Arnie Pollinger

I am an avid runner and have been running my entire life. My Mom told me I could run before I could walk. I have run 7 Boston Marathons, 13 half marathons, 9 Reach the Beach Relays, numerous mountain races, including the Mt. Washington Road Race, which I have done twice, and literally hundreds of other road and trail races of all lengths. However, unlike normal adult runners, I also love to sprint at track meets and am a Nationally Ranked sprinter - the 60 meters, 100 meters, and 200 meter dashes, and the Long Jump are my best events.

In 2010, my right hip started hurting me appreciably and it was affecting my running. I consulted with some well-known orthopedists in Boston and I was told that I would never be able to run again because the only option for my degenerative hip arthritis was a total hip replacement. You can't run after a total hip replacement because the impact will break the implant. They told me that hip resurfacing was not a valid option.

I did not want to accept these doctors’ conclusions as to my running fate, but was confused. I hit the Internet. I turned to SurfaceHippy.com run by Pat Walter and Hipresurfacingsite.com run by the late Vicky Marlow and found a wealth of information on hip resurfacing there that seemed to contradict the information I had received. Many people had returned to run marathons, do triathlons, karate, all kinds of athletic endeavors after this surgery. Even the Tour de France! (Not to mention professional hockey and baseball).

But then why would top, well-respected doctors rail against it? Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation out there – yes there have been recalls and lawsuits on some devices, etc. with newspaper articles that mixed all metal hip implants together to conclude they were all bad, without digging deeper into the type of implant, the manufacturer, the level of skill of surgeon, all kinds of factors. The fact is that HSS uses the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing system (BHR), the only hip resurfacing device approved by the FDA. And Dr. Edwin Su is a world-renowned surgeon. But you won't read about those significant facts in those negative articles.

Running is my life. I figured I only had one shot at this and it was my only right hip. I settled on the best in the world, the amazing Dr. Su of HSS. I remember consulting with him and asking about sprinting (as far as I can tell, nobody had ever competed at the National level in masters sprinting and jumping after such surgery). Dr. Su saw no reason why I wouldn't be able to return to doing all the things I love, including sprinting, and was he ever correct!

I had my surgery in April, 2012, and ran my first 5k race 7 months later. I celebrated my one year anniversary of my new hip by winning the silver medal at the Connecticut Senior Games in the 50 meter dash (see picture). But that was just the beginning.

I switched back to distance running and celebrated the two year anniversary of my hip by running the Boston Marathon for the 7th time in 2014 (see picture).

People would ask me about my hip and I would laugh that my hip was great, it was all my other body parts that were hurting. After I turned 55 and entered a new masters track age group (55-59), I decided to get serious about training and completed the extreme fitness program P90X, then I finished 11th at National Masters Championships in the 60 meters in March, 2015. I also returned to long jumping (I think I am the first hip resurfacing recipient to do the long jump) and finished 6th at Nationals. (blurry photo of me getting some good height at Nationals).

I completed P90X again, and then 2 weeks ago competed at the National Masters Track and Field Championships, I finished 11th in the 100 meters in the M55-59 (out of 21 signed up). My time was 13.88, an 82.33% WAVA if you are familiar with that. I finished 12th in the 200M (out of 19) in 28.92, my fastest 200 meters in 6 years (and an age-graded 23.88)! I jumped 4.08 meters in the long jump to finish 6th (out of 9). One of the other competitors in the long jump was an orthopedic surgeon; he was shocked that I was jumping with an artificial hip. He believes I am the only one to be sprinting and jumping with a hip implant (I have not found anyone else doing this, so I think he is correct).

In conclusion, I am so thankful to Dr. Su and the HSS staff for their expertise in enabling me to return to compete at the highest levels, and more importantly, allowed me to continue to do the things I love and in so doing enhance the quality of my life. Thank you!!