Hip Replacement Surgery

The patient who is the appropriate candidate for hip replacement surgery is tired of living with the pain and limitations they are currently experiencing. Therefore, before considering surgery, exhaust non-operative measures, such as non-steroidal medication, physical therapy, steroid injections, bracing, or weight management.

While pain is an important symptom, consider how your pain has affected your ability to be active. Do you find yourself avoiding activities in order to reduce the pain and symptoms you may be experiencing? Does pain at night interrupt your sleep or do you experience pain while at rest during the day? These might also be reasons to choose surgery.

Ultimately, what makes the determination is the impact of your pain and the limitations that pain has on your life on a day-to-day basis. When pain can no longer reasonably be managed by non-operative measures and your activity is limited by hip joint pain, you may be ready for hip replacement surgery.

There is pain with hip replacement surgery. We are working with the bones and muscles with various surgical approaches. We employ a multi-modality pain protocol to relieve pain and get patients more active and functional earlier.  We emphasize pain control to allow patients to recover as quickly as possible.

Our team will work with you to tailor a pain management program for your specific case. We use a variety of physical measures such as cold therapy, compression, and elevation to reduce pain and swelling.

Activity is also important to minimize pain after hip replacement surgery. Greater levels of activity can result in a reduction in pain after surgery. We try to minimize the use of narcotic or opioid pain medications after any joint replacement. While these medications can be important tools immediately after surgery, extended use can lead to problems such as constipation, withdrawal, and addiction. Other medications such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents are also helpful after surgery. Our long-term goal is to restore you to a functional lifestyle with minimal or no use of medications for pain.

There is no strict chronologic age restriction on hip replacement surgery. If you are healthy and in good physiologic condition, it is reasonable to consider a joint replacement to return to being active and functional at any age. We have successfully performed the surgery for many patients in their ninth decade of life.

Be sure you are at a healthy weight before surgery to optimize your general health, facilitate your rehabilitation and recovery, and alleviate stress on the implant. Excess weight can lead to an increased rate of complications such as blood clots, wound healing problems, and infection. While there is no maximum weight restriction, we try not to do hip replacement surgery in patients with BMI greater than 40. Research shows that doing joint replacements in patients with a BMI over 40 puts them at an increased risk of complications after surgery.

In addition to weight, patients who have significant edema or lymphedema in the legs are at high risk for wound healing problems and infection. We strongly recommend that these issues are evaluated and treated by your medical team and possibly a vascular surgeon, if necessary, prior to proceeding with hip replacement surgery.