What surgery approach should I choose?

I had the lateral approach and I can only give you my experience. I was up and doing PT the day after the surgery. Not a drastic amount of pain but they had me on pain meds every 4 hours. I left the hospital in 4 days and went to stay with family for two weeks. The first two weeks were a little challenging but I am now 4 months out and feeling fine. I still have a slight limp and a bit of swelling on my hip but other than that I feel great. No more OA pain!!!

I've heard that having the posterior approach has a lot more restrictions and takes longer to heal.

But I am satisfied with my outcome.

Good luck to you!

I was not aware that the lateral approach had a higher risk of dislocation, is there research evidence on this ?

I would have thought that the lateral approach may not involve too many major structures .... Femoral nerves, etc

May be a good idea to google this for informed evidenced based studies

Best wishes

This is what I have learnt: anterior approach is probably better. You are lucky to have a choice! The risk of dislocation, the amount of muscles and tissue disturbance is far smaller and healing time is shorter. I had lateral THR just over 2 months ago and although all is going well, it's taking me MUCH longer to get where my friend was at this time. She had an anterior surgery in February and after 6 weeks she felt - well nothing: everything normal, less the OA pain and was given freedom to carry on normally. After 9 weeks she flew to the Far East for five weeks and did a lot of walking etc.. She lives in France where they pefer the anterior approach - I am in the UK and had no choice: only lateral (NHS choice by the look of it). 

Personally I would choose anterior, but see what others say first.

Good luck, you'll be fine whatever you choose!

Best wishes,

Alison 

That said thr in general is very successful operation.

Best wishes, whichever way you go.

Jason.

I am surprised they are asking you and they want you to decide...I thought it was up to the surgeon to decide which type of surgery to do. I had a posterior, cemented hip replacement. I was on my feet the day after the operation, went home on the fourth day. I never had any swelling. I stopped painkillers on day 8.

I am walking without any aids around the house, I can drive, go to the swimming pool; I still need a walking stick when I go out, but it's more psychological than a phisical need.  I have done some light gardening recently. I can go down on my knees ( today I cleaned the bathroom floor). I cannot bend down to reach the feet on my operated leg, but I am sure it will come.

I had my op on June 1st, I am a 65 yrs old woman, but very active ;I worked up to three days before my op, went to gym all my life, I swim,and look after my home and family.

Best wishes and big hugs

Ella 

I had Superpath with same surgeon as Jason- he works in Coventry area

I am a bit older than Jason at 63 but work full time and am very active

Marvelous result and very quick recovery-a bit of ankle swelling for 2 days post op but nothing whatsoever since then

All restrictions lifted at 5 weeks and I cannot tell my operated hip from my good one now

Very small 3 inch butt scar and no muscle cutting at all

Hope you choose what you feel is right for you

Kind regards Linda xx

I am an active 45 year old. I had anterior 6 weeks ago. I have had No restrictions at all. The afternoon after my surgery the surgeon came to see me and told me I could lie however I was comfortable even on my operated side if it felt ok.

I am very pleased with my recovery. I am cycling for short periods again, lying on the couch with my legs crossed, swimming all strokes. He told me to carry on as normal as possible.

i also asked my surgeon about leg movements in terms of opening my legs in a very  un lady like way !! He showed me with a joint that it is actually a very safe position after anterior because the joint is stable. I have since had bikini wax etc no problems.

Not sure what you mean by riskier, the surgeon explained all the risks to me the biggest of course being infection which is the same for all orthopaedic surgery. In terms of anatomy the risk of nerve damage is there whatever because there is a nerve that runs down along side your femur.

Im heading towards spring here in Australia and certainly intend on enjoying the beach, some decent 50km bike rides and some bush walks as I did 18 months ago. Life's looking great.

Good luck with your decision. And all the best for a fabulous wedding day x

My surgeon has performed anterior THRs but said he never felt 100% confident that he had the prosthesis straight but I note that some surgeons have special tables for this op.

I went with his recommendation and had posterior. Out in 4 days, off pain killers in 6 days. I'm nearly 5 weeks post op and walking around inside with out a stick and yes I usually forget it! I took/take turmeric once I was off blood thinners so the swelling was minimal and is almost completely gone and nearly all feeling has returned to the operated area.

In my opinion choose the surgeon you can communicate with the best and let he/she decide which method will work for you. They are the experts.

I live in Melbourne Australia and have found 2 great surgeons, the thing that makes the decision hard for me is that each of them is recommending their own approach. 

However I saw an exercise physiologist today who does rehab for all sorts of hip replacments and from his experience the recovery is much faster with anterior as no muscles are detached from the bone and there is less muscle and soft tissue damage overall. He said the nerve sensitivity in the thigh is temporary and a result of the nerve getting pushed aside and bruised however not cut. 

But at the end of the day from what I read on here, every patient is different and every patient will get through it, it seems the success has a lot to do with how hard you are willing to work on your recovery. 

From what I have found out so far, the only reason the lateral apprach is still more common is because there are not enough surgeons trained and experienced in anterior therefor it is deemed to be 'risky'.  Which makes sense, any surgery would be risky if the surgeon is not trained or experienced enough.  As a result, most surgeons will stick to the one technique, the one they are familiar with.  But if the surgeon is highly experienced in the technique then anterior has the same minimal complication rate as any other THR surgery.  Alison7909, I have heard the same thing, that in France 80% of THR are performed anterior. Although it has been around for as long as posterior it has only been popular in recent times and the resurgence began in France so the surgeons there are very experienced. 

Anyway after all of that research and great advice I have decided to go with anterior because I connected really well with the surgeon and felt very comfortable with him first and foremost. But also because he performs 150 anterior THR per year and trained in France with the best of the best! 

Good luck to all of you and keep up the positivity and hard work xx

Trust everything goes ok.

Regards Mark