Hip Replacement Surgery Options

Dr. Glebus: So for hip replacement, there's a lot of ways that you can complete the task and they all have excellent outcomes. I do think that the population of patients that I typically get really wanting to live that active lifestyle and get back in the game or get back to work or whatever it is as quick as possible, they really do benefit from a more minimally invasive approach that is muscle sparing. Specifically, the way I like to approach hip replacement is through an anterior approach, this does not cut any muscles. We go through and we kind of move everything away, we get an access to hip joint, we replace it, and then we close that up. This usually is done through about a six to seven centimeter incision. So it's pretty small. And it's one of the most rewarding surgeries for the patient and for myself because usually at two weeks when they come back into the clinic, they're saying, "Doc, do I need the walker? Do I need the cane?" And I'm like, no you don't because we didn't cut anything. Everyone's going to need a little assistance early on just because you went through a major surgery. However, this approach specifically has been a really big advancement for patients in that early post operative course.

[loriprihoda]

I just had that done 12 days ago, pretty amazing.

[marthasanchez]

Doc, What do you think about the Anterior Bikini Approach? Is it almost the same? Is there some risk of fracture of femur? Is there some risk of damage in the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve with this approach? Thanks for your answer.