Bad Hip and Golf

[iceman777]

Unfortunately , I 've  developed an arthritic left hip . Trying to avoid surgery for as long as possible . Golf seems to be the worst physical activity . Does anyone have any tips to play with minimal pain?  Im a righty  and have tried flaring the feet , three quarter swing . The worst pain develops when I concentrate on shifting weight to my left side on downswing . Thanks

[Papa Steve 55]

On ‎6‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 7:28 AM, iceman777 said:

Unfortunately , I 've  developed an arthritic left hip . Trying to avoid surgery for as long as possible . Golf seems to be the worst physical activity . Does anyone have any tips to play with minimal pain?  Im a righty  and have tried flaring the feet , three quarter swing . The worst pain develops when I concentrate on shifting weight to my left side on downswing . Thanks

I had my right replaced. I waited far too long to have the surgery. Now that seems silly. I had to take a year off of golf before the surgery, I was walking with a cane. I could not do stairs much less turn into a swing. I had it done in November, on Black Friday. I was home in three days. I spent 6 weeks healing and a couple months doing PT. I had golf balls in the air mid April with minimal pain. I was 50 yards shorter and my 10 handicap ballooned to an 18. A lot of it was the bad habits I had developed working around my balky hip. And its scary the first few times out. I think it took a year before I fully trusted it. By September I was back to a 12, still a club short though. I doubt my 8 will ever be my 150 again, but you adjust.

So now three years later I'm 9.2, my 7 is my 150 and I never think about my hip.

I don't know what you reason for putting the surgery off is, I hope its a good one. But for me it was life changing and if I had to do it again I would have had it three years sooner.

Best of luck to you, feel free to ask any questions about it.

Edited June 15, 2017 by Papa Steve 55
clarity

[iceman777]

Thanks Steve . Glad you're doing well . Right now I can live with the pain .It hurts the most after I play golf , but is tolerable .. I just feel that until I really find the pain and disruption of lifestyle  too much to take , I'll wait on surgery . The time out of work , horror stories about contracting hospital infections , and the hope that the techniques  will continue to improve as each year passes , have caused me to hold off . Thnaks again

[ghalfaire]

On 6/12/2017 at 4:28 AM, iceman777 said:

Unfortunately , I 've  developed an arthritic left hip . Trying to avoid surgery for as long as possible . Golf seems to be the worst physical activity . Does anyone have any tips to play with minimal pain?  Im a righty  and have tried flaring the feet , three quarter swing . The worst pain develops when I concentrate on shifting weight to my left side on downswing . Thanks

Get it replaced.  I did and like Papa Steve I waited longer than I should have.  I have no regrets and wish I had not waited so long.  Just made the rehab worse and increased my handicap index by waiting.

[Buckeyebowman]

On 6/15/2017 at 4:35 PM, Papa Steve 55 said:

I had my right replaced. I waited far too long to have the surgery. Now that seems silly. I had to take a year off of golf before the surgery, I was walking with a cane. I could not do stairs much less turn into a swing. I had it done in November, on Black Friday. I was home in three days. I spent 6 weeks healing and a couple months doing PT. I had golf balls in the air mid April with minimal pain. I was 50 yards shorter and my 10 handicap ballooned to an 18. A lot of it was the bad habits I had developed working around my balky hip. And its scary the first few times out. I think it took a year before I fully trusted it. By September I was back to a 12, still a club short though. I doubt my 8 will ever be my 150 again, but you adjust.

So now three years later I'm 9.2, my 7 is my 150 and I never think about my hip.

I don't know what you reason for putting the surgery off is, I hope its a good one. But for me it was life changing and if I had to do it again I would have had it three years sooner.

Best of luck to you, feel free to ask any questions about it.

Shoot! My 8 hasn't been my 150 in years and I don't have arthritic hips nor a hip replacement!

I think the reason the OP is putting off the surgery is because he's just plain scared of it! I can understand the emotion, just maybe not the reasoning behind it. Plus, you can bet that he has a few friends giving him the old, "Don't let them cut on you, man!" type of advice. Or maybe that's his own mindset.

Case in point. My friend had diverticulitis. It got so bad he couldn't put anything in his mouth without getting what we came to call "the look". His face would glow red like a freshly boiled lobster right out of the pot! Eventually it got so bad that he went in for another test. Afterword, the surgeon sat him down for a heart to heart.

He told my friend, something like, "Look guy, I'm going to wind up operating on you one way or another! Your way, your colon is going to pop somewhere and they'll rush you in here in an ambulance. We'll open you up, and you'll be a septic mess inside! We'll play Hell to get you fixed up and back on your feet. My way, we schedule you in here under controlled circumstances, everything's nice and clean, and we fix you up."

He asked me what to do, and I told him to get the surgery. He did, and he feels great to this day!