2006 Tour de France Champion Floyd Landis in Chicago to 'Shoot from the Hip' with Osteoarthritis patients

Landis will conduct early morning bike ride with orthopedic surgeons beginning at the Neurologic and Orthopedic Institute of Chicago

Who: 2006 Tour de France Champion Floyd Landis, who suffered for years from osteoarthritis, will discuss his revolutionary hip resurfacing procedure that put him on the road to recovery. Landis will conduct an early morning bike ride with orthopedic surgeons and then tell his amazing medical success story to osteoarthritis patients.

He will be joined by Mitchell Sheinkop, M.D., of the Neurologic and Orthopedic Institute of Chicago (NOHC), who is one of the pioneers of hip resurfacing and one of the most experienced in the country.

When: 6:30 a.m., Wed., July 11: bike ride begins at NOHC

9 -10 a.m., Wed., July 11: Landis meets with hip resurfacing patients at NOHC

Where : Neurologic and Orthopedic Institute of Chicago, 4501 N. Winchester Avenue, Chicago, 773-250-0500

Background : Floyd Landis is officially listed as the third American to win the Tour de France (after Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong), unless he is stripped of his title for testing positive for high levels of testosterone. The case is presently under investigation and the ultimate decision will be made by the International Cycling Union.

As a child, Landis won the first mountain bike race he entered. In 1993, he was crowned junior national cycling champion. At that time, he predicted he would one day win the Tour de France . Landis soon established a reputation for toughness, once finishing a race riding on only his bike's rims. However, his training regimen resembled that of a road biker, and in 1999 he switched to road cycling.

Lance Armstrong chose Landis to ride alongside him in three straight Tours de France (all of which Armstrong won), 2002 to 2004. Landis often pushed the pace in the mountains to break the pack before Armstrong made his final move. In the 2004 tour, Landis led Armstrong and a few of Armstrong's main rivals over the final climb,

Hip resurfacing, which involves reshaping the head of the femur (bone in the upper leg) and capping it with a smooth metal ball, rather than sacrificing the bone, has a quicker recovery time than total hip replacement where the worn bone is cut away, a metal stem is placed inside the femur and the hip socket is replaced.

Baby boomers with hip pain who want to stay active in their later decades now have an alternative to hip replacement surgery without its inherent limitations. Hip resurfacing is offered to middle age people who have osteoarthritis in the hip and want to return to activities, such as biking, golf, hiking, skiing, swimming, fishing and tennis, which have been curtailed because of the pain.

Learn more about Floyd Landis and BIRMINGHAM HIP resurfacing