Will Your Joint Replacement Last?

Will Your Joint Replacement Last?

via About Orthopedics on 10/5/09

Everyone who has joint replacement surgery knows the implant can wear out over time. But sometimes implants wear out more quickly than expected. In fact, some implants have design flaws that cause them to wear out even quicker than anticipated.

Unfortunately, we often are not aware of these design flaws until many patients have had problems. One of the reasons could be the lack of a national reporting system when problems are encountered. Joint registry databases are common in some countries, but not in the United States. Critic point out that having a database could prevent the implanting of bad joint replacements by allowing doctors to know as soon as possible when a problem occurs.

Should the U.S. have a National Joint Replacement Registry? Leave your comments!

Related: What is the best hip replacement implant? | Or best knee replacement implant?

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Will Your Joint Replacement Last? originally appeared on About.com Orthopedics on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 07:40:03.

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Exercise Treatments for Arthritis Pain Relief : Strengthening the Hip & Knee Joint: Exercise Treatment for Arthritis Pain Relief

via youtube.com

This is a great video, showing some cool exercises to relieve hip joint pain - just remember to start slow and take it easy on yourself

Posted via web from Hip Joint Pain

Hip joint pain from sports

One of the most common causes of hip joint pain is arthritis. The arthritis can be triggered or made worse by stress and wear and tear on the joint. Old sports injuries are a prime cause of this stress and wear so people that have an athletic background need to take special care to avoid serious hip joint pain in later life. Essentially the sports activity causes stress on the hip joint, which in turn accelerates the natural wearing of the cartilage. Some sports such as soccer are particularly intensive and it is common for soccer players to have surgery to repair or replace cartilage, especially in the knees. For the same reasons people that are overweight also run the risk of hip joint pain due to arthritis. Old people also tend to suffer more from hip joint pain caused by arthritis, usually this is from natural wear and tear; as your hip joint ball and socket rub together the cartilage that covers the end of each bone wears out, once the cartilage is gone the two ends of the bone rubbed together causing extreme hip joint pain. If this condition is left untreated long enough then he may be necessary to have hip replacement surgery.

Many athletes especially soccer and basketball players experience the joint pain although it is not necessarily due to the joint wearing away. In addition, strains can also be a cause of hip joint pain and as you can imagine most athletes put the muscles through an intense workout on a regular basis, which increases the likelihood of strains. In fact, many athletes live with muscle strains on a continual basis. Sports such as soccer and basketball placing great emphasis on running and jumping which are two of the activities that cause the most stress to the hip joints and as a result people that play these two sports on a regular basis are more likely to suffer from hip joint pain.

There are several different ways to treat and manage hip joint pain ranging from simple over-the-counter anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen, (that will relieve the pain and reduce inflammation of the hip joint) all the way through to hip replacement surgery. Topical creams are also available that can be routed to the area around the hip and depending upon the individual's case can be very effective. It seems that hip joint pain is very specific to the individual affected which means that different treatments work better on different people although to one treatment that seems to be almost universally effective is rest.