18 days.  Just 18 days after a total hip replacement of his left hip in 2021, Dale Wilson was mowing grass with a push mower.  That winter, he and his family went to Yellowstone National Park where they covered 300 miles on snowmobiles.  This experience was in stark contrast to his 2007 right hip replacement, done in Birmingham, which resulted in a recovery that took more than a year.  Today, Wilson enjoys fishing, coaching basketball and throwing batting practice with his grandsons—pain free.  If you’ve experienced hip pain, you know it can be incapacitating.  If you are at the point of joint replacement, it may seem impossible to enjoy the aforementioned activities, and it may certainly seem impossible to enjoy them free of pain.

Good news:  it’s not only possible, it’s happening for patients of Anniston Orthopaedic Associates every single day.

You’ve probably heard the following quote about joint recovery: “You get out what you put in.”  That phrase is used to encourage patients to work hard in post-operative rehabilitation.  But, do you ever wonder why some joint replacement patients seem to really excel in recovery?  One reason may be the method of the surgery itself.  

So, what’s the secret?  According to Dr. Duane Michael Tippets, it’s the anterior approach to hip replacement.  “During my training in residency, I was able to train with several different surgeons who used different approaches to hip replacements: posterior, lateral and anterior approaches,” said Tippets. “I was able to observe the recovery of these patients while they were in the hospital and watched them as they did PT (physical therapy) together. It became very clear to me that patients with the anterior approach were much more comfortable and much more mobile.”

More comfortable.  More mobile.  These are words that catch the attention of any patient considering joint replacement. So, how does it work?  Why do patients experience more mobility and comfort based on an anterior approach?  Dr. Tippets explains, “I believe the main reason for this is because with the anterior approach, I can enter the joint by dissecting between the muscles as opposed to having to cut through the muscles like you do in other approaches.  Patients seem to experience significantly less pain and tend to be able to move more comfortably during the first few weeks after surgery compared to patients who have hip replacements through other approaches."  

The anterior approach is referred to as a “muscle sparing” approach to the hip.  As with any joint, the hip joint is surrounded by muscles.  Naturally, going between muscles would be far less painful than cutting through them.  But reduced pain and increased mobility are not the only benefits of this approach to hip replacement.  Dr. Tippets says that an additional benefit to the anterior approach is that it can result in a more stable hip postoperatively, with less chance of dislocations.  

“Because it is more stable, patients don’t need any restrictions immediately after surgery such as bending at the waist or crossing their legs that can put hip replacements at risk for dislocating in the first few weeks after surgery when other approaches are used,” says Tippets.

So, if you’re keeping a tally, here are the benefits of the anterior approach to hip replacement following surgery:

·       More comfort, less pain

·       More mobility of the hip joint

·       More stability of the hip joint

·       Less restrictions

Upon finishing his residency training, Dr. Tippets did a year of fellowship training in order to become more specialized in the anterior approach to hip replacement.  This specialization has made a big difference in the lives of his patients at Anniston Orthopaedics.  “Dr. Tippets restored my quality of life.  The arthritic pain from simply walking was dooming me to a sedentary lifestyle,” says Wilson.  “I walked out of the hospital with less pain than when I walked in 26 hours before.”

If you are interested in getting more information about the anterior approach to hip replacement, give us a call at Anniston Orthopaedic Associates today: 256-236-4121.

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_{By Katie Edwards, Anniston Orthopaedic Director of Marketing, kedwards@annistonortho.com}

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