Orthopaedic doctor in Delhi has always recommended avoiding joint wear and tear to maintain movement, hopefully throughout life. This need has been so pressing for humanity that more than 100 years ago, surgeries were already performed in which tissues or elements such as metal sheets were interposed to hold the bones in place.
However, the first complete joint change was not made until 1938, when the first hip was replaced in the United States; a procedure that was improving until in 1960 the Englishman John Charnley laid the foundations for doing transplants of this joint in a systematic way.
What is it and what is changed?
Total hip replacement is the exchange of all the components of the joint for an artificial implant called a prosthesis. The hip has two main parts: a cavity in the pelvis called the acetabulum and the head of the femur, and they are the ones that are replaced.
Why do you have to replace a hip?
Because the cartilage wears out and the bones begin to touch each other, which produces pain and deterioration, configuring a condition called osteoarthritis. This is reached by problems in development, some diseases, overweight and the wear and tear of age. The hip also needs to be replaced in cases of traumatic fractures or destruction.
And works?
Of course. By replacing it, the person can lead a normal life and when measuring its results in terms of quality of life, it is one of the most favorable procedures, which earned it the most important surgery of the last century.
How long is the procedure?
About an hour. It is a safe, reproducible and long-lasting procedure.
How is the recovery?
This starts from the first day of surgery with movements in the feet and knees. The next day, the person can already support in the middle of a rehabilitation program and at the following 6 or 8 weeks the person can resume normal activity.
How does a person feel with a different material in the body?
Pain relief from the first day is the first feeling that people refer to and eventually they say they feel something strange, but not annoying in those places.
Do the children have surgery?
No. It is a procedure that requires skeletal maturity. So it can be operated at the end of adolescence.
What complications does it have?
Although it is a very safe procedure, it is not without infections or dislocations that occur in a very low percentage.
What is the future of prosthetics?
Nowadays, it is sought that they be less invasive, that they provide greater mobility and that they be made with more resistant and durable materials, so that the objective of the surgery is to recover all activities, including recreational and sports activities.