Many dislocations are due to poor leg muscle condition before the op - often because the pain in the months before deters people from exercising. Do everything you can in the run-up to the op to get your leg muscles in trim. It's only your weight and the muscles that hold the joint together.

Although I couldn't walk more than a mile, using two sticks and with considerable pain, I could cycle perfectly well. Getting on and off the bike was the main problem - a mounting block or a high kerb was necessary.

I was 70 when I had the replacement and was cycling up to 50 miles a day right up to admission. A month before, we had a 2-week cycling holiday in South Africa with longest day of 67 miles. My surgeon complained that my muscles were so tight he had difficulty in getting the new joint together.

Phil