A New Approach to Hip Surgery
Larry Kufel had always been an active man, tall and rangy, who worked out regularly and picked up basketball games at the gym. But age was taking a toll on his joints, and it had become clear that he needed a hip replacement. “It got to the point, if I did any exertion, even getting out of a chair, it felt like the muscle was tearing away from the bone,” he recalled.
Smoking is bad to the bone
The body is designed to heal after breaking a bone. But it may not be designed to heal a broken bone while processing cigarette smoke and nicotine. A recent study looked at the differences between smokers and non-smokers when healing from a broken bone. Results showed that smokers took several extra weeks to heal from a fracture. Smokers also had higher odds of the fracture not healing properly.
Cartilage damage helps detect osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disorder and affects about one-third of older adults. New research suggests that cartilage damage from exercise may aid in early detection of osteoarthritis. "We discovered that GAG-depleted tissue is most vulnerable to high rates of loading and not just the magnitude of the load. This finding suggests that people with early degradation of cartilage, even before such changes would be felt as pain, should be careful of dynamic activities such as running or jumping,” Grodzinsky was quoted as saying.
A new approach to hip surgery
Larry Kufel had always been an active man, tall and rangy, who worked out regularly and picked up basketball games at the gym. But age was taking a toll on his joints, and it had become clear that he needed a hip replacement. The procedure that Mr. Kufel received is called anterior hip replacement. The surgeon makes the incision at the front of the hip instead of through the buttocks or the side of the hip. This approach permits the doctor to reach the hip socket without cutting through major muscle groups. Proponents claim that the procedure results in less pain and fewer complications for patients than standard hip replacement.
Hip surgery flip! Direct Anterior Hip Replacement
The numbers are sky-rocketing. There were more than 300 thousand total hip replacements in 2010, that’s up 135 thousand compared to just ten years earlier. As more and more people need help to relieve the pain, there’s an option that’s becoming popular with patients and surgeons. “It’s a less invasive approach,” Stefan Kreuzer, MD, associate professor at Memorial Hermann Hospital, told Ivanhoe. He went through the front of her leg to get to her hip, instead of the more traditional technique of going through the back. The doctor says the normal post-operative restrictions on hip movements do not apply to patients who undergo direct anterior hip replacement. He tells us it great for most people in need of a hip replacement, including highly active patients. The doctor is currently training surgeons from around the world on the technique.
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