The Process Of Hip Replacements

It is amazing how advances in medicine and medical research now enable physicians to treat patients in so many new ways. In past years, when patients suffered from severe arthritis that affected and inflamed their joints, all the patients could do was suffer.

The most that physicians were able to do to reduce the pain of the patients was to prescribe pain relieving medications, such as aspirin, that would work for a few hours, but then the pain would return. Today, however, physicians have additional treatments for the arthritis sufferer. For example, if arthritis affects the hip joints, the patient can undergo hip replacement surgery for both pain relief and an increase in mobility. Patients who suffer from arthritis that affects their hip joints know that the pain can be excruciating.

The pain gets so bad that patients are often unable to take part in the activities they participated in before their arthritis became so severe. Sports, such as bike riding, tennis, and even golf, become no more than a memory. Even activities such as walking becomes painful so the patients often find themselves staying home more instead of going to parks or even shopping malls.

When hip pain due to arthritis becomes severe and is no longer manageable by pain medications, physicians usually prescribe hip replacement surgery. With hip replacement surgery, the original, natural hip joint is replaced with an artificial, or prosthetic, hip joint. The surgeon must take care to place the prosthetic hip joint into place properly.

After all, this is a joint that must function properly and smoothly if the patient is to regain full use of his or hips. Without hip joints that function properly, a patient will have trouble walking and standing. After the surgery is completed, the patient must undergo physical therapy to ensure that the joint is working properly. Specific exercises are prescribed that the patient must undergo after hip replacement surgery.

If the patient participates in these exercises faithfully, the outcome is likely to be very good following hip replacement surgery. The patient will be able to participate in activities that he or she had been unable to participate in for quite some time prior to the surgery.

The physical therapy exercises makes the recovery process more efficient and less likely to encounter problems that will delay healing. Therefore, it is important that the patient takes these exercises seriously and really works at them in order to get the best result in the most expeditious way possible. Just as in the case of knee surgery and its accompanying rehabilitation that athletes usually undergo, hip replacement patients have a therapy and exercise regimen of their own.

The therapy and exercises associated with hip replacement surgery can sometimes be uncomfortable, especially since the patient has only recently had surgery and now has to use muscles that haven't been used in some time. With these exercises, however, hip replacement patients will find that their prosthetic hip joints will allow them to enjoy life and participate in a variety of physical activities just as knee surgery rehabilitation is known for helping athletes resume their sports activities.