It’s important to know that many people with hip pain will not need surgery. Many non-surgical treatments, such as painkillers,
physiotherapy and
steroid injections can often provide suitable symptom relief. If these options are not able to manage your symptoms, or become less effective, you may need some type of hip surgery.
Should surgery be advised, your Consultant will discuss which hip surgery would be most appropriate for you.
The most common hip operation is a Total hip replacement. This involves completely removing the damaged hip joint and replacing it with a new artificial one (known as a prosthesis). Total hip replacement is normally needed when osteoarthritis in the hip has caused such extensive damage to the joint that it is extremely stiff, and you are in a lot of pain. This surgery restores pain-free movement and function in the hip and is a very successful operation.
For certain symptoms and conditions of the hip joint, keyhole surgery (hip arthroscopy) may be considered. This can be used both to investigate the health of the hip joint and to carry out surgical repair inside it.
Your Consultant may recommend joint preservation treatment. This can help to protect the hip from further damage and maintain the function in your hip.
If you have previously had a total hip replacement, and it has now become painful, revision hip replacement surgery may be needed. This is a bigger operation, involving the removal of the old prosthesis and the insertion of a new one.
Whatever type of hip problem you have, your Consultant will tailor treatment to your specific requirements to get you out of pain as soon as possible.