Mr James Gibbs 2023-10-09 Person 5 5 0

I was lucky enough to be referred to Mr Gibbs through the NHS in April 2023. My right hip had been steadily deteriorating since a skiing accident some 20 years earlier and the x-rays showed the joint was severely affected by osteoporosis and was basically 'worn out'. Movement, even from walking on the flat, had become painful, I was in danger of ending up with a permanent limp and could no longer stand up straight. As someone who has just turned 80 for whom physical activities such as hiking, cycling and skiing have been a passion all my adult life, I was a little sceptical about the possibility that a total hip replacement could get me back on my bike or the slopes for another 10 years or so. So before seeing James I did a fair bit of research and was able to ask a lot of pertinent questions about the replacement joint components , how they worked, the materials used, as well as details of the surgical procedure, recovery, risks, etc. I was impressed and reassured by the trouble he took in answering all these questions. Knowing my passion for skiing, which is something I have enjoyed every single year from 1970-2020 (with great difficulty most recently), the last thing he said to me at the end of our consultation was '.... and don't worry about the skiing David!' It is now 12 weeks since the operation and I have made an excellent, almost complete, recovery. However, for an older person who waited far too long to get surgery, I think it is worth mentioning that a successful recovery is very dependent on a regular (every day if possible) diet of exercise, stretching and muscle strengthening. Inevitably, this process is not pain free and, in my case, I continued to get regular flair ups of inflammation over the first 6 weeks or so. These can be controlled with pain-killers and ibuprofen, but nevertheless the key is to keep up the exercising even if you are able to do less during these periods. A further interesting observation concerns lower back pain. For me this has been much in evidence up until a couple of weeks ago when it started to get rapidly better. Initially this is quite worrying because one naturally imagines that the pain may somehow be directly linked to the new joint. But now having recovered from this, I believe what is going on is more complicated. Typically, a older person requiring hip surgery will have acquired both a limp and poor posture (leaning forward) and this will have progressed to a state in which all the complex muscle and tendon connections between the hip and lower back become 'semi-locked' into a altered (deformed) state corresponding to your limp and bad posture. However, after hip replacement, provided you do the requisite exercises, your body will naturally try and return to its earlier state in which you had no limp and correct posture and I believe it is these adjustments that take time and cause the lower back pain. Of course this is just a personal non-professional assessment but in my case the back pain has steadily receded in tandem with improving posture. A couple of further observations that I think are testament to the skill, precision and experience of James as a surgeon. Firstly, it must be difficult to ensure that your leg with the new joint will end up being exactly the same length as your other leg especially as before the operation they almost certainly were not. And in my case the result is spot on. Secondly, before the operation my right foot stuck out at a significant angle and this had slowly got worse as my hip deteriorated. Now this mis-orientation has been completely corrected. Furthermore, when walking, for many years I used to place my right foot on the ground at an angle rather than flat . This is evidenced by the fact that the rear right-hand corner of my right-hand shoe would always get worn down quite quickly. Remarkably, this is no longer happening! For my 80th birthday in August I got an electric mountain bike. A few days ago I managed a 40km trip over the South Downs starting at our home in Eastbourne including 4000ft of climbing. As anyone with an an electric mountain bike knows you can't just sit on the bike and it carries you up and down the hills without pedalling. You have to pedal and work at it. Afterwards muscles were a bit sore but otherwise no pain. Also I have done a number of walks over the Downs of 5-8 kms with 600-1000ft of climbing. Again a bit stiff afterwards but no pain from the hip. So, I can't speak highly enough of the level of care and professionalism provided by James and his entire team at Montefiore Hospital both before and after my surgery. The result for me has been outstanding and an absolute life-changer. Thank you all!