JOINT Venture
“People don’t realize this, but we (humans) are made to lift our legs to the side about like a dog does when he goes potty. But we (martial artists) do all these stretches, we side-kick to the head, and we hit the heavy bag and people with our legs. We wear out our hips.”
Those are the words of Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, a man who knows what he’s talking about. He’s had both hips replaced — twice! Yes, Wallace has had the surgery known as total hip replacement. So have many other well-known martial artists like Chuck Norris, Dan Anderson and even me. It wasn’t all that long ago when hip replacements were considered risky and the possibility that they would wear out within the patient’s lifetime was considerable. But now, it’s one of the most common surgeries in the United States, and predictions are that in 10 years, there will be more than half a million procedures done annually. And that’s just in the United States.
Is it because Americans are staying more active as they age or because medical science has improved so rapidly?
