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Anterior Hip Replacement Specialist
Orthopedic Surgery, Arthroscopy, & Sports Medicine Located In Henderson, NV
Orthopaedic Institute Of Henderson
- When you can no longer tolerate the continuous pain and stiffness of advanced arthritis, or you have a severe hip fracture, an anterior hip replacement restores your hip function, relieves the pain, and gets you back to enjoying life. The orthopaedic surgeons at the Orthopaedic Institute of Henderson are among the few providers with the skills and experience to do anterior hip replacements.
- This minimally invasive approach preserves muscles and promotes faster recovery. To learn if you’re a candidate for this type of hip replacement surgery, call the office in Henderson, Nevada, today or book an appointment online.
Anterior Hip Replacement Q & A
Anterior refers to the approach to your joint during a hip replacement. Traditionally, hip replacements use a posterior approach, with the incision behind your hip.
At the Orthopaedic Institute of Henderson, your provider makes the incision in front of your hip when doing an anterior hip replacement.
The anterior approach has distinct advantages over the posterior approach. It also demands a technique that’s only available from highly skilled surgeons like those at the Orthopaedic Institute of Henderson.
The anterior approach allows your provider to perform a minimally invasive hip replacement. As a result, your incision is x4-5 inches long instead of the 10-12-inch incision required by the posterior approach.
A smaller incision causes less trauma and offers benefits like:
Muscle sparing
The incision goes straight through the muscles during a posterior hip replacement. Since there are fewer muscles on the front side of your hip, your provider gently moves the muscle fibers out of the way, exposing the hip joint without cutting into the muscles. That means your muscles don’t need to heal after your procedure, and you have less pain after surgery.
Faster recovery
The typical recovery takes 4-6 weeks after an anterior hip replacement. Following a traditional posterior hip replacement, you can plan on 8-16 weeks of recovery.
Shorter hospital stay
The Orthopaedic Institute of Henderson does most anterior hip replacements on an outpatient or overnight basis, so you can go home the same day or the day after. Traditional posterior hip replacements keep you in the hospital for 2-3 days.
Less Risk of Dislocation
Because no muscles are cut during an anterior hip replacement there is less risk of a hip dislocation after surgery. This also means that patients do not have to follow burdensome hip precautions after surgery like they do after a traditional posterior hip replacement.
Your Orthopaedic Institute of Henderson provider removes the rounded top of your thigh bone, inserts a metal stem into the center of the bone, and then places a metal or ceramic prosthetic ball on top of the stem.
They then remove damaged tissues from the socket in the pelvis and reshape the area. Then they place a metal shell in the socket and insert a plastic, cup-shaped liner.
After they insert the prosthetic ball into the socket, your hip replacement is finished. They then close the incision.
To learn if you’re a good candidate for an anterior hip replacement, call Orthopaedic Institute of Henderson today or request an appointment online.
