There are two additional possible factors, the placebo effect, and that fact that some people may have gotten better with no treatment at all.

yeah, it sounds like you're going to need the sx @ this point. all the conservative methods of treatment have been used up- best of luck :thumbup:

Thanks. I'm feeling pretty good about it actually. If you have arthritis, you will not ever "not" have arthritis. Treating the symptoms only delays the inevitable. If it's slow-growing, you could outlive the need for surgery. Circumstances have resulted in my knowing this experience would come, back when I was in my early 30's.

Thankfully because of science, medicine, big pharma, and hospitals, this is an outpatient surgery now for otherwise-healthy people (such as myself).

I'll go in, in the morning, they'll prep me, give me some good knock-out drugs that have quick recovery time. Supposedly they go in through a small incision on the upper front of my thigh, clean up whatever bone is left, then fit a ceramic cap over the joint and stitch it back up again. If all goes well in the recovery room, I walk out of there (limping, obviously) some time before dinner the same day.

Physical therapy consists exclusively of walking.

As to stiffness and OVERUSE.........does that also apply to the brain? I could use some improvement in that area.

That's the better choice. I know several people that have improved their movement and even running with a hip replacement. Good luck! I hope that I am still around when Medical Science gets around to memory and brain replacement. I have been losing altitude recently.

That tells me that long-distance bike riding may be harder on the body than fast walking or swimming. Particularly if the bike is not perfectly fitted to someone. But, it would take a lot of statistical analysis to prove that.

Big Pharma like BIG anything does do the scamming. However, I part company on the idea that the FDA, NIH, and CDC are Villians and NOT independent.

Boy, hospitals have some really fine knock-out drugs. The technician wondered why I grabbed the mask out of his hands because he took too long. He got a laugh out of my wanting to go under quickly. But, I knew that I was going from the "pre-lim" happy shot to the better stuff. Drugs with little downsides.....life is good under the influence.