Hip arthroscopy how long does it take

While your surgery involves your hip, your whole body will react to it and anesthesia. Before your surgery, consult with the anesthesiologist, who will discuss your general medical condition, request any necessary consultations with other doctors and order any required tests, such as EKGs or blood tests.

You'll come into the hospital in the morning. Your surgery will likely be on an outpatient basis, allowing you to go home the same day. The duration of your surgery will vary depending on what the hip joint problem is, but you can expect it to last anywhere from 40 to 60 minutes. For example, the surgical team may need to take more X-rays during the surgery to ensure they remove all the bone spurs. Patients almost always receive general anesthesia for this surgery.

If you receive general anesthesia, you may also get an additional regional local anesthetic block. This discomfort may also be experienced in your buttock, lower back, ankle and knee. We can use appropriate pain medication to reduce the discomfort. After a few days, the swelling will decrease.

You'll want to ice your hip after surgery. Apply an ice pack to your hip — but not directly on your skin — for a minimum of 20 minutes, a few times a day. You can use a cold therapy device such as PolarCare to help reduce the swelling and pain after your surgery. Your doctor will provide you with a prescription for pain medicine on the day of your surgery and may call your local pharmacy for an anti-inflammatory before your surgery.

You may also start on an aspirin regimen to help prevent blood clots. Other instructions include:. You'll likely need a minimum of one to two weeks off work for most office jobs. Your hip will be sore when you return to work, but it shouldn't affect your work as long as you don't perform any pushing, lifting, carrying or pulling. Generally, you'll require three months for complete recovery after hip arthroscopy and before you can start any heavy lifting again. While there aren't any rules on when you can go back to work, these are reasonable guidelines that should hopefully help you and your employer get you back into the workplace with ease and at the right time.

Your recovery time after hip arthroscopy will depend on which procedures we perform. Here's what you can expect in the first few weeks after surgery:. You should avoid performing certain activities up to eight weeks after your surgery. These include:.

You'll get a suitable rehabilitation program following your operation that will depend on the specific procedure performed. This timeline is highly variable between people and depends on the operation findings and symptom length before your surgery. In most cases, you should be able to walk relatively free of pain about six to eight weeks following surgery. However, it could take three to six months or more to get back to an elite level of fitness.

You can treat any unexpected increase in pain with ice and anti-inflammatory medicine. The arthroscopic hip surgery success rate is around 85 to 90 percent.

It's often difficult to return to vigorous use of the leg in sports or work. You can prevent further injuries by being careful with your hip. Don't work it too hard. During recovery, it is essential that you practice certain exercises to restore your mobility and functional strength. Your physical therapist will help you recover quickly and comfortably so you can get back to your strong, confident, pain-free life. After your arthroscopy and subsequent recovery, you can return to full, unrestricted activities.

However, depending on your unique situation, you may need to make certain lifestyle changes to protect your joint from future damage. For example, for the health of your hip, you may need to trade a high impact exercise like running for a low impact exercise like cycling or swimming. There is no muscle damage associated with arthroscopy.

Traditional hip surgery requires an incision measuring between 10 and 12 inches long. Arthroscopy only requires two to three pinholes, each measuring a centimeter across. Second, traditional hip surgery involves removing muscles and tendons from the bones. Moreover, the femoral head must be dislocated from the hip socket to allow the surgeon to view the joint completely. Contrastingly, the pinholes for arthroscopy are made of the front side of the hip where there is drastically less muscle tissue.

Finally, no tissue needs to be cut or removed to view or access the joint because the highly specialized instruments can work between tissue. Recovering from arthroscopy is completely different from recovering from traditional hip surgery.

First, traditional hip surgery requires a hour hospital stay for observation. We only observe our clients for an hour or two post-op to ensure enough of the effects of anesthesia have worn off. Second, people who undergo traditional hip surgery cannot bear their body weight for eight weeks post-op.

Contrastingly, when arthroscopy is used to remove foreign bodies or torn pieces from the hip, clients can place their full body weight on the joint after only two or three days. If you are between the ages of 18 and 65, there is an excellent chance that you are a good candidate for arthroscopy of the hip. This is particularly true if your orthopedic condition has not been diagnosed.

Alternatively, you may be an excellent candidate for this procedure if you have been diagnosed with a condition but your pain does not respond to conventional therapies. The best candidate for this procedure has significantly impaired mobility or extreme pain which prevents them from living life to the fullest. This diminished quality of life is usually caused by FAI, a labral tear that may or may not be related to the FAI, loose bodies in the hip region, or hip dysplasia.

Young, healthy individuals are the best candidates for this procedure because the hip joint is located deep inside the body and younger people tend to have less tissue surrounding the joint. Unfortunately, not everyone is a good candidate for arthroscopy of the hip.

For example, if you suffer from moderate-to-severe arthritis, you are a better candidate for a partial or total hip replacement. If you are not a good candidate for this procedure, one of our orthopedic surgeons will work closely with you to devise a treatment plan which will actually give you your quality of life back.

A minimally invasive hip replacement is a procedure involving a tiny incision made over the outside region of the hip. During this procedure, the tendons and muscles in the hip area are detached.

Once the prosthetic hip has been put into place, the muscles and tendons are reattached. A minimally invasive hip replacement has many advantages over a traditional hip replacement. For a better understanding of arthroscopy and to determine if surgery is the appropriate treatment for your hip pain or stiffness, schedule an appointment with a hip specialist.

Arthroscopic hip surgery is a minimally-invasive procedure that involves two to three small incisions, a high definition camera, and specialized instruments to work inside the hip joint. The procedure begins with a small incision in the hip that is about 1 cm long.

The surgeon then inserts a small camera, called an arthroscope, through the incision. The camera feeds video to a nearby monitor, providing the surgeon with an interior view of the joint. The surgeon will then perform one or two additional incisions in order to insert the specialized instruments they will use to repair the joint. The surgeon can reshape, remove, and stabilize the various components of the hip without fully exposing the joint.

The surgery typically takes about two hours or less. Hip arthroscopy can be used to surgically treat femoroacetabular impingement FAI , or hip impingement syndrome.

Arthroscopy is used to treat:. Hip arthroscopy can be performed if there are no apparent signs of arthritis. If moderate to severe arthritis is present, the surgeon may recommend a partial or total hip replacement instead. Arthroscopic surgery preserves muscles in three ways. First, the surgeon only makes a small number of incisions that are each approximately 1 cm long. Second, the incisions are made on the front side of the hip where there is naturally less muscle. Finally, the procedure is performed with highly specialized instruments that allow the surgeon to work between tissue.

The surgeon does not need to cut or remove tissue in order to access the joint. These aspects of arthroscopic surgery are vastly different from traditional hip surgery.

A traditional procedure involves a large incision that is approximately inches long. Moreover, muscles and tendons are detached from bones and the femoral head is dislocated from the hip socket in order to have a complete view of the joint. Patients of arthroscopic surgery usually experience less pain because there is less tissue that needs to heal. These patients also require less pain medication. Hip arthroscopy involves several small incisions through which your surgeon inserts an arthroscope camera and related surgical tools if needed.

Compared to open surgical procedures, these smaller incisions and tools cause less disruption to the hip joint and related soft tissues and result in:.

These advantages also allow surgeons to preemptively treat conditions that cause osteoarthritis, thus, in some cases, delaying the onset of hip arthritis and delaying or eliminating the need for later hip replacement. This is a concept called Hip Preservation. Hip Arthroscopy may be recommended for hip conditions that do not respond to non-surgical treatment. Hip arthroscopy may be recommended as treatment for the following conditions.

After anesthesia, your leg will be put in traction. Your hip will be pulled away from the socket enough for your surgeon to insert instruments, see the entire joint, and perform the needed procedures. Two to five small incisions each less than 1 cm long are made around the hip to insert the arthroscopy camera and necessary instruments.