What Are The Risks
Even though hip replacement surgery is considered a successful procedure, it is major surgery, and as with any surgery, there are risks. Possible complications include:
- Blood clots in the leg veins
- Change of leg length
- Loosening of the implant
- Nerve or blood vessel damage
Your surgeon and healthcare team will take great care to minimize the risk of these and other complications. Keep in mind that complications are rare, but they need to be understood by you and your family. Your surgeon will be happy to answer any questions.
How Much Does A Hip Replacement Cost
Nick Versaw
If youre among the 30-40% of Americans over 60 who have chronic hip pain and are considering hip replacement surgery, youre not alone. Each year, about 300,000 patients have hip replacement surgeries.
According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, most patients who have hip surgery experience a dramatic reduction of hip pain and a significant improvement in their ability to perform common activities of daily living.
But to determine whether joint replacement surgery is for you, theres a lot to consider, such as the reasons behind your hip pain, surgery options, course of treatment, and hip replacement cost.
What Are The Main Types Of Hip Replacement Surgeries And Implants
Hip replacements contain three pieces: the ball, the cup and the stem.
The ball, or the femoral head component, replaces the head of the femur. The cup, or the acetabular component, is implanted into the pelvis. The stem is inserted into the femur. These pieces, working together, allow for motion and replace your natural hip bones.
There are two types of hip replacement surgery: posterior, from the back, and anterior, which is from the front and considered more invasive. Most doctors choose the posterior approach, as it allows the surgeon more visibility and is less invasive. However, this type also comes with a much longer recovery period.
There are three types of procedures:
- Partial hip replacement: Also called a hemiarthroplasty, this is when only one part is replaced.
- Total hip replacement: A surgeon will insert the hip stem into the patients femur, which provides stability, and then replace the head of the femur with a ball and the socket with a cup.
- Hip resurfacing: This procedure is used to improve symptoms or postpone a total hip replacement, as implants dont have a terribly long lifespan . Surgeons will replace the socket with a cup and then resurface the head of the femur instead of replacing it with a ball. A metal cover is placed atop the femur, which has a short stem inserted into the neck of the femur.
Enjuris tip:
Types of implants include the aforementioned metal-on-metal, as well as others:
You May Like: Lower Back And Hip Muscles
Conditions Treated With A Hip Replacement
Most of the time, our doctors will first recommend nonsurgical treatment for your hip condition. This can include rest, medication management or physical therapy. However, if these methods aren’t successful in treating your pain, our doctors may recommend hip replacement surgery to help treat your condition. We use hip replacement surgery to treat a wide range of conditions, including:
- Rheumatoid arthritis
How Much Does A Hip Replacement Cost Without Insurance
If you dont have health insurance coverage, a hip replacement can cost anywhere from $30,000 to $112,000. Since the cost of a hip replacement varies from hospital to hospital, make sure to check with a few different medical facilities before scheduling your surgery. Some may offer discounts to those who are uninsured or be willing to reduce surgery pricing if you explain that you are uninsured.
If the total cost of a hip replacement surgery is overwhelming, you can ask your hospital of choice if they offer payment plans for surgery. Other options to consider may be using FSA, HSA, or HRA funds to cover some out-of-pocket costs, borrowing from retirement savings, or applying for healthcare financing.
These are big decisions, so make sure to thoroughly research your options and, when possible, consult someone you can trust for medical advice, such as a close family member.
You May Like: Nerve Pain After Hip Replacement
Cooled Radiofrequency Ablation Is An Option For Patients Who Cannot Have Or Do Not Want Hip Replacement Surgery
In an effort to find pain relief for patients who failed the above treatments, a May 2022 study published in the journal Skeletal Radiology assessed the effectiveness of cooled radiofrequency ablation in helping to manage hip osteoarthritis pain. All eleven patients with advanced osteoarthritis were treated. Radiofrequency ablation burns or heats nerves to deaden them and prevent pain signals from reaching the brain. Cooled radiofrequency ablation is a treatment technique where the water cools the surrounding tissue to prevent injury to healthy tissue from the technique.
The purpose of this study was to see if cooled radiofrequency ablation successfully helped osteoarthritis patients who failed conservative treatments and are not surgical candidates due to comorbidities or unwillingness to undergo hip replacement surgery. The researchers said the patients who received cooled radiofrequency ablation showed significant improvement in pain and function scores.
What Are We Seeing In This Image
In this image we see a hip with joint space, and a hip that is bone on bone. The bone-on-bone hip has been treated in the past with cortisone injections and these injections are thought to have contributed to this patients accelerated hip degeneration.
Our research on why your hip was made worse by medications:
Here is a brief understanding:
- In our clinic, we see many patients with the degenerative hip disease who received years of traditional care that include numerous cortisone injections that did not help long-term and as we have noted in Caring Medical research published in the Journal of Prolotherapy, cortisone accelerated cartilage degeneration.
- Many of these patients also had prescriptions for NSAIDs which can quickly degenerate the hips articular cartilage. These findings were also published by our Caring Medical research team in the Journal of Prolotherapy.
The irony, of course, is that conservative care treatments of traditional insurance-based medicine are supposed to help people avoid or delay the need for hip replacement. It actually accelerates the need.
Recommended Reading: Best Mattress For Back And Hip Pain
How Much Does Total Hip Replacement Hurt
You will experience some discomfort after surgery, but be assured we will do everything we can to keep you as comfortable as possible. Pain after hip replacement surgery is not entirely predictable and varies from person to person. Modern medications and improved anesthetic techniques greatly enhance our ability to control most patients pain and discomfort after surgery.
Stem Cells In Combination With Prolotherapy
In our published research in Clinical Medicine Insights: Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorders, we showed that not only do stem cells regenerate tissue damage within the osteoarthritic joint, but used in combination with Prolotherapy injections, we were able to document repair and hip stability.
In this case series, we describe our experience with a simple, cost-effective regenerative treatment using the direct injection of whole bone marrow into osteoarthritic jointsin combination with hyperosmotic dextrose.
- Seven patients with hip, knee, or ankle osteoarthritis received two to seven treatments over a period of two to twelve months. Patient-reported assessments were collected in interviews and by questionnaire. All patients reported improvements with respect to pain, as well as gains in functionality and quality of life.
- Three patients, including two whose progress under other therapy, had plateaued or reversed, achieved complete or near-complete symptomatic relief, and two additional patients achieved resumption of vigorous exercise.
As far back as 2006, an article in Pain Physician Journal featured a case study of successful cartilage regeneration using stem cell therapy. This case involved a 64-year-old man with a 20-year history of hip pain. He was a candidate for a hip replacement as his MRI showed severe degeneration, decreased joint space, bone spurs, and cysts.
Recommended Reading: Tendons In The Hip Area
The Different Kinds Of Injections For Bone
This section will summarize information on our full article The different kinds of injections for bone on bone hip. We invite you to read that article for the varying types of injection treatments that may be considered an alternative to hip replacement surgery. Further research can be found on:
- Cortisone injections
- Stem cell injections from a patients bone marrow aspirate
- Prolotherapy injections of dextrose.
Research: Did Hip Replacement Patients Really Experience Great Improvements Or Did The Doctors Think The Patients Did And Reported It As Such
Did hip replacement patients really experience great improvements or did the doctors think the patients did
For many people, hip replacement was a great success. In other instances, the doctors thought that the surgery was a great success. The patients themselves were not so sure.
This is a point of contention in the medical industry. First, people do get good results with hip replacements, especially those with significant osteoarthritis-caused deformities. But how good were the results for everybody? Researchers writing in the Public Library of Science health journal PLusOne wrote that because there are many hip replacement component types and many techniques for surgical installation of these products, there is concern that medical research on the long-term effectiveness of the varying techniques is inconclusive due to poor reporting, missing data, or uncertainty in treatment estimates. In other words, doctors may have interpreted patient results as being much better than they actually were to support the use of a specific implant or specific technique.
These findings were supported by other researchers including a 2018 study published in the journal BMC Medical Research Methodology which also found problems of accuracy in reporting patient success in hip replacement and suggested to doctors that results of the research that patients were happy with their hip replacements may not be as good as is being reported.
You May Like: Herniated Disc L4 L5 Hip Pain
What About Hip Surgery Implants In Florida
Many hospitals and medical facilities perform this procedure, with different degrees of success. In Florida, 39% of hospitals have at least one surgeon with a high adjusted complication rate. Florida attorneys work with clients either to pursue damages against a medical practitioner or against the manufacturers in mass tort litigation for defective products.
Enjuris tip:
If a patient was injured in Florida, he or she can bring claims for negligence, strict products liability or breach of implied warranty of merchantability. .
The state of Florida has a high elderly population, and as one ages the likelihood of receiving a hip implant is greater. The first lawsuit against Stryker was actually filed on behalf of a South Florida couple. The wife received a Stryker Rejuvenate hip implant in 2011 and started experiencing pain in her groin soon after. While imaging revealed the implant to be working as expected, it was discovered that she was suffering from metallosis. Even worse, she already had a Stryker implant in her other hip. She will likely never walk again because of the resulting damaged tissue, fractures and trauma.
Lawsuits against hip surgery device manufacturers
Mass torts generally involve plaintiffs from the same geographic area and give those patients better odds when going up against massive corporations, like the following that have cases against them.
Who Is A Good Candidate For Outpatient Surgery
Have you been told you need joint replacement surgery? If you meet these important criteria, you could be a good candidate for same-day surgery:
- Active lifestyle limited only by a painful joint
- Healthy body weight
- In good physical condition without serious medical issues
- Motivated patient with a good support system at home
Also Check: Lower Right Hip And Back Pain
Outpatient Joint Surgery Offers Some Clear Advantages But Is It Right For You
Over the past decade, the average hospital stay for total joint replacement patients has decreased from five days to typically less than two. Now, because of revolutionary advances in surgical techniques, anesthesia medications, pain management protocols, and customized physical therapy regimens, some patients are able to have outpatient joint surgery.
There are clear benefits to returning home on the same day as your surgery, including quicker recovery and significant cost savings. But its not appropriate for everyone. Well help you consider the advantages and disadvantages of outpatient joint surgery, and review if youre a candidate.
Orthopedic Surgeons Are At An Exciting Crossroads In Medicine
A February 2021 paper in the journal International Orthopaedics offers this opinion on the future of surgery: Orthopedic surgeons are at an exciting crossroads in medicine, where hip biologic therapies are evolving and increasingly available. Time-tested interventions such as arthroplasty have shown good results and still have a major role to play but newer, regenerative approaches have the potential to effectively delay or reduce the requirement for such invasive procedures.
Recommended Reading: Relief For Bursitis In Hip
Important Things To Consider
Given the complexity of the surgery, we can expect a significant loss of blood during the operation, as well as postoperative bleeding discharged on the drainage tube.
As with any major surgery involving general anesthesia, there is also a low risk of stroke, heart attack, pneumonia, and blood clots.
Preparation for surgery is as important as postoperative recovery because it ensures the success of the intervention and the complete recovery of mobility and joint stability. It starts 2-3 months beforehand and is done through physiotherapy which aims to increase the muscle tone and mass, increase the joint amplitude, increase the stability and mobility of the hip, stimulate circulation and lymphatic drainage, prepare the opposite leg for the period of overload.
After the surgery, you have to walk daily. Initially in small steps over short distances several times a day, then gradually increase the walking time and distance.
Her Payment Totaled $5000
What did my friend pay?
All I paid in total was my 5K deductible. I appealed the charge for crutches as that was out of network. They were provided at an in network facility, by in network physical therapist, and required to leave the hospital. I would have had a second out of network 5K deductible for them. The 5K I paid was to other providers by the time I got this hospital bill.
She explained further about the expensive crutches:
It seems predictable that when so many steps are between the service provider and the patient, who generally doesnt pay the bill, that there are almost always errors and rarely in favor of the patient.
The only itemized bill I requested was the hospitalization bill. There were about 5 bills from the actual hospitalization, not counting bills for pre-surgical clearance or follow up. There was: the hospital the surgeon
Recommended Reading: Hip Pain In The Morning
Why Choose Memorial For Hip Replacement Surgery
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association has selected Memorial Regional Hospital and Memorial Hospital West as a Blue Distinction Center+ for Knee and Hip Replacement, as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. Facilities designated as Blue Distinction Centers® for Hip and Knee Replacement demonstrate expertise in total knee and total hip replacement surgeries, resulting in fewer patient complications and hospital readmissions.
Is Prolotherapy The Right Treatment For Your Hip Pain And Instability
When we receive hip x-rays from prospective patients via email, they provide a good assessment of how many Prolotherapy treatments might be needed to achieve the patients goals. The best assessment would be a physical examination in the office.
- Rating a hip Prolotherapy Candidate: We will rate the potential hip pain patient on a sliding scale of being a very good Prolotherapy candidate to a very poor one. In a very good candidates x-ray, the ball of the femur will be round, fitting nicely into the socket in the pelvis, with good spacing between these two bones. This space is the cartilage that cushions and allows the femur to rotate freely within the socket.
- Prolotherapy prognosis for hip patients: The prognosis ranking is lowered from very good to good, to questionable to guarded to poor, based on the following criterion:
1. Amount of joint space or cartilage that remains.2. The presence or absence of bone spurs , and their locations3. The shape of the femoral head itself. In very poor candidates, the hip does not even look like a hip anymore the ball is flattened or egg-shaped and does not fit into the socket as well. Once the damage is this extensive, the patient will likely need a recommendation for total hip replacement.
This is best explained with a visual presentation. In the video below you will see a patient that was recommended for a hip replacement but was actually a better candidate for Prolotherapy.
Also Check: Right Hip Pain Related To Bowels
A Discussion On Advanced Hip Osteoarthritis When Do We Use Prp Or Stem Cell Therapy When We Dont
This article is limited to three regenerative medicine techniques that are designed to address the problems of hip degeneration by trying to restore ligament structure and addressing thinning cartilage.
Here is a patient story:
I was diagnosed with severe bilateral hip replacement. Both hips, I was told, would eventually need to be replaced. As I have a family history of joint replacement that did not go too well I started searching for options and alternatives to hip replacements.
I decided to try stem cell therapy. I had a single stem cell injection, this was donated umbilical cord stem cells mixed with Platelet Rich Plasma. This seemed to work until I started to develop a new pain on the outside of my hip. This pain radiated into my groin area and as I was getting extensive physical therapy I thought that I had overdone it. The pain got much worse and I went to see my surgeon who said that I had developed bursitis. I was immediately told that I needed a cortisone injection.
I want to avoid hip replacement. I went to my chiropractor who told me to avoid hip replacements as long as I can but my chiropractor does not understand how difficult it is for me to get in and out of a car.
This is a clear example of how stem cell therapy will not work
A case where stem cell therapy could help