Riding with bilateral hip and knee joint replacements

[BackInTheSaddle74]

I’m a 74 yr old woman, back in the saddle after a disabling accident 27 years ago. I’ve been riding again for two years, have a 14-yr old MFT and an awesome trainer who has helped work me though my fears about even getting back on a horse. Our lessons alternate between arena and actual trail experience and my longest ride to date has been about 4 hours.

Here’s my problem - hills. Going up is no problem; I 2-point, using the knee rolls of my dressage saddle for contact points and unless it’s longer than a mile, we’re fine. It’s the downhill that is causing pain - specifically in the groin and outer part of the knee of my right leg. Getting off to walk isn’t an option for a number of reasons. Does anyone have experience with exercises that would help this? I suspect some of the stiffness is due to scar tissue, but I’m willing to try almost anything except more surgery,

I swim and go to the gym three days a week. Since it’s a 90-minute ride to the stable, I only ride once or twice a week. In our part of Northern California, everything is hills.

Catherine

[Graymaresrule]

Have you tried a physical Therapist?

[amadee]

I have knee issues

and I find that I do well in a western trail saddle with a narrower twist plus the fenders are much more pliable on my saddle and that allows my leg to hang where it feels best. You might want to try some different types of saddles (both english and western) and I would think given your hip pain that maybe something with a narrower twist might work better?

But I’ve got to say a big kudos to you for doing all this with replacement parts, you are truly an inspiration!

[Bank_of_Dad]

I only have a hip replacement, but I got a Solstice saddle and I find my legs hang straight under me almost as if I were bareback, and I have jointed Herm Sprenger stirrups that help my knees. Ride in a bunch of other saddles to see if something else helps. I am a little younger than you. Good for you.

[monstrpony]

I find that riding downhill in a dressage saddle forces me to open the hip joint even more than riding on the flat. This seems to stress the structures in the front of the hip and in the groin (possibly the psoas muscle complex as well), which in turn seems to aggravate the nerve that goes down the leg and shows up on the outside of the knee. It can become quite painful for me. But I think doing some careful stretching should be able to help. If you can consult with a good exercise physiologist or PT, you can probably get some good exercises to help improve this situation.

[stryder]

Kudos to you for getting back in the saddle!

You might send a PM to medical mike.