Total Hip Replacements

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Total Hip Replacement (THR) is a surgical procedure that relieves pain from most kinds of hip arthritis, thus helping to improve the quality of life for the majority of the patients that undergo the operation. Arthritis simply means "inflammation of a joint." Arthritis can occur in any joint in the body. The main symptom of arthritis is pain which usually worsens with activity and weight bearing. This pain may be relieved most of the time through rest. There are over 100 types of arthritis but less than a handful account for over than 95 percent of the hip replacements that are performed. Some of these include Osteoarthritis (causes deterioration of the cartilage and the growth of bone spurs), Rheumatoid arthritis and Osteonecrosis of the femoral head. Doctors suggest that before considering hip replacement surgery for arthritis that the patient tries a number of non-operative interventions. Your doctor may have you consider little things such as weight loss (most arthritis is caused due to the weight bearing on a joint), activity modification or even the use of a cane. Patients should consider THR when daily living activities become harder to accomplish due to the pain. These activities would include walking, climbing stairs or other moderate pastimes. Anti-inflammatory medications which will help reduce the inflammation from the arthritis and reduce your pain may also be prescribed by the patient's doctor.

The modern total hip replacement was invented in 1962 by Sir John Charnley. Sir Charnley was an orthopedic surgeon who worked for a small hospital in England. The total hip replacement is considered by many to be the most important operation developed in the 20th century, solely based on the fact that it helps to relieve human suffering. Total hip replacement was first performed in the United States around 1969. Since then there have been more then a hundred of thousands of replacements performed in the United States. One of the first surgeons to perform this surgery was Charles O. Bechtol. In 1969, while he was a professor at UCLA, Bechtol started a total hip replacement program. The artificial hip joint is considered a prosthesis. There are two major types of artificial hip joints, cemented prosthesis and uncemented prosthesis. The type of prosthesis that will be used on the individual patient is decided by the surgeon depending on the patient's age, lifestyle and the experience that the surgeon has with a particular one.

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