Hip Replacement Surgery

The ball-and-socket joint of your hip is the largest joint in your body. There are several conditions that can cause the cartilage in your hip joint to break down, resulting in friction and pain. These include:

Osteoarthritis: Often called ‘wear and tear’ arthritis, this condition involves the breakdown of cartilage in the hip joint over time, resulting in pain and stiffness

Rheumatoid arthritis: This autoimmune disorder is a chronic condition in which your body attacks and breaks down the lining of your joints.

Hip fracture: This type of injury may require hip replacement surgery if the joint already had damage from osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.

Osteonecrosis: Also known as avascular necrosis, this disease reduces blood flow to your joints, causing them to break down. It often affects the hip joint.

The hip is like a room with doors on each side. Like the room, it can be accessed for replacement from many different directions. Historically, hip replacement was from the back, through the posterior approach, or from the side, through the lateral or anterior-lateral approaches. However, we offer newer hip replacement procedures, including:

• Anterior approach
• Superior approach
• Mini-posterior muscle-sparing approach
• Robotic-assisted total replacement

The anterior approach accesses the hip joint from the front of the upper thigh, in an area where the body typically has less fat or muscle. This can potentially cause less tissue damage during hip replacement surgery.

There may be benefits to the anterior approach, which you can discuss with your surgeon during your consultation.

Potential benefits include:

• Faster recovery
• Less pain
• Less muscle trauma
• Fewer restrictions immediately following surgery

The superior-based hip approach is a minimally invasive way to access the hip. It can limit muscle injury during surgery. An example is the Direct Superior approach, with an incision just above the thighbone that spares front muscles from stretch and damage.

Potential advantages of the superior approach:

• Muscle sparing
• Less risk of fracture than anterior approaches
• Smaller, 3-6 inch scar in many patients
• Fewer restrictions immediately following surgery
• Less pain
• Faster recovery

The posterior hip approach is the most common hip approach for replacement. A minimally invasive technique called Mini-Posterior involves an incision just behind the thighbone that spares front muscles from stretch and damage.

Potential advantages of the mini-posterior approach:

• Muscle sparing
• Smaller, 3-6 inch scar in many patients
• Can be used with any patient size, given its ability to be extended for larger hips
• Fewer restrictions immediately following surgery
• Less pain
• Faster recovery

Our surgeons offer both MAKO and ROSA robotic-assisted technology. MAKO is a robotic-arm assisted technology that will help your surgeon develop a personalized surgical plan based on your unique anatomy. Both MAKO and ROSA robotic technology use image-based guidance to plan and execute the surgery to customize it to your anatomy.

What are the advantages for me?

• By directing the tools used to prepare the hip, precise bone preparation and implant positioning is performed safely through a small incision.
• More information available to your surgeon can allow for better reproduction of your normal anatomy.