Getting Hip to Hip Pain

Hip pain can be … a pain.

It can affect your quality of life, making it difficult to do the simplest of tasks, such as climbing stairs. If you’ve been suffering from hip pain that doesn’t go away with physical therapy, medications, and other treatments, you might be a good candidate for minimally invasive hip surgery now offered at MetroHealth.

MetroHealth’s Department of Orthopaedics has highly trained specialists to treat hip pain and injuries with arthroscopic surgery. That means the surgeon uses two or three small poke holes instead of a large incision to repair the hip, which has been shown to have a lower rate of complications than open surgery of the hip joint.

Who is a Good Candidate for Hip Arthroscopy?

The only way to know if surgery would be helpful is to see a MetroHealth orthopaedic surgeon. However, hip arthroscopy is recommended for patients with no to only mild osteoarthritis and have:

• Hip labrum tears
• Hip impingement
• Hip dysplasia

People with moderate to severe osteoarthritis in their hip are not good candidates for hip arthroscopy and would likely need a hip replacement to alleviate their symptoms.

Full recovery from minimally invasive hip arthroscopy surgery takes six months. The first six weeks are spent in a brace and on crutches. In six months, patients can resume normal activities, such as full-on running and playing sports.

Benefits of Minimally Invasive Hip Arthroscopy Surgery

• Less risk of infection versus “open” surgery
• Restores your function and reduces your pain

When to See an Orthopaedic Surgeon

Jensen G. Kolaczko, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon and hip repair specialist at MetroHealth, says patients shouldn’t live with hip pain.

Dr. Kolaczko also said it’s important to not put off hip treatment because surgery has been shown to alleviate pain and get people back to their passionate activities. He says that the hope of early intervention is to preserve the hip for as long as possible.

“There will come a time when the hip is no longer preservable and a replacement is needed,” he said. “We think that we may be able to avoid that if we intervene early.”