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From studies at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet to performing and choreographing for several modern dance companies, Lori Savit loved the career that led her around the world. Into her mid-30s, she performed for audiences in the United States, Mexico and Europe and made forays into popular music, touring with the band Devo, choreographing music videos and tours and producing Emmy Award winning dance programming. All that was before the hip pain, which started when she was rear-ended in her car.

“I was born to dance and choreograph. My whole life was dedicated to movement and when I couldn’t without terrible pain, it was devastating for me,” recalls the Laguna Beach resident. “I saw some of the best sports medicine orthopedic
surgeons in California, and because I was quite young, they all told me, ‘Keep your hip until you can’t stand the pain anymore.’ They recommended arthroscopic surgery but it was unsuccessful. I lived with pain in every step I took for years before finding my HOI doctor. He asked me, ‘Why wait?’”

Lori had her right hip replaced at the Orthopedic Surgery Center of Orange County (OSCOC) in Newport Beach. “I didn’t even realize my left hip hurt until the
first one was fixed,” says Lori. “Since the first surgery went so smoothly, a few months later I had the second one done as well. What a relief!”

Both of Lori’s total hip replacements were done on an outpatient basis, the last in 2011. “There wasn’t a lot of pain after my hip replacement,” says Lori. “My doctor referred me to an excellent physical therapist who helped me regain strength while correcting bad habits that had developed from my chronic limp. I’m so glad that I am able to walk normally, am pain-free and can finally do a ballet barre once again.”

These days, Lori keeps busy doing what she loves. Dancing is again a part of life for Lori and her husband, Lester, as ballroom dance enthusiasts. Her days are full with running her own marketing consulting business, field training her American Brittany dog, doing ballet barre, horseback riding five days a week and competing in dressage, a sport known as “horse ballet.”

“My hip replacements were the best experience I've ever had in medicine,” says Lori. “I rarely even think about them, but having pain-free hips gives me back my joy in life.”