Hip Replacement

Joint replacement surgery, also known as arthroplasty, is usually advised for severe hip pain and mobility difficulties due to age-related osteoarthritis, traumatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, avascular necrosis or a fracture. Your orthopaedic surgeon will be able to evaluate if a total hip arthroplasty or a half hip replacement – otherwise known as a hemiarthroplasty – would be needed depending on the cause of damage. In most cases, a total hip replacement is done for degenerative conditions while a half hip replacement may be done for fractures in younger patients.

All hip replacements require the orthopaedic surgeon to replace the top of the thigh bone and the socket of the pelvis. Approaching the hip bone can, however, be done from different angles. When performing a total hip replacement, the orthopaedic surgeons that make up the Tshwane Orthopaedic Sports and Rehabilitation Centre team prefer to take the anterior approach, in which surgery is done by approaching the hip between two muscles, rather than removing and then reattaching the muscle. This approach is linked to quicker recovery and rehabilitation and is thus the approach of choice when possible.

Under general anaesthesia using arthroscopic surgery, your orthopaedic surgeon will remove the damaged femoral head from the acetabulum and the rest of the femur. The inside of the femur is then hollowed out to make space for the metal stem which is placed snugly inside. The prosthetic or artificial femoral head is then secured to the stem before the incision is closed. If a half hip replacement is done, only the damaged parts are removed and replaced, leaving the healthy tissue and bone in its place but repairing the fractured parts of the hip.