It’s hard to live a full life when your hips are holding you back. Whether you’re making time for yourself, or supporting your family, you need your hips working for you, not against you.

If you have joint pain from arthritis, disease or injury, our orthopedic specialists are experts in diagnosing and treating conditions of the hip, knee and shoulder. There’s no need to live in extreme pain or reduced range of motion. Just give us a call. We have an entire medical team dedicated to your recovery.

The Whole Body

Healthy, supple hips are keeping the whole body healthy and happy. Your ability to play sports, hike the trails, even tend the yard are severely hampered when you suffer from hip pain. Our specialists are experts and offer state-of-the-art treatments and procedures for labral tears and soft tissue injuries as well as bony problems.

The hip is one of your body’s largest weight-bearing joints. It consists of two main parts: a ball (femoral head) at the top of your thighbone (femur) that fits into a rounded socket (acetabulum) in your pelvis. Bands of tissue called ligaments connect the ball to the socket and provide stability to the joint.

A diseased hip will deteriorate in multiple areas causing tremendous pain and lack of flexibility and cause other problems that extend to the spine and neck, leg joints and feet.

Total Hip Replacement

If your hip has been damaged by arthritis, a fracture or other conditions, common activities such as walking or getting in and out of a chair may be painful and difficult. You may even feel uncomfortable while resting.

If medications, changes in your everyday activities, and the use of walking aids such as a cane are not helpful, you may want to consider hip replacement surgery. By replacing your diseased hip joint with an artificial joint, hip replacement surgery can relieve your pain and help you get back to enjoying normal, everyday activities.

First performed in 1960, hip replacement surgery is one of the most important surgical advances of this century. Since then, improvements in joint replacement surgical techniques and technology have greatly increased the effectiveness of this surgery. Today, more than 168,000 total hip replacements are performed each year in the United States. Similar surgical procedures are performed on other joints, including the knee, shoulder, and elbow.

The most common cause of chronic hip pain and disability is arthritis. Osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and traumatic arthritis are the most common forms of this disease.

Osteoarthritis usually occurs after age 50 and often in an individual with a family history of arthritis. In this form of the disease, the articular cartilage cushioning the bones of the hip wears away. The bones then rub against each other, causing hip pain and stiffness.

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a disease in which the synovial membrane becomes inflamed, produces too much synovial fluid, and damages the articular cartilage, leading to pain and stiffness.

Is Replacement for You?

The decision whether to have total hip replacement surgery should be a cooperative one between you, your family, your family physician, and your orthopedic surgeon.

Have You Experienced these Symptoms?

• You suffer from severe hip pain that limits your everyday activities, including walking, going up and down stairs, and getting in and out of chairs.
• You suffer moderate or severe pain while resting, either day or night.
• You suffer chronic joint inflammation and swelling that doesn’t improve with rest or medications.
• You have severe hip stiffness—an inability to stand up straight without pain, or extremely slow getting up to move.
• You’ve failed to obtain pain relief from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
• You’ve failed to substantially improve with other treatments such as cortisone injections, physical therapy, or other surgeries.

Most patients who undergo total hip replacement are age 60 to 80, but we evaluate patients individually. Recommendations for surgery are based on a patient’s pain and disability, not age.

Realistic Expectations About Hip Replacement Surgery

More than 90 percent of individuals who undergo total hip replacement experience a dramatic reduction of pain and a significant improvement in the ability to perform common activities of daily living. But total joint replacement won’t make you a super-athlete or allow you to do more than you could before you developed the disease.