Severe hip arthritiscan cause pain and difficulty walking.
Many people who have these debilitating symptoms because of hip arthritis will elect to undergototal hip replacement surgery.
Nonsurgical Treatment
Not having surgery is an option.
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People who have severe arthritis of the hip but function adequately can choose to live with their condition.
Some people cannot have surgery due to medical conditions that make surgery or anesthesia higher risk.
Many people opt to have surgery when nonsurgical treatments are not helping adequately.
There are effective treatments for hip arthritis that may help people avoid the need for a total hip replacement.
With some exceptions, a hip replacement is an elective surgery.
In a hip resurfacing surgery, the implant is smaller, and less normal bone is removed.
Hip resurfacing is gaining interest, especially in younger patients.
A metal socket is placed in the pelvis, similar to the hip replacement procedure.
This hip resurfacing preserves much more normal bone than a standard total hip replacement.
These metal-on-metal replacements include all current hip resurfacing implants.
Partial Hip Replacement
A partial hip replacement (hemiarthroplasty) is not commonly performed for hip arthritis.
During this surgical procedure, only the ball of the ball-and-socket hip joint is replaced.
For this reason, partial hip replacements are generally not a good option for hip arthritis surgery.
They are held in this position by a large metal plate and screws.
Hip fusions are usually done in young patients who are heavy laborers.
The hip fusion does not wear out like total hip replacements would in these patients.
Patients who undergo a Girdlestone resection arthroplasty will likely need some machine (crutches or walker) for walking.
Hip Osteotomy
Hiposteotomyis a procedure that is done to realign the bones of the hip joint.
The osteotomy can be performed on the thigh bone (femur), the pelvis, or both.
For example, developmental conditions such aship dysplasiacan lead to early hip arthritis.
Hip dysplasia occurs in infants and leads to malaligned bones around the hip.
The osteotomy helps to realign the bones and relieve thesymptoms of early arthritis.
These procedures must be done in carefully selected patients.
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