Phoenix Spine & Joint
For more than 100 years total hip replacement surgery has…
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Hip replacement surgery can be very invasive. Dr. Dan Lieberman reveals some benefits minimally invasive anterior total hip replacement may offer.
read moreTotal hip replacement is a life changing treatment for people with disabling hip pain due to severe arthritis that has lasted longer than 12 weeks.
Because we perform minimally invasive, outpatient hip surgery, our patients can benefit from a number of advantages compared to patients who opt for hospital-based traditional hip surgery. A few of the benefits of our minimally invasive hip surgery treatments include:
Our surgeons take a less invasive approach to removing the hip joint and replacing the implant. This helps preserve the surrounding muscles in the hip, reducing the chance. of a hip dislocation after surgery.
At Phoenix Spine & Joint, our surgeons work in outpatient facilities, and this means you won’t have a hospital stay increasing your risk of infection. In fact, we have a nearly 0% post-surgical infection rate.
Patients with hip replacement are typically walking within just a couple of hours after surgery with the help of a walker.
Anterior is the most popular minimally invasive approach to total hip replacement is use today. The incision for the anterior approach is in the front of your hip, below the groin; this allows for less soft tissue damage during surgery. In fact, the Anterior approach is technically the only one in which no muscle fibers are cut in the replacement of your hip. That’s probably why recovery is so fast. Patients walk within 90 minutes of surgery, use a walker for a few days, and are back to light duty work in 1-3 weeks.
After traditional hip surgery patients have restrictions to prevent dislocation such as no crossing your legs, riding a horse, turning your feet out, or running. In addition, you must sleep with a pillow between your legs. While recovery is fast after the anterior approach, the greatest advantage is that once you’ve healed there are no permanent restrictions.
Like the Anterior approach, Super capsular percutaneously-assisted total hip replacement, or SuperPATH®, is a minimally invasive approach to hip replacement surgery. Unlike the anterior, this approach is designed to build the hip implant in place rather than dislocating the hip joint. It also uses a small, 3-inch incision on the side of the hip, special tools and advanced surgical techniques.
The techniques used in SuperPATH® are designed to help increase the stability of your hip after surgery, and this procedure can also lead to a faster recovery and decreased hip pain. It’s also a more customizable surgery that allows surgeons to take factors like your height, weight, body shape and other physical attributes into account. Thus, SuperPATH® provides surgeons with a flexibility that’s not typically available in other hip replacement procedures.
Direct superior is a minimally invasive approach to total hip replacement. The incision for the Direct Superior approach, on the side of the hip, is similar to that of SuperPATH. By approaching the hip from the side the Direct Superior approach spares the gluteus minimums, IT band, and hip abductor muscles have often taken down in the traditional posterior approach.
For more than 100 years total hip replacement surgery has been used to help people suffering from hip pain. Today we have a new tool to help. Introducing the mako robot.
Total hip replacement, also called hip arthroplasty, is a common operation for the treatment of hip pain due to arthritis. Total hip replacement follows a protocol. Patients with hip pain that worsens over time and becomes severe undergo an x-ray to confirm they have arthritis and not some other more serious cause. They are then referred for physical therapy in which they learn a home exercise program. If that fails and the pain is severe then total hip replacement is necessary.
Total hip replacement surgery was traditionally done using a posterior (from the back) approach. Posterior hip replacement surgery is now a legacy procedure and should be avoided because it 1) requires the surgeon to take down muscles you need, resulting in a higher rate of complications like dislocation afterward; 2) is more painful than the alternatives, and leads to a longer and slower recovery; 3) is so painful it must bed one in a hospital, which can cause Covid-19 and wound infections, blood clots, and harmful errors. Today total hip replacement surgery should be done with a minimally invasive approach such as the anterior total hip replacement, superpath total hip replacement, and direct superior total hip replacement.
How long does it take to recover from a hip replacement? Anterior, direct superior and superpath total hip replacement surgery take 45-60 min, are done in an outpatient center; some patients use a walker for a day or two; you can walk immediately after the procedure; and you are fully recovered without restrictions of any kind in a month. Traditional posterior hip replacement surgery take 1-2 hours, you can leave the hospital when you can walk in 1-3 days; you need a walker for a week; physical therapy starts after three weeks and may go for months; you are fully recovered in six months; if you hip strength returns in full it may take 1-2 years. Use of the Mako robot for the direct superior approach is additionally helpful and speeds recovery.
How painful is a hip replacement? Anterior, direct superior and superpath total hip replacement surgery are not very painful as the procedures are done with spinal anesthesia; most patients do not require narcotic medications after these surgeries; and get by with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for a few days after the procedures. Legacy posterior hip replacement surgery usually requires narcotics for weeks to treat post operative pain.
There are many advantages of robotic hip replacement. First, the computer uses artificial intelligence to help the surgeon selects the best possible implant out of millions of possible combinations. Before surgery a CT scan of your hip is obtained and the computer makes a 3-d model. The surgeon can fit the model with the available hardware to select the perfect sizes for you.
During the operation the surgeon uses the mako robotic arm to register your bone, and register it with the CT scan used to make the plan. The robot then assists the surgeon to drill with superhuman accuracy, creating a super snug fit of the perfectly sized implant.
Our surgeons who perform total knee replacement surgery by center are:
| Doctors | Goodyear | Gilbert | Scottsdale |
|---|---|---|---|
| √ | √ | ||
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Dan Galat, MD |
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It’s time to get back to living the life you enjoy. Contact one of our patient coordinators today for more information or to schedule a second opinion.
