Most of us couldn’t afford decent bikes when we were young – and are now we can we are getting too old to ride them. Have the same problem with my boat. As each year passes I ask myself how much longer I’ll be able to go on using that or my bikes.
Was racing up to 60, but now in my 70’s things are not so easy. Full of aches and pains and a lot less flexibility. I don’t have fused joints, but my lower spine is seized up, limiting leg movement etc. Riding British bikes is fine, but soon I’ll have to give up with the Honda. Rear of the seat is belly-button height, and most days I can’t lift my leg that high. Trying to slide foot and leg over the lower part of the seat as if it were a type of walk-thru is inviting the bike falling over and trapping me. Up to ten years ago I could lift that bike off its side. Not any more. Pity, as it has a lovely, smooth vee twin engine. Brakes are outstanding too, but general riding not so much fun. Seating position is uncomfortable and I’ve never been able to get the hang of bikes with a high C of G and equally high riding position. Don’t feel like I’m part of the bike as I do with British stuff.
As for the original question – replacement hips are considered a minor op these days. Replacement knees and shoulders are often done, so why not ankles? Maybe they are, but not on the 3rd world health ‘service’. Germany seems to be the place these days for cancer treatments that actually work, so maybe they are more advanced in joint repair / replacement as well. European doctors have a completely different approach to healthcare compared with the UK and USA.
Just found this: Ankle replacement surgery is now available, and although numbers are small in comparison to hip and knee replacement, they are rising slowly. Of the 30,000 cases of ankle osteoarthritis seen by hospital specialists every year in the UK, only about 1,200 of them will undergo ankle replacement surgery.
