Hip Surgery – Hip Replacement Surgery

Your hip is one of the most hard working, and important, joints in your body. It would be impossible to function normally during your daily routine without a functioning hip joint. So when you start experiencing hip pain, it can spread to you back also, not only affecting you that day, but your entire life as well. Constant pain causes depression, strains relationships, and makes you and those around you miserable.

Hip Pain Treatments

If you have an injury or severe arthritis, you might be experiencing pain that makes it difficult to sleep or even to sit comfortably. This is not a good situation for you or your ability to go about your life. You might need a total hip replacement.

A total hip replacement is one that involves cutting away the damaged parts of the hipbone, and replacing it with a prosthesis.

Traditional Hip Replacement

With traditional hip replacement surgery, the hip joint is opened with an incision of 10-12 inches. The surgeon will then remove the ball of the thighbone and removes any cartilage in the way and any bone that might impede the new hip. Then a cup-shaped implant is put into place, and held usually with screws. A smooth plastic bearing is then inserted into the implant, so the new hip can more easily.

After this procedure, a metal stem is placed into the femur, about six inches deep. A metal ball is then placed on the stem, thus the ball and socket is recreated and replaced.

This is a safe and though involved, fairly simple procedure our doctors have performed collectively hundreds of times successfully. If you set up an appointment, we'll evaluate your needs and situation, to see if you qualify for a total hip replacement.

Minimally Invasive Hip Replacement

Minimally invasive hip replacement involves a smaller incision or incisions that traditional hip replacement. The ideal candidates for this procedure are typically younger, healthier and thinner and want to have a shorter recover period than offered by traditional hip surgery.

The procedure for the minimally invasive surgery is pretty much the same as the traditional hip replacement. Different instruments are used to prepare the socket and femur, and there is less soft tissue dissection.

There is usually a couple 2-3 inch incisions made for this surgery.

The pluses for this hip replacement are:

• Less pain
• Smaller incisions
• Less muscle damage
• Faster rehabilitation
• Shorter hospital stays

Long term studies on this technique are still being done.