We Restore Strong + Stable Hips A hip implant that fits improperly results in a hip joint that feels unnatural and doesn't move freely. At Nano, we focus on restoring the surface of your bone so it feels like it used to – before arthritis limited your mobility.
When severe hip pain starts to impact your daily life, Nano is here to help. Our Nano Hip procedure combines advanced 3D printed titanium with ceramics to provide a durable long term solution. Our patients routinely walk within 30 minutes of surgery and leave the center in less than 2 hours.
The latest advanced technology, a percutaneously-assisted “SUPERPATH™” approach, involves sparing the surrounding muscles and tendons when performing total hip replacement surgery. This technique builds a traditional hip implant in-place without cutting any muscles or tendons.
The Taperloc femoral hip replacement is one of the best hip replacements used in the world – for any age and activity level. As the most successful titanium hip, the Taperloc femoral component has proven to stay firmly attached even after 28 years, allowing countless people to live life on their terms.
Adults of any age can be considered for a hip replacement, although most are done on people between the ages of 60 and 80. A modern artificial hip joint is designed to last for at least 15 years. Most people have a significant reduction in pain and improvement in their range of movement.
UH orthopedic surgeon Steven Fitzgerald, MD, says there is no upper age limit for knee and hip replacement surgery. A patient's overall health is the main consideration. “The oldest hip I replaced in the last 10 years was in a man who was 100 years old,” Dr. Fitzgerald says.
Anterior hip replacement is a minimally invasive hip surgery performed to replace the hip joint without cutting through any muscles. It is also referred to as muscle sparing surgery because no muscles are cut enabling a quicker return to normal activity.
“On average, hip replacement recovery can take around two to four weeks, but everyone is different,” says Thakkar. It depends on a few factors, including how active you were before your surgery, your age, nutrition, preexisting conditions, and other health and lifestyle factors.
Recovery takes time
You might be on your feet quickly, but recovery takes time and it's different for everyone. Some people might be doing well after a few weeks, but it usually takes about three months for the initial tissue healing. During that time, you're not to bend more than 90 degrees.
Treatment option: Prolotherapy injections. This is the injection of dextrose, a simple sugar that provokes a healing response in damaged soft tissue. This would include the hip ligaments, the hip tendon's attachments that connect muscle to bone (the enthesis), and the hip cartilage.
Avoid bending forward at the hip, creating an angle of fewer than 90 degrees. Don't cross your legs at the knee. Avoid movements that place your hips lower than your knees, like squatting. Avoid sudden movements that could lead to an injury.
Research shows older-style implants usually last longer than newer models.
Research shows that ceramic hip replacements may be preferable to metal or plastics, as ceramic is more durable and may last longer. There are some limitations for ceramic materials, including a risk of fracture during implant. Improvements in modern materials have made fractures less of a concern today.
Based on current practice, metal (Titanium) implants are preferred in aged patients, while ceramic implants are being increasingly recommended in younger candidates due to their reliable durability.
You can expect to experience some discomfort in the hip region itself, as well as groin pain and thigh pain. This is normal as your body adjusts to changes made to joints in that area. There can also be pain in the thigh and knee that is typically associated with a change in the length of your leg.
Expect about one to four days of bed rest immediately after surgery, but physical rehabilitation usually starts the same day as your procedure. The process is slow and steady, barring complications, and each week should bring less pain, better balance and increased mobility.
You will walk without support when you feel you are safe and can walk comfortably without dropping your hip or limping. Some patients can do this within 2 weeks after surgery while others take 6-8 weeks or longer. Continue to use support as needed to minimize limping.
According to the American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR), the average age of patients who undergo hip replacement procedures is 67 years old.
Stiffness in the hip makes it difficult to move the hip or rotate the leg. This may make daily activities, such as putting on socks and shoes, difficult. Crepitus is the audible cracking, crunching, clicking or snapping sound you hear when moving a damaged hip. Weakness in the hip is often a result of reduced activity.
Although they are rare, such problems include: Not enough pain relief. Joint replacement surgery relieves the pain and stiffness of arthritis for most people. Some people may still have some symptoms of arthritis.
The impact of waiting for hip surgery
It may mean spending longer in high levels of pain, which impacts quality of life. In some patients it may also mean an increased risk of emergency admission due to fractures or make the hip surgery more complex and costly due to worsening condition of the joint.
The pain is commonly felt in the groin but pain can also refer into the front of the thigh, back and the knee joint. 20% of hip pain can actually appear as knee pain. There are people who have osteoarthritis that get very little or no pain at all. In more severe cases the pain can wake people during the night.
Physical therapists and orthopaedic surgeons have a saying they use with hip replacement patients: Up with the good, down with the bad. That means you should lead with your stronger leg that still has your original hip to walk up the stairway and your weaker leg to walk down it.