Everything To Know About Hip Replacement Surgery

Posted On: March 18, 2020

Hip replacement surgery is a common type of orthopaedic surgery performed to replace existing joint with an artificial one. The hip joint contains a ball and a socket. While the ball is your thigh’s upper end and known as the femoral head, your socket is made of cartilage and bone. Hip replacement surgery is the operation used to replace ball and socket joint that is damaged with the durable and new artificial synthetic parts that function as the ball and socket. This surgery is the second most commonly performed joint replacement operation (after knee replacement).

The thighbone or the hip’s socket becomes diseased or gets injured. As a result, the person may feel a lot of pain and experience trouble while walking and performing everyday tasks. The person may have already gotten first-hand treatment methods for pain relief like medications, braces, supports, or physical therapy. However, if their pain does not decrease, their doctor may suggest hip joint replacement surgery.

Common Causes of Hip Pain

Hip pain is caused by several reasons, such as injury, inflamed tendons, arthritis, trochanteric bursitis, hip fractures, osteonecrosis, etc. However, if you suffer from arthritis or have recently gotten injured causing hip fracture, your doctor may recommend the surgery.

• arthritis because of an injection in your joint, leading to the destruction of the cartilage.
• Hip fractures can cause severe hip pain that too suddenly and need immediate medical attention. Older adults are more likely to suffer from a hip fracture, as their bones tend to weaken because of their age and other factors.

Who Needs A Hip Replacement?

People who need hip replacement are generally above 50 years of age. Such a surgery is usually performed to treat hip arthritis, which breaks down cartilage or cushion between bones. If there is no cushion in between two bones, they rub against each other causing severe pain. Generally, there are 3 types of arthritis for which hip joint replacement surgery is necessary –

• Traumatic arthritis – Caused by injury.
• Osteoarthritis – It is a degenerative kind of arthritis that is most common in older adults.
• Rheumatoid arthritis – It is caused by an autoimmune disease that causes joint inflammation

However, the doctors first try to control discomfort caused by arthritis with the use of canes and walkers, medicines, or exercise. If nothing works for you, they suggest the surgery. If you cannot sit comfortably and your everyday life is getting affected due to arthritis, you may consider going for the surgery.

How Is the New Hip Constructed?

Before going through the hip joint replacement surgery, you should know that a replacement hip has four parts-

• A metal socket
• A ceramic or metal ball for replacing the femoral head
• A liner to aid the ball in moving easily within the socket
• A metal rod to stabilise thigh bone to which ball is attached

Moreover, there are several options for joint prosthesis as well. The most popularly used one is an un-cemented joint prosthesis that lets the bone grow into prosthesis over time. The surgeon will use a cemented prosthesis for quicker adhesion. If the patient requires quick recovery, is old, or is very inactive, doctors would choose cemented ones. However, if the patient can wait for the recovery, they would go for un-cemented one. The doctor may also recommend muscle-sparing hip replacement where recovery time and pain is comparatively lesser. This is because, in this procedure, the doctor can spare cuts through the muscles.

Age And Weight Requirements

If you are an adult or have reached your full adult size, you are eligible for the surgery. So, people from 19 to 90 years of age can go through hip joint replacement surgery. Most of the older people, however, are not eligible for the surgery because they may have other medical conditions like heart disease, type II diabetes, and increased risk due to post-operative medical complications. Furthermore, there are no weight limits regarding the eligibility of the surgery. But overweight people are more likely to stress the joint implants, which may damage the implant sooner. Also, obese people are prone to post-surgical infections, wound healing complications, and other medical conditions.

Also read Procedure and Complications of Total Hip Replacement