What is a hip replacement?

What is a hip replacement?

A hip replacement is an artificially made hip that is designed to simulate your normal hip's anatomy and abilities.

There are a couple of key components to your hip joint, as shown below:

There are many factors which may lead a patient to need a Total Hip Replacement (THR), but the most common is arthritis. There are two types of arthritis: osteoarthritis, the most common and treatable, and rheumatoid arthritis, a much more severe disease which is spread all over the body, affecting about 3% of the population. The symptoms of arthritis in the hip are generally pain, swelling, stiffness, deformity, instability and loss of function. The ultimate treatment for these conditions is a hip replacement. Go to our Links page for more information

A hip replacement will ideally eliminate all of the hip problems the patient has. The best possible result for a hip replacement is to make the patient unaware that they have even had a hip replacement. The Furlong® H-A.C. hip has had reports from patients that their new hip actually feels better than their original one!

There are many different types available, most commonly those types of hip replacement used with bone cement (a glue to hold the new hip in place). These implants traditionally only last an average of ten to twelve years. Since 1985 the Furlong® H-A.C. hip, which does not use cement, has been available from JRI and it now has many years of excellent results. It can reasonably be expected to last the patient's lifetime.

H-A.C. is short for Hydroxy-apatite ceramic. It is an artificial composition of the exact same mineral that is found in bone. The Furlong® H-A.C. hip is coated with hydroxy-apatite ceramic and, once the prosthesis has been implanted, the bone in your body and the H-A.C meet each other and hold your hip securely in place.

Traditional thinking decrees that hip replacements are only suitable for people aged 65 or over. However, recent technological advances, such as the Furlong® H-A.C. Total Hip Replacement, mean that people no longer need to suffer for so long. The Furlong® H-A.C. THR is in fact suitable for patients of almost any age.

After receiving a Furlong® H-A.C. hip replacement we expect you to be out of bed within a couple of days, but this depends on the surgical technique employed. You will be walking with a crutch for up to six weeks. Full mobility is expected within six months. This may seem like a long time to you now, but in fact you will be pain free throughout. The time taken is for the muscles and tissue around your hip to heal.

We believe that the Furlong® H-A.C. Hip should last you your lifetime. A number of factors come into play, including your weight and your activity levels. A hip replacement that uses cement will not last you your lifetime if you are a younger patient. This has been proven by past clinical data. If you are a younger patient and you receive a cemented hip, it will be replaced later in your life. This procedure (which is called a Revision) is generally much more complicated than the first and there is less guarantee of a return to full mobility.

This is a matter you will need to discuss with your GP. The Furlong® Hip is readily available to NHS and Private Hospitals in the UK, and your GP should have no difficulty in finding a surgeon who uses it.