Total joint replacement surgery is one of the most advanced successful procedures in patients dealing with severe hip and knee pain. The goal of the surgery is to relieve pain and restore the normal function of the joint and help patients resume normal activities.
Over the past few years, there have been significant advances in the treatment options, implants, and minimally invasive techniques. Anterior hip replacement surgery, also called direct anterior approach hip replacement, is not new, but has recently been re-popularised as a means of minimising soft tissue damage at the time of surgery.
What is direct anterior approach hip replacement surgery?
Direct Anterior Hip Replacement is a minimally invasive hip surgery to replace the hip joint without cutting through any muscles or tendons. Traditional hip replacement involves making a cut either to the side of or just behind the hip, and access to the joint is possible by dividing or splitting some of the muscles / tendons in the area. The structures are repaired at the end of the procedure, but need time to heal. Normally, after a traditional hip replacement, your surgeon would give you instructions on hip precautions to avoid stretching or damaging this repair, in order allow the cut muscles to heal.
However, for anterior hip replacement patients, hip precautions are not typically necessary as no muscles are cut. This can allow a more rapid return to function.
There are many stated advantages to anterior hip surgery, and whilst some are true in the early phases of recovery, there is no proven difference in the long term outcomes overall between anterior and posterior hip replacement surgery.
In addition, a number of patients undergoing anterior hip replacement surgery will be aware of a numb patch in the thigh, just below and to the side of the hip – this is due to one of the small skin nerves in the area (the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve) which is frequently stretched or cut by the surgical procedure. Whilst this usually resolves, it can be annoying in the short term after surgery.
Advantages of anterior hip replacements may include:
- Less postoperative pain
- Minimal soft-tissue trauma
- Smaller incision
- Minimal blood loss
- Quicker early recovery
- Early mobilization
- Less postoperative restrictions
