Hi Ray,
There are different types of replacement available dependent on the condition of the joints and surrounding bone, age and such like.
I damaged the ball and socket joint on my right hip due to a motorbike accident when I was a young lad, and it deterioated rapidly over the years with restricted movement, limping and a lot of pain sitting down or moving around.
Back in 2002, in my early 40's, finally got something done about, due to a then relatively new technique of joint resurfacing. This was suitable for younger (relatively !) and more active patients who would demand more from the new joint than older and more sedentary patients.
Basically it involved grinding out a seating in the socket part of the pelvis and cementing in a new artificial socket. The clever part though, was rather than removing the ball and part of the femur at the top of the leg bone and inserting a new artificial ball joint, they leave the top of the femur intact (assuming it is sound) and grind it to shape and cement over the top a new artificial ball joint surface.
The advantage of this approach is that these joints are thought/hoped to have a longer useful life, and then in the event that they do need replacing in later life it is possible to revert to a traditional replacement joint later as the leg bone is still intact.
If you have a traditional replacement rather than a resurfacing then you are limited to that one replacement or at best one further replacement, so you are normally advised to leave it as long as possible before you have it done so it will see you out the rest of your days.
With the resurfacing you have hopefully a longer initial life of the joint replacement and then still, hopefully, the option of one or two further traditional replacements later, hence why they can be offered at a younger age. The resurfaced joints are also more stable and less prone to dislocations than the traditional types.
That said, if you are anything like as bad as I was a few years ago, the sheer relief of being pain free and mobile again will give you a massive boost regardless of type of joint.
They literally had me up and walking on crutches again the day after the op' :shock: and then on walking sticks within a few days and physio to ease up and loosen the muscles and ligaments for a while after. I don't recall any real pain, if there was any then the painkillers took care of it without anything to worry about.
Nothing at all to worry about at all, get it done if you have the chance and enjoy the new lease of lfe it brings
Cheers, Paul
