Do you have a hip joint injury or any other impairment that inhibits your day-to-day activities and causes unbearable pain? If yes, chances are, you may be the candidate for hip replacement surgery, and you should consult with a professional and dependable orthopedic surgeon right away.
Hip replacement surgery is also commonly known as arthroplasty, is a surgical procedure in which the affected and damaged part of the hip joint is replaced and removed with artificial components, which are also known as a prosthesis. One of the most common medical practices that orthopedic surgeons carry is total hip replacement surgery these days. With time, this surgery has become so much safe and predictable treatment for pain sufferers. This surgery has been done so many times over the past, and has been deemed to be the safe procedure by many medical agencies and FDA.
The hip joint is basically a ball and socket type joint, which can rotate in so many different positions. While hip replacement surgery is done, the rounded ball and the natural socket at the top of the thigh bone is replaced with duplicate parts. The purpose of the surgery is to increase the function of the hip joint and further improve mobility.
Do you know in India only, there are over 30,000 hip replacements carried out every single year, and most of it is done on people above 60 years and more?
Hip replacement surgery risks and complications –
This hip replacement surgery is a safer medical procedure; however, with it, some potential risks and complications may occur.
Following mentioned below are some likely hip replacement risks and complications that one must always be aware of prior to getting this medical treatment done.
Infection –
This is one of the most feared complications that can occur at the place of incision or in the deeper tissue around the artificial hip joint. A person may have a primary infection, a superficial infection, or onset infection too. In a case, if left ignored and untreated, these infections can turn out to be fatal.
While carrying out these medical procedures, professional surgeons tend to take so many measures to lower the risk of infection. Different antibiotics are given to the person before, during, and after the surgery procedure to minimize the chances of infection. Most commonly, this surgery is carried out in a filtered operating room using the top sterilization techniques and instruments.
Blood clots –
Also known as a thromboembolic disease can occur in the veins of the leg of a person, because of decreased leg movement. If a blood clot develops, chances are, it may dislodge and travels to the lungs, and this can be really dangerous.
To prevent any such blood clots from forming, a person may be given blood-thinning medications after the surgery or will be asked to do different exercises to increase blood flow in the legs.
Hip dislocation –
There are certain locations that can make your new help get dislocated. Most commonly, in 1 out of 20 cases, the replaced femoral head comes out of the replaced socket. This problem is most likely to happen in the first two months after the surgery is done, and when the ligaments, muscles, and the bone structure of the hip joint are healing.
To avoid these hip dislocations, a person has to maintain the right posture in the early post-operation time period. A person should not bend his hip beyond 90 degrees, and not cross the legs.
Bleeding –
A blood loss in another common risk in this surgery, lading you to have low blood count and post-operative anemia. Before getting this surgical procedure done, a patient may be asked to donate approximately two units of blood for themselves.
Loosening –
Well, this complication is rare. But there could be a case when the new hip bone doesn’t get properly fixed to the bone and even get loose with time. This problem is something, which can only be fixed by doing a revision in the surgery, which is a much more difficult thing to proceed with.
Wear and tear –
Hip replacement components, which are used in the hip replacement surgery, are commonly made of artificial materials that may wear out after a time being. Many times, the metal ball starts moving back and forth against a plastic socket, which can further result in the wear and tear of the socket.
Variation in leg length –
After the hip replacement surgery procedure gets done, there are certain cases, when the one leg of a person becomes shorter or longer than the other one. However, a small leg length discrepancy can be treated with a lift in the shoe of the shorter leg. The treatment for the larger leg length is a surgery where the additional bone is removed from the leg.
Fracture –
There are so many factors that may lead to small or larger fractures after the hip surgery is done. In certain cases, different portions of the hip joint may get cracked or split during the surgical procedure. Nevertheless, the very small fractures can get heal on their own, but the serve ones need to be corrected surgically.
Well, there are so many precautionary methods implemented by the top and best professional surgeons to ensure no mistakes are made in any of the hip replacement surgery case. It is just that you need to proceed with the best orthopedic doctor in Chandigarh to ensure you are going to have a great experience ahead. Note that, the right and professional surgeons will provide you with ample time to get all your questions, and concerns addressed. When a person has all their questions answered and knows what to expect from the whole procedure, they will feel more comfortable and less anxious.
