THR and congenital dislocated hips

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I am 27 years old with congenital dislocated hips and i'm considering having both hips replaced. My pelvis is tilted because of my dislocated hips and it has caused problems with my posture. I was wondering if the hip replacement will fix this. Does a hip replacement give a good range of movement and will the pain be completly gone after the surgery.

-- Barbara Power (barbarapower36@yahoo.com), March 13, 2003

Answers

I will reply to the last questions first. Yes, THR does relieve pain and give good range of motion to the hips. Long term studies show that the procedure can be reliably expected to improve these functions and add positively to the quality of the patient's life. Pain should be considerably reduced after successful hip replacement surgery.

The first question is more difficult to answer. It would be the aim of the operating surgeon to try to balance the pelvis and equalize the leg lengths when doing replacement surgery for the hips in cases of Developmental Dysplasia/Dislocation of the hip, but the outcome varies depending on the state of the pelvis and the degree of dysplasia that exists. You would need to discuss this with your Doctor, and ask him/her to show you the x-rays too, to try to understand what he/she will be trying to achieve.

Hope this helps.

Errol L Bennett, MD

-- Errol L. Bennett, M.D. (ebennet6@jhmi.edu), March 24, 2003.


Hi Barbara,

I am 43 years old and have recently had both hips replaced for congenital dysplasia (coxa vara). In answer to the pain question, the joint pain is instantly gone and the surgery pain is very minimal ( a root canal at the dentist is 10 times worse). The correction of your gait and posture is not straight-forward as there are many variables involved. The best suggestion I can make is to have the surgeries done (but not at the same time- allow at least 5 months between them) and then hire a physiotherapist/kinesiologist who can assess which muscles need to be strengthened and which are too tight and fine tune your muscular system from stem to stern. Remember that you have been walking "funny" your whole life and that just replacing the hip joints will not fix everything. You will have a lot of hard work relearning how to walk and use your new hips but keep at it and you will be amazed at the results!!

-- christina delottinville (seamoregirl@hotmail.com), October 27, 2003.


Hi Barbara

My daughter Dene is also 27 years old and was born bilateral CHD. Her pain and loss of quality of life has meant that she requires hip replacement surgery which she is scheduled for on 21 November2003. She is so looking forward to having this done as it will mean no more pain and give her a better range of movement. She has a wonderful surgeon and staff who have gone to great lenghts to explain what will happen, what physio she will require and have even organised an Occupational Therapist to visit her home to see what she will need once she is out of hospital.

If you havent already had surgery I would be happy to keep you up to date with her progress over the coming months if you think this would help. Regards

Bev

-- Beverley Jones (bevjones@paradise.net.nz), November 13, 2003.


I had my right hip replaced at the age of 28 in June 2002, this was due to being born with the hip dislocated and it was not noticed until I was 18 months old. I had had a lot of surgery throughout my childhood and as I got older my mobility decreased leading to the only option of replacement. As I lay there on the operating table I was wondering what I was doing having it replaced so young but during surgery my original hip crumbled whenm they came to lift it out so it left no option and no doubt in my mind. As I had had a lot of surgery when young I had a two inch difference between both legs which was rectified during the replacement surgery. Now, Feb 2004, my 'new' hip is in place and the hip is ok - I am now having trouble with my pelvis as it has never been stressed the way it is being stressed now. My mobility has not come back and I know I have a very long road with physio as I don't even know how to fire muscles in my right thigh as I have never used them before. It is definitely swings and roundabouts - just be sensible and try not to pin all your hopes on it being the miracle cure as I did, then if it is (and hopefully it will be for you) you will have a big bonus.

-- Sarah Jackson-Tilley (sarah.jackson-tilley@ntlworld.com), February 10, 2004.

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