Arthritis of the hip joint
Arthritis is wear & tear of the hip joint.
Symptoms consist of pain , restriction of movements , limping, limitation of walking & other activities such as stair climbing, difficulty driving, putting on shoes & socks, pain at night etc
Confirmed by X-rays or MRI scans
Treatment consists of pain killers, Anti-inflammatories, Physiotherapy, Cortisone injections into the joint.
If pain is unrelieved & you have to take frequent or daily painkillers & anti-inflammatories which can have side effects such as acidity in your stomach, heart burn or in the long term Kidney damage it may be better to consider surgical intervention.
Hip replacement is a good option to relieve pain.
Indications for total hip replacement surgery (or total hip arthroplasty)
Osteoarthritis of the hip
Rheumatoid and other inflammatory arthritis of the hip including arthritis associated with Crohns disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis
Hip fractures & other hip trauma
Developmental conditions -DDH – Bone grafting & hip replacement
Post Perthes disease
Post Slipped upper femoral epiphysis
Post infections
Avascular necrosis of the head of femur
When should I have surgery?, Am I too young/old ? What is the best type of hip replacement? etc
For answers on frequently asked questions regarding hip replacement surgery click here
How does Hip Replacement work click on the link’s below
Hip replacement working
Hip gait cycle
Computer assisted surgery or CAS
In the vast majority of hip replacements CAS does not influence the outcome. Very rarely computer assisted surgery becomes necessary to get the alignment right particularly with knee replacements (for e.g., with malaligned bones due to fractures). Your surgeon will discuss this with you if it is indicated.
Minimally invasive surgery/mini incision surgery
What matters most is the positioning of the components, fixing the components in the bone properly, alignment of the components, respecting soft tissues/ gentle handling of the tissues during surgery. The size of the incision ( a centimetre or two more) does not make any difference to the end result of the operation. Trying to make a small incision & getting the implant positions wrong or retracting & pulling on the tissues can have an adverse effect on the outcome of the operation. So the adage is ” As big as necessary but as small as possible”.
Robotic surgery
At the present time robotic hip & knee replacements are experimental & there is no good evidence to show that this is better than conventional surgery for routine operations.
Custom made hip replacement
In rare instances we will have to manufacture hip replacements to suit individual patients when they may have significant bone loss or deformity. An example of one such custom hip being manufactured for a patient is shown here is you click on this link – Unique hip
Pre-operative digital templating
X-rays are now digital which means that hard copies of X-rays are not available.
We therefore use digital templates before the operation to plan hip & knee replacements. We can get a rough estimate of the size of implants needed & in case of hip replacements an idea about leg length problems before the operation.
