Maybe you don’t think much about your hips, that is, until they don’t
feel “right” and the fully active life you formerly led is
no longer that active. You may think it’s time to consult an orthopedic
surgeon to find out what’s bothering your hips—and you.
The hip is a major weight-bearing joint in your body that consists of two
major components:
Ball or femoral head, positioned at the top of your thigh bone or femur—which
is the longest, heaviest bone of all
Socket, which is round, also called the acetabulum, positioned in your pelvis
The ability of the multitasking hip joint to produce many types of motion
is remarkable, since it provides balance, stability and support for the
legs that hold up your body. This joint can move backward, forward, sideways,
and can rotate. Also think abduction, adduction, extension, and flexion,
all thanks to your hips.
Assessing Your Hips
The first step in determining what might be causing your hip problem begins
with your medical history. Then your orthopedic surgeon will do a physical
examination, which with hips, may involve a few steps specific to hip
diagnoses:
Gait analysis and stance assessment
Range-of-motion testing
X-ray
Computerized tomography or CT scan
Ultrasound
Magnetic resonance imaging or MRI
Hip Symptoms And Conditions We Treat
For your hips, our orthopedic surgeons can help if you have:
Arthritis
Developmental dysplasia
Femoral-acetabular impingement
Fractures
Infections
Sports-related hip injury
Trauma-related hip injury
Nonsurgical Treatments for Hip Conditions
As always, our expert orthopedic surgeons want to help reduce your pain,
while also helping you retain maximum function. Sometimes, if certain
hip conditions aren’t treated in earlier stages, they can progress
into arthritis or other joint damage, which may lead to a hip replacement
later. They may also increase the risk of injury, even causing a fall,
or prompt you to need a mobility aid such as a walker or cane.
Our orthopedic surgeons carefully consider the latest research and data,
the most current treatments, their own vast experience, along with your
needs, as they develop the most effective and personalized care plan for you.
At the Orthopedic Institute at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, your
doctor may initially recommend:
Over-the-counter pain relievers: Those most often used include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs),
such as naproxen or ibuprofen. Acetaminophen can ease pain but not inflammation.
Corticosteroids: These may be injected into the hip joint to provide temporary pain relief
and reduce swelling, but these are not always successful. Injections are
usually limited to four times annually.
Physical therapy: Committing to a program and following directions may increase knee range
of motion and flexibility and diminish pain.
Platelet-rich plasma: This injection is made from your blood cells called platelets, that contain
growth factors to help injured tissue heal faster. The blood is taken
from your arm.
Weight loss: If you are obese, losing weight can also relieve stress on your joints,
including your hips.
What’s Causing Hip Discomfort?
You’ve come here because maybe you’re experiencing:
Inflammation
Pain
Stiffness
Swelling
Inability to move the way you used to move
Although this may surprise you, hip problems can be felt first in your
groin—where the abdomen ends and the legs start, or put another
way, the junction of the upper body and the thigh. You may even have lower
back or knee pain. But usually, you’ll feel discomfort on the inside
of your hip. It’s easy to say, “This is where my hip pain
is,” when it’s not the hip joint, but an issue with muscles,
ligaments, or tendons around that joint.
Sometimes, pain on the side of the hip isn’t the hip at all, and
could be caused by issues with the spine, overuse of certain muscles,
or tight muscles.
Experts In Hip Replacement Surgery
Should reconstructive surgery be necessary, our highly experienced orthopedic
surgeons will address your problem in a comprehensive and holistic manner
to ensure you achieve the very best results.
At the Orthopedic Institute at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, we
perform the following hip surgeries:
Total hip replacement or arthroplasty
Anterior hip replacement
Posterior hip replacement
Hip revision surgery
Hip preservation surgery
Hip fracture repair
Core decompression
Minimally Invasive Surgery
If your surgeon performs a minimally invasive procedure, that means less
of the tissue around the hip will be cut, using smaller incisions that
disturb less of that tissue. Your surgeon will determine if you are a
suitable candidate for this type of procedure, which provides you these
advantages:
Fewer days in the hospital to recover
Less postoperative pain
Less trauma to the tissues around your hip joint
Less scarring and less blood loss
Quicker rehabilitation
After Your Surgery
Our orthopedic team is dedicated to helping you get back on your feet faster
after hip replacement surgery, and ensuring your post-operative experience
goes smoothly. We even offer a joint replacement preparation class, and
you can learn more about it
here.
You can be sure our expert orthopedic surgeons will give you the personalized
care you need and develop the appropriate treatment plan for your hip
that relieves your discomfort, works in the most effective way, and allows
you to resume doing the things you used to do soon.
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