleball. To assist handle the ache, Correnti acquired a number of cortisone photographs over a yr, however the aid was all the time short-term, and her ache saved rising. 

By the time she noticed Hudson for hip substitute surgical procedure, her once-active way of life had turn into extraordinarily restricted.

“She was essentially bone on bone,” Hudson stated of her X-rays. “I knew how active she had been with Pilates and riding her Harley, but her hip injury was keeping her from living the life she wanted.” 

But at her age, and dwelling with a pacemaker, Correnti was nervous to endure surgical procedure. 

To put together for her hip substitute, Hudson required that she endure clearance from her main care doctor and heart specialist to keep away from any problems with anesthesia. 

Once cleared, Correnti had a complete hip substitute with the Hana Table –– a specialised working desk that permits a exact and minimally invasive method to place the affected person in a manner that optimizes entry to the hip joint with out the necessity to lower by means of main muscular tissues or tendons.

Read: The ease of hip substitute surgical procedure with this surgical development

The outcomes of the surgical procedure led to a steady implant and a well-aligned hip. For the primary time in a yr, Correnti may work on regaining her full mobility.

“They had me up and walking within hours,” she stated. “I went home the same day!”

Once in restoration, Correnti adopted each at-home rehabilitation exercise assigned to her, an important step within the restoration course of that many sufferers slack off or skip completely. 

“As a surgeon, I can set the patient up for success in the operating room, but the long-term results depend heavily on the patient’s commitment to rehabilitation,” Hudson says.

Correnti dedicated to doing her chair workout routines a number of occasions a day, strolling her cul-de-sac, and step by step regaining her mobility. 

Within two weeks, the ache was gone. At three months, Hudson cleared her to begin again with Pilates, and extra excitingly, he gave her the inexperienced gentle to get again on her Harley.

Now, six months post-surgery, Correnti is again to her common energetic way of life, even strolling as much as three miles thrice every week.

“Last year at this time, I could barely walk,” Correnti says. “Now I’m moving again.”

For Correnti, her hip substitute allowed her to reclaim her energetic way of life, return to her common exercises, and get again on her bike. With her sights set on reaching 450,000 driving miles, the brand new hip was only a temporary cease on the street to her aim. 

For extra info on hip substitute surgical procedure, name us at 909-558-2808 or go to our website here.