Taking an anterior approach
Two local orthopedic surgeons speaks on the benefits of anterior hip replacements, which has become a mainstream method offered here in Calhoun.
A few months back, while speaking to attendees of the Gordon County Chamber of Commerce Booster Breakfast at Gordon Hospital, Dr. Adam Land expounded on anterior hip replacements.
During the course of the speech from Land, some in attendance did not find the emerging approach to hip replacements as engaging as perhaps he does.
“A poor lady passed out,” Land laughed. “I felt kind of bad. I’ve got to tone it down.”
Though the intricate workings of surgeons performing this procedure may not be the most exciting material to listen to with a morning coffee, the anterior approach to hip replacements has yielded positive results, namely faster recovery times, for local patients.
Land along with Dr. Stephen King are two local orthopedic surgeons with Northwest Georgia Orthopedics and Sports Medicine who have witnessed what this approach can do for patients, across a wide age range, striving to get back to regular life after surgery.
“Basically what makes it better is it’s a muscle-sparring procedure,” said King, who learned the anterior approach after years of performing the more traditional method. “The main thing is there is a reduction in pain and the recovery is faster.”
The more traditional method to hip replacements required surgeons to either go through the back or side of the hip, King explained. This meant that certain muscles would have to be detached to perform the procedure, causing more swelling and pain for the patient in the immediate post-operation period, he continued. Thus, the recovery time for patients was delayed.
The anterior approach sees that surgeons go in through the front of the hip between muscles, rather than cutting or detaching any of them, King said. This has cut the recovery time over the first three months in half from other approaches, he said.
“Any other way you try to get at the hip joint, you have to go through the big butt muscle, the gluteus maximus,” Land added. “You spare all the muscle, so the early recovery is all related to that.”
However, when looking at patients a year after surgery, their conditions are the same regardless of the type of hip replacement they had, King explained.
“But that initial three months, the recovery is faster and people are back to work and back to functioning in their life,” King said.
Those with more sedentary jobs can be back to work within three to four weeks after an anterior hip replacement compared to six to eight weeks for other approaches. Those with more physically-demanding jobs can be back to work within six to eight weeks instead of three months with the anterior approach.