subject: Hip Replacement To Remove And Replace A Damaged Hip Joint [print this page] In the course of hip replacement a damaged hip joint is replaced with an synthetic device. Hip joints work on the basic principle of a socket and ball where the ball is placed inside the socket and is granted free movement without the ball slipping out of the restrictive socket. The socket is the concave end of the pelvis whilst the ball is the curvaceous ending of the femur. Damaged and impaired joints result in hip dislocation, severe pain and in acute case, complete immobility of the patient.
The same principle is applied in the functioning of artificial hip replacement. Firstly, the damaged parts are removed and in their place, a metal ball attached to a stem is attached to the femur head and an artificial cup-shaped socket is introduced in place of the acetabulum. The prosthetic device that consists of the stem and the ball is fixed on to the femur with the help of a unique kind of bony cement.
Talking about how the requirement for hip replacement arises, the biggest reason is usual wear due to aging. People in their fifties or sixties come under this group, but there are notable cases of people in their teens also forced to adopt this to rectify hip problems. This means that not only age, but several factors like bone tumor, arthritis, accidental damage etc also necessitate this process.
Those who suffer from hip joint damage develop chronic pain while walking, climbing stairs and even while sitting or lying down. As the situation worsens, even minor movements become a task and the life of the person comes to a virtual total halt. But substituting the damaged hip with an artificial device helps regain lost mobility effectively.
Generally, the life span of artificial hip joint is far more than ten years. But in rare cases, issues may arise sooner itself. In such cases, revision surgeries to fix the defects may be required on an urgent schedule. Post operative microbe infections and dislocation of the artificial hip also occur sometimes, but these cases are also rare. In other words, hip replacement surgeries of contemporary era are good enough to bring life back on rails for the beleaguered hip joint patient.
