Minimally Invasive Hip Replacement Surgery

Dr-John-W-BarringtonMinimally Invasive Hip Replacement Surgery with Anterior Supine Approach…What does it mean?

Dr. John Barrington answers your question and explains what it means to have a minimally invasive hip replacement surgery.

Total hip replacement surgery sounds traumatic, doesn’t it? But, it is really much more delicate, elegant, precise and even artistic.

Over the last few decades vast improvements in tool design, surgical approach and meticulous attention to detail by a skilled surgeon have significantly minimized the trauma to your soft tissues of your hip during these procedures.

Traditionally with a total hip replacement, a large incision was made along the side of your hip. Surgeons needed a lot of room to allow for the large implant to be inserted in your bone. This approach cut through your muscles to get down to your hip bones. Subsequently, your recovery was much more painful, too. And, it took much longer due to your soft tissues needing time to heal. Then, those muscles had to be re-strengthened or rehabbed before you could get back to normal activity.

minimally invasive hip replacement surgery

With today’s proven techniques, we can now simply part our way between the muscles, minimizing trauma and pain, which results in a shorter recovery time. You no longer have to wait for the muscles to heal, as they were never cut. This is a big bonus for you! With less pain post-operatively, you will have less need for narcotics after surgery. Also, we now use what we call €œmulti-modal€ pain control. Simply put, we use several different types of pain medications simultaneously to block the pain signals to the brain in several different ways. Thus reducing the chance of or even eliminating the side effects of long term narcotics such as addiction, impaired reaction time, drowsiness, nausea and constipation. You may still need narcotics, but only for a very short time or you may not need them at all.

During recovery, all we really want you to do is rest and give your bone a safe environment to attach itself to your new implant. No strict, hard, painful rehab is needed or wanted. Too much exercise can cause bleeding at your surgical site. There is no need to go to out-patient physical therapy. New bone takes about 8 weeks to mature, and at least 4 weeks to form its basic structure. It needs to be protected during this time. Just rest and a little walk (using your walker for EVERY step) every hour or so is all you need to do. More is definitely not better in this case. Would running a mile help a broken leg heal faster? No way! So, relax and take it easy.

To see if you’re a candidate for minimally invasive hip replacement surgery contact our office at 972-250-5700 to schedule your consultation. Or request an appointment online and be contacted by our office http://www.posmc.com/contact-us/

Have a blessed, and active, day!

John W. Barrington, MD