The Total Guide to Hip Replacement Surgery

The hip joint is primarily composed of two main surfaces: the acetabulum and the femoral head. The femoral head, appropriately named, is the curved surface on top of your femur (long thigh bone) that attaches to your acetabulum. Your acetabulum is the socket that the femoral head attaches to and your hip pivots at this point.

A hip replacement is sometimes required in the case of severe hip injuries or chronic hip joint pain. In a total hip replacement both of these parts are replaced using some sort of metal replacement usually. The cost of your surgery will depend both on the skill of the surgeon and the material your hip replacement is made of. Total hip replacements are done when there is extensive damage to both parts of the hip joint that causes significant pain in day to day activities and there is no other way of fixing it. Typically there will be significant damage to the area or worn down bone that will have to be reshaped or removed.

Hip Replacement Surgery Steps

Here is a summary of a total hip replacement procedure:

-The surgeon opens your hip by slicing open the side of your hip

-Carefully cutting through and separating the various muscles and ligaments in the way the surgeon proceeds to exposing the hip joint

-The femoral head is dislocated from the joint and removed

-Once the acetabulum is cleared of damage and reshaped, the new replacement acetabulum is inserted

-The top of the femur is sawn off and replaced with the new insert

-The femur is inserted in the leg, tested, and the patient is sewn back up carefully

Once the surgery is complete you are usually left in the hospital to rest for a week or two where your condition will be monitored by doctors. Note that there is a very low rate of complication for hip surgery these days and once you are able to get around by crutches you will most likely be allowed to go home.

Following this time you should be given details on your hip surgery recovery that will include a rehabilitation program for you to follow. There will be two parts of the rehabilitation process, your healing and strengthening. It will be important for you to let your body get adjusted to the new hip and then strengthening your hip so you do not have a recurrence of your original injury.