The mere mention of the words “hip replacement surgery” used to evoke images of the elderly struggling to get around with the aid of a walker, which is far from the current state of joint replacement. Thanks to materials that go the distance and surgical techniques that considerably shorten the recovery time, younger people are regaining the freedom to move without pain thanks to this joint restoration technique.
At Manhattan Orthopedics, our own Dr. Craig H. Dushey specializes in hip replacement surgery, allowing patients of all ages in our primary office in Midtown Manhattan and our satellite office in Astoria, Queens, New York, to lead active lives long into the future.
Read on to explore why hip replacement surgery is gaining momentum among our younger patients.
One of the game-changers in joint replacement surgery has been the introduction of minimally invasive surgical techniques. Previously, hip replacement surgery was performed using an open technique that allowed the surgeon full visual and manual access to the surgical site. Today, advanced minimally invasive techniques allow the surgeon to perform the surgery through a far smaller surgical incision. provide the eyes and hands, which means we only need to make small surgical incisions to do the work.
How this translates to a shorter recovery time is the minimal collateral tissue damage that’s caused when we go in. In fact, the average length of a hospital stay has been shrunk to an incredible 1.5 days and sometimes even 24 hours.
Another reason why hip replacement surgery isn’t the long slog is used to be is that we’ve found that getting you up and moving more quickly is the best course of action. By activating your new joint as quickly as possible, your body sets to work to rapidly heal the area as it gets used to the new “parts.”
In most cases, we’re able to get you off any assistive device within two to three weeks after your surgery, allowing you full mobility more quickly than ever before.
One of the biggest hurdles, when it came to replacing hip joints in younger patients, was the threat of the components giving out, requiring a second surgery. Thanks to new materials, there’s a 90% chance that the hip replacement you receive today will go 20 years or longer. A further study presented at an American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons found that an appreciable number of hip replacements in adults younger than 50 are still performing well after 35 years.
To be sure, placing a new hip in an active 40-year-old versus a more sedentary 80-year-old does tax the implant more, but new materials are rising to the challenge. Even if you do wear your hip replacement down and need to replace some of the components, the decades of mobility that the implant provides may well be worth the risk of a second surgery.
To answer the question posed in the title of this blog, there are instances when hip replacement surgery isn’t the best solution. In these cases, a number of other operative and non-operative options are available.
The best way to find out whether you can get a new lease on your active life through hip replacement is to schedule a consultation with Dr. Dushey. To do this, simply contact one of the two New York offices.
