“Find a surgeon who's an athlete”
It was Patty Lane’s second full IRONMAN: a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and full 26.2 mile marathon run. She and her son had completed their first full IRONMAN triathlon the year before without issue, but during their second, her hip started nagging at her.
That doctor told Patty that she’d be relegated to the sidelines. It was a huge blow for a woman who’d been a serious athlete since her teenage years—first running, then marathoning, then moving into triathlons.
Patty’s search for a surgeon-athlete led her to Dr. Stephen Duncan, an orthopedic surgeon and a hip specialist in UK HealthCare’s Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine program. His approach to her condition “couldn’t have been more different.” The biggest change: Dr. Duncan knew that, for Patty, staying sidelined was never an option.
In order to get Patty back to the sport she loved, Dr. Duncan used a technology called dual mobility total hip arthroplasty. The procedure involved replacing Patty’s hip socket and the head of her femur with a titanium shell with a metal liner and a large polyethylene and ceramic head on a titanium stem with a special coating to help strengthen her femur. The advanced technology meant less pain and wear and tear during high-impact activities like running.
After six months of recovery, Patty was back to racing. In the time since, she’s competed in dozens of races, including the New York City Marathon, an ultra-marathon, and triathlons around the country and across the globe as part of Team USA Triathlon.
Patty's husband, her biggest supporter, passed away in 2022 after complications from a lung transplant. She stepped away from training while caretaking for him, but recently returned to competition. Her son, an exercise physiologist who graduated from UK, is helping her train for a half IRONMAN in Louisville scheduled for August.
“I'm happy to be back in triathlon competition and my hip is doing great!” Patty said.
She’s looking forward to continuing to compete for years to come.
