Things to Know About Hip Joint Replacement

Surgery is never fun for anyone and if you are scheduled to have hip surgery in the near future, it is important for you to know all you can about hip joint replacement. This surgery is also called hip anthroplasty, hip heriarthroplasty and total hip replacement. When you have your surgery, you may have all or just part of your hip joint replaced by an artificial hip prosthesis. Most people come through the surgery feeling better and able to walk much more evenly and with less pain.

Most likely you will be given a general anesthesia when you have your surgery. This is best for most people because you will be completely unaware of what's happening during your surgery. Some physicians prefer to administer an epidural anesthesia which leaves you awake but unable to feel anything from the waist down.

The surgery itself has become quite common and generally takes about three hours. Your surgeon will make an incision and remove the head of your thigh bone. Then, he or she will clean the hip socket of cartilage and damaged bone. The new hip joint will be placed inside the socket by using a metal screw which will go directly into your thigh bone. All of your new hip "equipment" will be kept securely in place by special adhesives. When all of this is done, your surgeon will close the incision and you'll be sent to the recovery room to be monitored for an hour or so.

Hip joint replacement surgery is most often performed on people who have become crippled with arthritis. These people cannot get around comfortably and experience severe pain when standing, walking and even sitting. They are limited to the amount of daily activity they can participate in. Most hip replacement patients are in their 60s or older. Doing this surgery on younger people isn't as successful in the long run because these individuals put more stress on the artificial hip, causing it to deteriorate much more rapidly. However, hip replacement surgery has made life much, much better for older individuals. After a short recovery period, they are again able to enjoy life to its fullest and with little, if any, pain.