"My advice to anyone suffering from hip pain is not to wait."

Tim suffered every day from extreme pain in his right hip.  He limped for a long time, trying pain-blocking injections before finally giving in to the fact that he needed a new hip.  Tim chose his OSNA doctor after interviewing various doctors.  He made his choice based on the doctor’s personality and the artificial hip that each doctor used (titanium rather a ceramic implant). Tim had has right hip replaced in 2004.  At that time, his doctor used the posterior approach to replace the hip, which involves cutting through muscle in the back of the hip and leg. Tim was happy to return to work a month after his surgery and felt completely healed within 1 year.

In late 2010, Tim was faced with the same pain as before, but this time in his left hip.  “I felt that familiar pain and knew when my pain injection only lasted 3-4 days that I needed a new hip.  I was dreading the procedure as well as being out of work and away from golf.” Tim met with his OSNA doctor who told him that since 2004, he had been trained on a new hip replacement technique.  The anterior approach utilizes a special table that allows the leg to drop and the surgeon to get access to the hip without having to cut any muscle.  His doctor told him that he’d be walking faster, back to work faster, and that there would be few if any restrictions. “I thought it was too good to be true!,” Tim said. He was in the hospital for 3 days (as opposed to 5 the first time).  He then had in-home physical therapy for 5 days and was walking without assistance in 7 days.  He was back to work in 2 weeks and back on the golf course in 5 weeks. At 9 weeks post-surgery, Tim said, “I wouldn’t even know I had it done.  It was exactly as the doctor told me it would be! My advice to anyone suffering from hip pain is not to wait!”  He wished this procedure was available the first time around.

“I think it’s sad that so many patients are still getting hips in the other way because their doctor isn’t trained in the anterior approach.  It’s so different - there is not even a comparison between the two.”