Stars from the worlds of football and rugby league will help raise funds for cutting-edge research to ease the suffering of hip and knee patients, in a Bradford charity challenge.

Leon Price of Bradford Bulls and Bradford City duo Mark Bower and Andy Patterson will join hundreds of former orthopaedic surgery patients for the mile-long walk through Peel Park on Sunday.

The event organised by the Wishbone Trust will be one of 90 across the country as part of the Great Hip and Knee Walk.

One of the walkers will be 60-year-old hip replacement patient John Elliott, of Allerton, who is currently helping to trial a new ceramic hip joint.

Mr Elliott, a retired nurse, said the walk was a good opportunity to pay back surgeons at Bradford Royal Infirmary who gave him a new lease of life when they operated last year.

He first suffered hip problems four years ago, caused by a rugby injury and walking up and down hospital wards for 40 years.

A year ago he was unable to walk more than a few hundred yards and was in severe pain every time he got up, sat down or climbed stairs.

He said: "It's basically two raw edges of bone rubbing together which can be pretty painful. My operation has gone a long way to relieving the pain and has made a huge difference to my life.

"I am delighted to be able to do my bit if it enables further progress to be made in such an important field.

"A straight mile doesn't sound a lot but it's quite an undertaking when you have had big surgery on your leg."

Fundraisers in Bradford hope to raise £10,000 which will be ploughed into research to find improved techniques for orthopaedic surgery.

At least half the cash raised in Bradford will go on local research projects.

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