Your hip is a ball and socket joint where your thighbone connects with the pelvis. It’s the largest weight-bearing joint in your body and is surrounded by cartilage, muscles and ligaments.
When your hip is working correctly, you can walk and move easily. When it isn’t, your movement can become stiff.
Over time, cartilage starts to crack or wear away, causing your bones to rub together and create pain. Once your cartilage is damaged or destroyed, it is gone forever, leaving the only option as joint replacement.
More than 300,000 hip replacement procedures are performed each year.1
In a total hip replacement, the diseased hip ball is removed, then replaced with an artificial ball on a stem that goes down into the hollow part of the thighbone and is either pressed or cemented into place. A metallic shell and cup shaped liner are placed in the hip socket and then the ball and socket are placed together.
The two most common surgical approaches are posterior and anterior. The posterior approach has been the gold standard for more than 40 years and cuts through the buttock muscles to reach the hip joint.2
Learn more about this procedure by reading this brochure.
Anterior Approach - Minimally-Invasive Approach to Hip Replacement
Another way patients can undergo hip replacement surgery is through the minimally-invasive anterior approach. The anterior approach goes through the front of the hip, preserving important muscles that provide stability and power for walking.3 It has:
- Fewer post-operative restrictions
- Quicker recovery time
- Shorter hospital stays.4
Learn more about this procedure by reading this brochure.
1 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons http://www.aaos.org/
2 Robinson, R., Robinson, H., Salvati, E. A. Comparison of the transtrochanteric and posterior surgical approaches for total hip replacement. Clin. Orthop. 147:143– 147, 1980. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7371281
3 Moskal J., Capps S., Scanelli J. Anterior muscle sparing approach for total hip arthroplasty. World J Orthop. 2013 Jan. 19. Doi:10.5312/wjo.v4.i1.12
4 Munro, CA. The perioperative nurse’s role in table-enhanced anterior total hip arthroplasty. AORN Journal. 2009 July.