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Best approach for hip replacement
Bones, Joints & Muscles | Last Active: Apr 12 9:09pm | Replies (30)Comment receiving replies
Sorry, my post was confusing. He uses anterior approach and assured me there would be no nerve damage/pain.
Replies to "Sorry, my post was confusing. He uses anterior approach and assured me there would be no..."
The femoral nerve goes right down the front of the thigh and branches to the side. My surgeon said he does everything possible to avoid cutting it but it happens more with anterior because the nerve is difficult to see. My hip pain is gone but now I have nasty nerve pain.
I'm with Sue on this. Any surgery poses a risk of nerve disruption, and rarely, a nerve(s) being cut. That's why it pays to do a lot of research for a good surgeon, and be prepared to wait a long time. Be very suspicious of any surgeon who can schedule the procedure in one week.
As far as the debate about anterior, lateral, posterior - I just had an anterior THR and would not consider the other approaches. The anterior approach spares any muscles from being cut, much less the large gluteus muscles. I'm 3 plus weeks out from THR and was back on the spinning bike in 16 days. My only post-op issue is a very tight gluteus minimus that cramps on occasion. The muscle wasn't cut but has to deal with a new, artificial hip, and months of me limping on a bad hip - leading to shortened and tight gluteal muscles on my right (operative) side. Vey slowly, I've been stretching it and the cramps have decreased. I'm also taking a muscle relaxer - but really, don't believe they do much for severe cramping.
Anyway, all surgery carries some risk. I was in a lot of pain and was and still am willing to accept those risks. But that's me. We all have to make decisions ourselves in the end.
The best to all of you.
Joe
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This can be a confusing subject, with pros and cons to both types of surgery. You can read a comparison of the 2 approaches here:
https://www.arthritis-health.com/surgery/hip-surgery/advantages-and-disadvantages-anterior-hip-replacement
I believe that any time a scalpel comes in contact with my body, there is some risk (however small) of one or more nerves being damaged. According to the review above the risk exists in any hip replacement. You might want to ask the surgeon what he meant - he might have said he doesn't cut any nerves, but that doesn't mean disturbed nerves won't be unhappy.