You will receive more detailed information from the Pre Anaesthetic Clinic nurses before your surgery.

In a hip replacement, we replace the ball of your hip joint with a ceramic ball and a stem which is attached to your femur. The titanium socket is attached to your pelvis, and contains the polyethylene bearing surface. In general, the socket is press fit into your pelvis, and the femur is usually press fit.

Hip replacement bearing technology has improved in the last decade, and we believe that the newest plastics that are used now will commonly last 20 years or more. In my practice, it is now uncommon to use any other bearing surface like ceramic or metal-on-metal, as the newer plastics have been performing so well. I do not perform hip "resurfacing", as I don't feel that this is an appropriate option given the recent literature. 

Most joint replacements are done with a spinal anesthetic with your legs frozen, and you could be asleep or awake while the surgery is being performed. You can walk on the joint replacement with your full weight the day of surgery, and typically you are encouraged to get up the day of your surgery. The majority of patients go home the day after surgery. It is unlikely that your stay will be longer than this, and you should plan on your ride home picking you up the day after surgery.

Complications after joint replacement include infection (which is often difficult to cure), blood clots (for which you will likely be on blood thinners), dislocations, differences in your leg lengths and medical complications like heart attacks or pneumonias. These are all uncommon, and there is an over 95% chance that none of these will occur.

It is often difficult to know definitively if someone has an infection after a joint replacement, as it is common to have some redness, warmth and swelling after the surgery. The treatment of an infection after a joint replacement is usually surgery, not antibiotics, so if a health practitioner feels that you should start antibiotics, please contact my office and we will try to see you quickly as possible.

Most people after hip replacement use a cane for about three months, are most of the way recovered by about six months, and are about as good as they're going to get by a year afterwards. It is common for patients to say that their hip feels quite like a normal hip once they have reached the one year mark.