Anterior versus posterior

I live in the Uk and have had both done Posterior and Anterior via NHS. DONT !!!

have the anterior approach unless the surgeon can prove they have the operating table and portable XRay equipment for accurate surgery. My anterior op was a disaster and I am still unable to walk any distance due to the damage done.

My first op was Dec 2014 posterior left leg ( I am 68 was 66 playing golf twice a week generally very fit non smoker, not overweight, excellent blood pressure. That op was done at my local hospital and was all fine except they nipped the obituary nerve which was awful for 6 weeks post op but it cleared. The surgeon suggested that as I have a spinal fusion at L3/4/5 I would benefit from having the right side done 3 months on. Because of the need to sleep on ones back I looked into (in real depth massive research) on the anterior op as it seemed you could sleep on your side no precautions to speak of and rapid recovery. Boy was I wrong I was referred to another surgeon as the first one only did posterior approach, this one was in a top NHS Orthpeadic only hospital in Birmingham (I live in Essex)who apart from one in Wales was the only one at that time able to perform that approach. Having given me a thorough exam and pre op it went ahead, 4 day after discharge I realised something was badly wrong, I had my other hip as a reference point and knew the pain was exceptional I was in tears just crossing the room, I forced them to take me in for examination and was told it will all be ok just be patient.however they discovered that a large hematoma had been left on the hip joint but had left it too long to aspirate it as it was now solid. I paid and am still paying (thousands)privately to establish what went wrong, weeks later the surgeon said it may be an undersize stem had been fitted which had now sunken into the femur, he had also damaged the lateral cutaenous nerve creating Meralgia Parasthetitca. No one would do anything for me I had to threaten to sue and in June 2015 I was back in hospital in Birmingham for 9 days in isolation whilst the did a complete revision (posterior approach)although after months it showed improvement I still cant walk play golf and in daily pain. I was admitted for de-compression of the lateral cutaenous nerve in another specilist hospital , that failed, I have had CTs MRI's Nuclear bone scan, Physiotherapy endless hospital visits and await another op in February. 

I could go on and on but if I havent convinced you now to avoid the anterior approach I never will. I would hate for you to suffer, as the top surgeon said to me there is very little room for the incisions in anterior and bear in mind this is like a road junction of nerves where they cut, my upper thigh and hip look like a tube map.

I have had two years of recriminations why I talked myself into this op and will probably never be the same man again.

Good luck with whatever you decide

Paul

I'm only 2 weeks post-op, but I had bilateral THR with the anterior approach and couldn't be happier. I think it depends a lot on your surgeon, so find a good one you trust with either approach.

I am already off of even a cane, which seems quite amazing to me after getting both hips done just December 13th. I was a runner and I'm only 45, so being in good shape before and knowing I've always been a fast healer is probably helping me. However, I was in pretty bad shape the months leading up to surgery with a horrible limp and constant bone on bone pain.

Best of luck with whatever you choose!

I had posterior. My surgeon said that he could get the implants placed better and I. My case the arthritis had almost fused my hips do the longer incision was necessary. I had a normal recovery. 

I'm in the UK, and was able to discuss all my options with the surgeon. I chose posterior but minimally invasive - so I have a much smaller scar and much less cutting. I had a perfect recovery ( so far! Just past the 7 weeks) - absurdly no pain at all, few restrictions and, if I am honest, without throwing caution to the wind, I pretty much ignored them! 

Based on a few months on the site here, I think that there is no clear cut "this method is better than any other" for all people. A lot depends on the skills of the surgeon (i checked out my surgeon choices - their records are available on the internet!), where your are when you go in to this procedure, your resulting after it, and blind luck! Nobody can explain to me why I woke up with no pain and continued not to have any pain (an occasional brief ache is the worst I've had) and somebody else didn't. I believe that the fact that I exercised my muscles a lot before surgery and was very flexible and with strong muscles to start off with helped - but that is belief and not fact! 

So my only concrete advice would be to gently suggest to your hubbie that he not push anything! It's your hip, and when it's his hip he can decide. You have to be comfortable with your choices here - it might go swimmingly or it might not. Chances are it'll be average like most everyone else's. But I know that if I felt someone had pushed me into a choice that didn't work out, I'd be blaming them!