dmanthree

I'm 64, have been biking for a long time, and am experiencing some hip soreness for the first time. My question is aimed at those who have had hip replacements: what were the symptoms you first noticed that you had hip problems?

robert schlatte

Soreness in the groin area, pain in hip when certain movements made, pain radiating up and down leg. Sometimes pain worse at times then other times. Your hip needs to be replaced when the cartilage is worn away. An x-ray of hip will tell you and your doctor if you need a replacement. My left hip was replaced Nov. 16, 2017 and my right one will be replaced Dec. 13, 2018. Recovery time is six weeks or so and is no fun, but it gets better after that very rapidly.

dmanthree

Thanks. Luckily, nothing like that so far. I'm feeling more of a dull pain and soreness, which may be due to overuse. The pain is localized to the hip; nothing up and down the leg. I've got a physical coming up in a few weeks so I'll mention it then and maybe get the xray.

donheff

I am 70 and started getting acute left hip pain about 6 months ago. Xrays showed mild arthritis but NSAIDS (alleve and later diclofenac) had only minimal effect. An ultrasound guided steroid injection knocked it out completely and it hasn't come back. With serious joint damage steroid injections bring short term relief. With my mild arthritis I suspect something else was going on to inflame the hip that the injection knocked out.

peterws

Sometimes these things just need to be rested . . . I got pains in my right shoulder when I used to do a fair bit of running forty years ago. The dog had similar effects, and the vet said it was arthritis.
Mine and hers cleared up when we ceased; I have it in my right shoulder now, but treadmill running seems fine, with some weights activity for strengthening the surrounding muscles.
The dog's long gone . . .

jppe

Giacomo 1 

Just another thought - are you taking a statin for cholesterol?

When I was on them, I had terrible soreness, especially in the hip area, which made cycling and even walking pretty darn painful.

dmanthree

No changes in gear or positioning in the last two years.

dmanthree

Nope, no chemicals.

Lars Halstrom

Mine started flaring up two weeks ago when I was just standing, my quad started aching after a 7 mile ride. Went to clinic, first thought was IT Band but when the X-ray was done, it showed mild osteoarthritis on left hip joint and moderate on right hip joint. I'm seeing a PT once a week to strengthen the muscles supporting the joint. I've done 3,800 miles this year at 69. I can't walk more than 2 blocks when my leg flares up in pain in the quad. Even just standing longer than 15 minutes too. My PT said the therapy effects won't be seen for 4-5 weeks. I had a radical prostechtomy 6 years ago and I faintly remember having similar issues in my rehab with this leg. I use a heating pad on the hip and quad muscle and this gets rid of the aching when it flares up. Last week I went for a 10 mile ride. If I used a low gear and speed under 10mph it felt good. If I had too much torque, hill and speed, it would flare up. This is no fun around Christmas time.

bbbean 

Have you checked your fit? Sure you didn't just pick up a minor injury somewhere?

dmanthree

No changes in fit over the last two years. No injuries, either.

canklecat

Might be time to adjust your bike fit to suit body changes. It's unlikely our joints will get healthier and stronger with age.

At 61 my hips and knees still seem pretty good but diagnostics this year show deterioration in my neck and both shoulders. I've made lots of little and a few significant adjustments to suit those changes -- reducing reach on the drop bar road bike, switching from flat to riser to albatross bars on the hybrid, changing saddles and positions. Doing more physical therapy but more carefully to minimize joint stress.

Arthritis and osteoporosis run in my family so I'm doing what I can to delay the inevitable. If I'm lucky I'll delay it indefinitely, or at least until I'm finished with this body.

curbtender

You may have bursitis also. Can you still get your socks on without really struggling?

dmanthree

Yes, no issues with flexibility or mobility.

Update: it's actually gotten better over the last week. May have been a temporary soreness.

curbtender

Good deal, you'll know if it happens.

Lars Halstrom

My hip/leg pain has gone and I can walk and stand as long as I want to. I don't know how much was attributed to my PT and how much to resting. I think what I had was a strain in one of the muscles in my hip flexor group, probably the rectus femoris in my quad, which heals in about 6-8 weeks. Now I've done over 100 miles on my bike up and down hills in Seattle, a little slower than before, so far. My osteoarthritis is still in my hip joints, but this year I'll be 70.

rseeker

I had debilitating hip pain which was cleared up by stretching. I underwent 8 weeks of PT and the takeaway was that I need to stretch regularly to keep myself limber or the pain (and risk of injury) returns. The minimum is stretching the hamstring and piriformis. I work in front of a computer i.e. sitting for long periods so, yeah.