Billy Martin began his love affair with tennis at the age of six, became a professional tennis player during his twenties and is now the head coach for the University of California, Los Angeles men’s tennis team. For many of his 52 years, he played and coached even with great pain in his hips. Martin was born with hip dysplasia and years of hard court play worked to wreak havoc on his hip sockets causing extreme discomfort especially on his dominant right side. By the time he was 26, he had gone through the cartilage so that bone was rubbing against bone.
In 1984, he underwent a Chiari osteotomy.The surgery helped with roughly 80 percent of his motion, and he continued to play tennis. For 18 months, he took Vioxx, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory that was used to reduce pain, inflammation and stiffness (it has since been withdrawn from the US market). He was supposed to have hip replacement surgery within four years, but…I kept putting it off,” he said. “I’d schedule the surgery, then I’d postpone it. The osteotomy had only bought me a little time. Pretty soon the pain started creeping back. When it started affecting my lifestyle—I had young kids—I knew it was time to do something. It took 19 years. By then Billy Martin had become the head coach of the UCLA men’s tennis team.
He’d also found Dr. Joel Matta, an orthopedic surgeon now at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica.Matta recommended an anterior approach for Martin’s right hip, an approach that minimizes soft tissue disruption, enhances the accuracy of artificial hip components, minimizes the chance of complications and assists in a faster recovery. The surgery would be performed on the HANA table, an arthroplasty table created by Matta that allows the patient to remain on his back rather than on his side, keeping the skeletal position consistent. “The anterior approach is the least invasive method of hip replacement surgery,” explained Matta. “Because the table lifts the femur for better accessibility and holds the bone in a position for more accuracy, we can achieve proper alignment and influence overall longevity.”Martin entered the hospital in October of 2003 to have his right hip replaced, was put under general anesthesia, and underwent a surgery that lasted for several hours (“There was scar tissue from the procedure years ago”). He was in the hospital for three nights and left on crutches. Within four weeks, the incision had healed.Martin also decided to have the second hip done so that he could be completely pain free. The left hip, also done using the anterior approach, was replaced almost a year to the day later, in October 2004. That surgery required only an epideral (“No scar tissue on the left side”) and took only about 50 minutes. Two nights later, he left using only a cane.
“I’ve sent a number of people to Dr. Matta,” said Martin. “In fact, one of my teammates from my pro days also had hip problems. He was actually one of the top ten players in the world in the 1970s. We did our second hips together on the same day.”
Martin no longer plays tennis, just coaches, but he’s an avid golfer. He laughs when he says that he wanted to gain 25 yards per hip on his drive. “Dr. Matta guaranteed 20 yards… and it worked!”Martin now easily walks 18 holes of golf, without aches, and has gotten himself back into shape. His titanium hip replacements, with polyethalene between the femur and the socket for cushioning, allow him to live virtually pain free, and because he can exercise more easily, he has a whole new outlook on life. “I’m happier and healthier. My life is my family and my job,” explained Martin. “My younger son is an ice hockey nut and my older son is into tennis.”
Luckily the coach knows a little bit about that.