Top 3 Reasons Why Total Hip Replacement Surgery Patients May Want to Consider the Anterior Approach

The anterior approach is a revolutionary improvement in hip replacement surgery, according to leading orthopedic surgeons in the United States. It makes patients heal much faster, but it is still not offered as an option in most U.S. hospitals.

Reason One: Faster Recovery. While it may take patients four to six months to fully recover following conventional hip replacement surgery, the anterior approach enables patients to recover in only four weeks. An orthopedic surgeon and founder of the Hip and Pelvis Institute at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, was the first to bring this method from Europe and develop it in the United States.

Despite its positive outcome for patients, the anterior approach to hip replacement surgery is not offered in most hospitals. Popular in Europe, it's been used in Paris, France some 25 years ago.

Since learning from the small group of European surgeons who practiced this method, a US doctor has been instrumental in bringing awareness of the anterior approach as a hip replacement surgery method to the United States and worldwide. He has performed over 1600 anterior approach hip replacement surgeries and continues to give instructional seminars for surgeons around the United States to introduce them to this method. The popularity of the anterior approach as a total hip replacement procedure has been growing rapidly. Over 400 surgeons will receive training this year alone.

Reason Two: Minimally Invasive. The anterior approach to hip replacement is the most minimally invasive choice for people suffering from arthritis, hip pain, stiffness and limited hip movement. Following the anterior approach surgical procedure, patients are instructed to use their hip normally without cumbersome restrictions and are sent home from the hospital often in less than three days. Patients can immediately bend their hip freely and bear full weight when comfortable, resulting in a rapid return to normal function.

Patients and doctors alike are encouraging this method because it reduces pain, blood loss, scarring, muscle trauma and the risk of dislocation.

Reason Three:Less Restrictive. After conventional hip replacement surgery, patients must limit flexing of the hip to no more than 60 to 90 degrees, which complicates normal activities like sitting in a chair, on a toilet seat, putting on shoes or getting into a car. Simply climbing stairs may also be more difficult during recovery when following the conventional hip replacement surgery.

The anterior approach to hip replacement surgery allows the surgeon to reach the hip joint from the front of the hip as opposed to the lateral (side) or the posterior (back) approach. This way, the hip can be replaced without detachment of muscle from the pelvis or femur during surgery as is performed in traditional surgery. The surgeon can simply work through the natural interval between the muscles. The most important muscles for hip function, the gluteal muscles that attach to the pelvis and femur, are left undisturbed and, therefore, do not require a healing process to recover from surgical trauma.

The technique is advanced even further by designing a special, state-of-the-art surgical table to replace the original French orthopedic Judet table. The table has unique capabilities to facilitate this smaller and less invasive approach. The table has carbon fiber spars that support the legs that move appropriately to manipulate the operated leg during surgery. Additionally, the table has a sterile motorized robotic attachment that reaches inside the wound and lifts the femur to an accessible position. Numerous other surgical innovations and protocols for hip replacement reach beyond the original French technique.

As people increasingly learn more about the anterior approach to hip replacement, they will likely turn to this method. Total hip replacement offers benefits that the traditional route to hip replacement just cannot offer.

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