New option in hip replacement surgery

Information Text:

Heather Scott, Direct anterior hip replacement patient:  It wasn’t until probably 10 years ago, when it really started to bother me.  I kind of noticed when I wanted to exercise or walk or run on my treadmill, it would hurt a lot more, and I was on a lot of medications.  It hurt when I slept; it hurt, you know, just to even walk around the block with my dog.  It hurt to go shopping all day with a friend.  So, when you start noticing those types of things, it wasn’t something I wanted to do, but it was something I knew I needed to do for better quality of life. 

Dr. John Hur, Orthopedic & Joint replacement, Methodist Sports Medicine/ The Orthopedic Specialists:  Hip replacement in general is an excellent procedure.  It’s probably one of the most successful and reliable procedures that’s ever been invented in all of surgery.  It gives such reliable pain relief and return to function is almost full.  Regardless of how you do the approach, as long as your surgeon is expert in whatever approach they use, it’s a remarkable surgery……The anterior approach is different….  All you’re doing is you’re pulling the muscles aside and it gives you the quickest approach to the hip. There’s nothing to heal around.  In the other approaches, you have to wait for those muscles to heal in typically 6 weeks. You can’t do certain things.  You can’t bend over. You can’t cross your legs, and most of the time, you have to lay on your back for 6 weeks, when you sleep, so you don’t disturb those muscles and the repair.  In the anterior approach, you’re not repairing anything because you didn’t cut anything.

Heather Scott, Direct anterior hip replacement patient:  It has been great. I’ve had no problems. I have no pain when I walk, I have no pain when I sleep. I can ride a bike; I can take walks.  I would say it took me about 3 or 4 weeks before I was really out and about-like going out to my son’s baseball game or my daughter’s softball game.  But as far as getting up and moving around the house, going outside, maybe taking a walk up and down the street, those type of things, it was immediate. The sky’s the limit at this point. 

Advantages of direct anterior approach

-Faster recovery

-Earlier independence

-Less pain                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

-No leg length differences

-Lower dislocation risk

Patients are restricted from high impact exercise