Scottsdale Healthcare Article about Mt. Kilimanjaro Climb

By -
Scottsdale Healthcare published a really neat article about my hike on Mt. Kilimanjaro, and I thought I would share it with you below. Check it out, and for more information about my books, visit my website by clicking HERE!

New hips help author conquer Mt. Kilimanjaro

Writer celebrates 60th birthday on seven-day climbing expedition to research new mystery novel

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Aug. 1, 2011) – Paradise Valley author Charles G. Irion didn’t let two artificial hips get in the way of his quest to conquer Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro last month. Irion re-booted his work hard, play hard lifestyle after consulting with orthopedic surgeon Stuart Kozinn, MD, who performed the hip replacement surgeries at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center.

Irion reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro on July 5 as part of a trip to do research for his upcoming novel, as well as volunteer in Tanzania on a medical mission and celebrate his 60th birthday. It was his first major climbing expedition since having both hips replaced at the Scottsdale Healthcare Total Joint Center.

Author of the Summit Murder Mystery Series, Irion is a former cross-country runner, motorcycle rider, hiker, skydiver and climber who experienced severe hip degeneration early in life.

Thinking he was far too young for hip replacement, Irion lived with the pain of his hip bones rubbing against each other due to the deterioration of their cushioning cartilage. For years, he limped and constantly shifted his weight to relieve the discomfort that frequently woke him at night.

At age 51, he decided to do something about the pain he’d been living with for nearly 20 years. Irion chose Dr. Kozinn, medical director of the Total Joint Center at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center, to replace one of his hips. Pleased with the results, he returned to Dr. Kozinn later to replace the other hip.

“I talked to a lot of my neighbors who are anesthesiologists, and everyone had a profound respect for Dr. Kozinn’s abilities and expertise. When I met with him, he matter-of-factly answered all of my questions and wasn’t pushy,” says Irion.

After living in pain for nearly two decades, Irion had lost a lot of flexibility needed for the rigorous activities he enjoys, which he regained with the help of therapy and rehabilitation through Scottsdale Healthcare’s Total Joint Center.

“I’m now free of pain. Hip replacement has been a Godsend,” he says. “Pain and the stress it causes can impact your quality of life and shorten your lifespan. If you spend years in pain, you don’t get that time back. There are multiple benefits to stepping up and doing something sooner rather than later,” he added.

Irion plans to use his experience from the Mt. Kilimanjaro expedition to gather details for the final novel in the Summit series, Murder on Kilimanjaro, and aims to make the storyline as authentic as possible. Irion climbed to 23,000 feet of Mt. Everest from the China side in 1987 and used his firsthand knowledge to write his first novel, Murder on Everest.

For more information about joint replacement surgery and the Total Joint Centers at Scottsdale Healthcare, visit www.shc.org/ortho or call 866-969-8526. For more information on Dr. Kozinn, visit www.scottsdalejointcenter.com.

PHOTO CUTLINE: Charles Irion flies the Scottsdale Healthcare flag at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro on July 5 in honor of the new hips he received at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Mountain Climbing Training Tips

By -
Image
Climbing a mountain is no small task, but these 10 mountain climbing training tips will have you on your way to a successful climb in the near future. Take an orienteering class.  Contact your local mountaineering club to find out when they have a mountaineering class scheduled.  Learn to use a compass and gain some survival skills before you think about making a large climb. Start resistance training workouts. While endurance is important for mountain climbing, don't discount the importance of strength.  Basic resistance training is adequate for mountain climbing.  You don't need to purchase any fancy equipment because dumbbells and your own body weight provide all the necessary resistance.  Eat right for mountain climbing.  A good climbing diet should get 50% of its calories from carbohydrates, 25% from protein, and 25% from fat.  This is the time to stop eating fast food, and start concentrating on high quality food that you ...
Read more

6 Iconic Mountains You Can Climb

By -
Image
You don’t need extensive climbing experience to tackle these peaks. Good health, fitness and the right background knowledge will take you all the way to the top.  Why do people climb mountains? Does it represent humanity’s spiritual quest to reconnect with nature, to brush against our limits by trying to touch the sky? Or has Climb Every Mountain from The Sound of Music influenced us more than we’d care to admit? Some peaks need nerves of steel: technique, training and a familiarity with crampons. Others, as I have discovered, need only basic fitness and a dose of common sense. So, lace up, grab a water bottle and get ready. It only takes three hours to reach some of the world’s most famous peaks. Let’s start easy and work our way up. Table Mountain, South Africa Table Mountain forms a silhouette that symbolizes Cape Town. Its three-kilometer plateau stands guard over the harbor, the prison that housed Nelson Mandela and the ragged townships that represent the wors...
Read more

Best Mountain Climbing Locations for Beginners

By -
Image
Even if you're nowhere near the Rockies, there are probably a couple of great mountain climbing locations for beginners near you. If you're just getting started with mountain climbing, you hardly need glaciers, barely livable altitudes, and sheer drops to contend with. You should cut your teeth on a mountain that is perfectly safe, yet still lots of fun. You can challenge yourself even on relatively small mountains, especially if you aren't already at an extremely high level of fitness. Train on a small, local mountain and you'll also get the opportunity to test your equipment and find out what works and what doesn't work for you personally. Then, when you've mastered your local peaks and you're kitted out with everything a pro mountain climber could need, you can save up some cash to travel to a more well-known and intimidating climb. Mount Rainier Just an hour's drive outside of Seattle...
Read more