Hip replacement surgery may help restore needed mobility, but high-impact sports reduce the life span for artificial joints. Researchers from Sainte-Marguerite Hospital in Marseille, France, found that football, skiing or other heavy sports wear the joints out for patients who had the surgery more than a decade before. The researchers found an 80% survival rate for the joints after 15 years for patients who pursued high impact sports, versus 94% for patients who were in the "low-impact" group. Another factor in quicker joint decline: being male, but the researchers weren't sure why there was a gender difference. Details are published online in the Springer journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. Release