John R Moreland, MD, John R. Moreland, M.D., Hip, Knee, Surgeon, orthopedic surgery, Arthritis, Joint Replacement, Trauma/Fractures, Santa Monica, CA
orthodoc.aaos.org
He's retired, but he recommends a few surgeons he has worked with. Some surgeons I interviewed didn't want me to surf post surgery. Dr. Moreland insisted on it. He also made me go back to MA training, kicking a heavy bag etc. I can still put a 50 pound bag into the rafters with a spinning back kick. There are guys playing in the NHL on artificial hips. If you were watching the Pipe Masters you might have seen Torrey Meister surfing. On an artificial hip. Long story short, avoid surgeons who use the posterior approach. You want anterior. Dr. M guaranteed I'd never dislocate. Super flexible people, small boned people, they have a harder time. I'm fairly heavy boned, and just not genetically super flexible. Which he said was perfect. Never had a prosthesis as large as the one he used on me fail.
Net, net, I was scared to death of this surgery. I limped around for a couple of years. If I had it to do over again, I would not have screwed around for so long. I completely forget I have the titanium hip. I make no concessions to it. Life can go on.
EDIT: A few other things. NO metal on metal. NO posterior approach. And while "hip resurfacing" sounds warm and fuzzy, the operation is actually more invasive, leaves you with serious odds of heavy metals in your system and provides no better of a result. They are talking about being able to grow/repair cartilage soon. Can't come soon enough.