Hip osteoarthritis is truly a pain. Hips badly affected by arthritis can make bending, walking, and standing difficult. The last thing anyone with hip arthritis wants is to prolong the pain. If you are experiencing symptoms of hip arthritis, you want treatment and you want it now.
Let’s take a look at the nonsurgical treatment options available to you as well as the surgical procedures commonly performed for hip arthritis.
Nonsurgical Treatments
Available nonsurgical treatments for hip arthritis include injection therapy, physical therapy, and regenerative medicine.
- Cortisone Injection: One of the most effective hip arthritis treatments is cortisone injections. Patients can experience long-term relief from pain due to the powerful combination of anesthetic and steroids injected directly into the joint. Steroids are a powerful anti-inflammatory that help with the chronic swelling that comes with arthritis. Cortisone injections tend to work best in hip arthritis patients who are still able to move their hip joint, usually in the early stages of arthritis.
- Viscosupplementation: A type of injection therapy that involves injecting hyaluronic acid (HA) to provide lubrication to the hip joint. Since arthritis tends to affect synovial fluid production, which keeps joints lubricated, viscosupplementation provides relief to stiff hip joints.
- Physical therapy: Hip arthritis patients can benefit from a customized physical therapy program. Pain relief and improved mobility and range of motion are just a few benefits of physical therapy. Plus, physical therapy not only includes exercises but also modalities such as electrical stimulation, which can help improve hip arthritis symptoms and prevent disability.
- Regenerative medicine: Many hip arthritis patients experience relief from symptoms after several sessions of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy. PRP therapy involves creating a concentration of blood platelets and injecting it directly into the hip joint to relieve pain and inflammation by triggering the body’s natural healing processes to fix the damage in the area.
Surgical Treatments
Surgical treatment for hip arthritis involves either arthroscopic repair or replacing the damaged joint. Pain when moving the hip joint may be relieved by removing pieces of loose cartilage and bone that are preventing smooth movement. An orthopedic surgeon can remove the fragments in a minimally-invasive procedure called arthroscopic debridement. Many hip arthritis patients experience relief soon after the procedure.
Patients with end-stage hip arthritis may benefit from a total hip joint replacement. An orthopedic surgeon can replace the damaged joint and tissue using minimally-invasive techniques. The damaged femoral head is replaced with a metal prosthesis, while the damaged socket is replaced with a plastic prosthesis. Total hip replacement has the potential to dramatically improve hip arthritis symptoms, however, not everyone is eligible for the procedure.
Hip Arthritis Treatment in Melbourne, FL
If you want to know what treatment options are available to you, come in for a consultation with Dr. Nicholas Giordano of Central Florida Spine & Pain. Dr. Giordano is a leading orthopedic surgeon in Central Florida committed to the relief and recovery of each patient. We offer patients interventional pain management therapies and minimally-invasive therapies for arthritis treatment. Nothing makes us happier than helping our patients suffering from mild to severe pain and stiffness experience relief. To make an appointment with Dr. Giordano, call our clinic at (321) 802-5021 or use our convenient online request form.
