Hip Replacement Treatment

by Contributing Writer

Overview

Painful, damaged or diseased hip joints are often treated with hip replacement surgery, a highly successful procedure that uses artificial, or prosthetic, parts to reconstruct a damaged hip joint. Hip replacement surgery can be performed using a variety of prosthetic hip implant materials.
Significance

Hip replacement is major orthopedic surgery designed to restore normal hip joint movement and function. The surgery reduces hip pain, restores normal hip joint movement and mobility, and allows for the resumption of an active lifestyle.

Function

Generally, hip replacement surgery involves replacing both the femoral head, or hip bone, and the acetabulum, or hip socket, with artificial implant materials. The femoral head is removed and replaced with a metal and/or ceramic head. The acetabulum is reamed out and a liner, usually made of plastic, is inserted. The two replaced parts mesh together and form a total hip replacement.
History

Hip replacement surgery became a standard procedure to treat various types of hip disease in 1960, when Sir Charles Charnley, a British orthopedic surgeon, perfected the technique using a metal femoral head implant with a plastic acetabular insert. The combination became known as the Charnley implant.
Considerations

Normally, more conservative, non-invasive forms of treatment for hip pain/disease are exhausted before hip replacement surgery is performed. Hip replacement surgery, while very effective, is not a recommended course of treatment for individuals suffering from only mild to moderate degrees of hip pain and/or dysfunction. Hip replacement surgery is designed to treat end-stage hip disease.
Fun Fact

The prosthetic materials used in today's hip replacement surgeries have advanced considerably since the early days. Many of the prosthetic materials available today, including titanium, alloy, and ceramic, have the potential to enable a hip replacement to last 30 years or more.

References & Resources