BROTHERS who have undergone total hip replacements due to a rare bone condition are planning to cycle nearly a thousand miles for charity.

Ben and Matthew Styles were born with an inherited degenerative condition, spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia tarda, which threatened to rob them of their mobility. By their mid-teens they were on crutches, and expected to be wheelchair- bound by middle age.

However, thanks to pioneering hip replacement surgery Ben, now 31, and Matthew, aged 24, are able to walk unaided and are training for an epic charity 989-mile ride from John O'Groats to Land's End, via Ireland, in May.

Dubbed the Hip Trip, it will celebrate this year's 40th anniversary of the Exeter Hip prosthesis and the achievements of the Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Centre in Exeter.

During the event their brother Tom, 30, who has also had bilateral hip replacements, will be travelling with them and shooting video footage.

The brothers, from Kingsbridge, hope to raise about £10,000 to help the British Orthopaedic Association research life- changing technology.

They are planning several fundraising events ahead of the first stage of the trip – including a 'dry cycle' near the Sun Dial in Plymouth City Centre on Saturday.

Ben, a renewable energy expert, said: "I spent 10 years walking on crutches, in a lot of pain, and only in my wildest dreams imagined I'd be able to walk hands-free one day.

"Now I want to do something to help others like me get back on their feet."

He was the first of the brothers to undergo surgery, eight years ago, having abandoned hopes of finding a cure for his condition until his GP recommended he visit the Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Centre.

"I didn't hold out much hope, having spent most of my life trekking across the length and breadth of the UK with my long-suffering parents trying to find a solution to my problems but coming up with nothing," he said.

In 2002, Ben and Tom, now 30, were fitted with new hips, pioneered in the South West. Matthew received treatment three years later.

Matthew, a geologist, said: "People normally associate hip replacements with pensioners, but there are a huge number of young people who can have their lives turned around as well."

For more information or to sponsor the brothers, visit www.thehiptrip.org