My Comeback Story: Nelson M.

12/12/25 Anterior Total Hip Replacement, 69 YO Male.
By way of background, I ran competitively in high school and college mostly middle distances. After college I regularly competed in 5K, 10K and 15K races at a pace of 5:30 – 6:00/mile. Did this until I was about 50 YO. Thereafter I slowed a bit. At about 60 YO plus or minus my right hip failed and ultimately I was bone-on-bone – yes this hurt and ultimately made it impossible for me to run. Indeed a very sad day in my life, frankly this was depressing. I tried to muscle through this problem by training hard on the Peloton and weights. This proved to not cure the problem.

My wife and I regularly travel to Europe and typically walked 10 miles per day. In 2025, I could no longer enjoy walking and had difficulty even with pain killers to walk more than 5 miles. Out desperation, I decided to do a hip replacement. I felt I had nothing to lose.

OMG – three months post surgery I was back in Paris with my 22 YO son, who is very fit, and was walking 10 miles a day pain-free. OMG!!! Six months post surgery I was hiking some pretty steep hills (e.g. 1700’ over 2.5 miles) up and DOWN pain free. For anyone with bone-on-bone it’s the walking down hill that hurts like hell. NO PAIN. GONE!

Thank you Dr. Toma – you set this up. Thank you Katey and Goldenstate physical therapy – you got me back on my feet. Thank you Stephen at LifeTime gym, you have helped me regain and exceed the strength I lost from years of my inability to properly use my right leg and to completely recover from surgery. I am now (six months post-op) way better than before surgery and frankly, I think I will be able to run again. Now whether I go back to competitive running, time will tell. I definitely will be able to hike the Camino de Santiago in Spain – something that was completely impossible before my surgery. Yup -- should have done this as soon as this disability reared its ugly head -- like 7-8 years ago.