If you have been suffering long-term pain and stiffness in your hip joint. such that it has reduced your mobility and affected your everyday activities. Quality of life, then you may be offered hip replacement surgery.
Osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, both joint diseases, often damage or wear out a hip. You may experience persistent pain, difficulty walking, trouble climbing stairs, and pain during sleep. Your doctor may suggest physiotherapy sessions and steroid injections into the joint, but if these treatments don’t improve your condition, you will need hip replacement surgery to restore your normal mobility. Hip replacement surgery is common and involves replacing the damaged hip joint with an artificial joint called an implant.
A GP will assess you and then refer you to a specialist in the hospital. It usually takes about 6 to 12 weeks from the time of referral to the surgery date. Private hip replacement surgery in the UK can cost between £9,500 and £15,000. You may choose to pay for the surgery privately by yourself or through your Private Medical Insurance. Some private hospitals offer loans, but you will need to have an agreement in place. If you decide to do it through the National Health Service, there may be a waiting period.
Anaesthesia is used during the surgery to either put you to sleep or make you lose feeling from your waist down while you are awake. The surgeon makes a cut through the skin to access and remove the damaged hip, replacing it with a new artificial joint. The surgeon then closes the cut in the skin. The surgery typically takes between 1 to 2 hours. After your surgery, you will have access to physiotherapy and adequate nursing care to aid your recovery. You can leave the hospital within 3 to 5 days after the operation.
For more information about referrals for hip surgery or other joint problems, you can contact us or click here to register and book an online consultation with a Consultdoc GP who can arrange an intervention appropriate for your health needs.