Hip Replacement

If arthritis or injury is causing treatment-resistant pain and disability, a hip replacement could transform your life. Richard Buch, MD, of The Dallas Limb Restoration Center in Carrollton, Texas, offers both a traditional posterior approach to hip replacement and a minimally invasive anterior approach. Find the solution to chronic hip pain by calling The Dallas Limb Restoration Center or requesting an appointment online today.

Why would I need a hip replacement?

Hip replacement is a treatment option that Dr. Buch might recommend if less invasive therapies aren’t relieving chronic hip pain.

In the hip joint, pain is most often due to osteoarthritis, a wear-and-tear condition in which the protective cartilage in your joints erodes. Hip arthritis affects up to one-third of the population. Your pain is typically located in the groin and can radiate into your thigh down to the level of the knee. You also may notice a decrease in the range of motion in your hip and a change in your gait over time.

Other reasons why you might need hip replacement surgery include avascular necrosis, where bone death occurs, and severe trauma, where the bones are too badly damaged to be repairable.

When can I have hip replacement surgery?

Hip replacement is a major operation, so unless you need emergency surgery, a hip replacement wouldn’t normally be appropriate until you try other, more conservative treatments.

Most people who have chronic hip pain find that a combination of anti-inflammatory and pain-killing medications, activity modification, and physical therapies adequately relieves pain and restores joint function. Dr. Buch also administers joint injections – containing a local anesthetic and steroid medication – and regenerative medicine injections for non-operative management of hip pain.

If you’re still experiencing serious mobility problems and severe pain despite these treatments, it might be time to consider hip replacement surgery.

What does hip replacement surgery involve?

Hip replacement surgery involves removing the ends of the damaged bones in your hip joint and replacing them with artificial parts. The new ball part of your replacement hip joint could be metal or ceramic. It has a metal stem that goes into your femur (thigh bone) at one end and fits into a socket made of metal, ceramic, or plastic at the ball end.

Dr. Buch can press-fit the replacement hip joint into place to encourage bone to grow around the stem and seal it into place. Alternatively, he could use special bone cement to secure the new hip components. 

Dr. Buch also provides bilateral hip replacement, where he replaces both hip joints with artificial joints. 

How is hip replacement surgery carried out?

Dr. Buch uses two methods to perform hip replacement surgery:

Anterior approach

The anterior approach is where Dr. Buch makes an incision in the front of the hip at the top part of your leg. This is a minimally invasive approach that most patients favor. It causes less tissue damage and pain, and patients typically recover more quickly.

Posterior approach

Not every patient is suitable for minimally invasive anterior hip replacement surgery. If that’s the case, Dr. Buch uses the posterior approach, a more traditional method where he makes an incision on the side of your hip to reach your hip joint.

To find out more about your treatment options for hip pain and see if you’d be a suitable candidate for hip replacement surgery, call The Dallas Limb Restoration Center or book an appointment online today.