Patient Videos

14 days post hip replacement
with no pain

My name is Clotilde V., and I was 55 when I decided to consult Professor Grobler. Years of classical ballet and jazz dancing, perhaps along with a few other things, had left my hips in a terrible state.

“You have the right hip of a 70-year-old woman,” the radiologist told me with a laugh. That was when I realised it was time to do something about it. I couldn’t bear the pain any longer, just because some people told me I was too young to have a total hip replacement. At my first appointment, I had just two important questions: if I had the operation at the end of April, would I be able to take part in my paragliding tour planned for July, and then tackle the Pondo Trail (67 km) in September? After five seconds of thought, Professor Grobler simply said, “Yes.”

And there I was, just two and a half months after the operation, soaring through the skies with my titanium hip! Two months later, I was taking part in one of the most magnificent 67 km hikes in the Eastern Cape. So yes, it is possible to go paragliding again after an operation like this. You just have to take it easy and build up gradually. “Nice and gentle,” as my paragliding instructor, Jan, keeps reminding me. “Nice and gentle.