NEW ORLEANS -- The number of people needing a joint replacement is growing every year and is expected to be more than a million in the near future. That's because the baby boomers are aging with arthritis.
But now a less painful way of doing a hip replacement is becoming more popular in this area, and the healing time is much faster.
Patsy Searcy has a new lease on life, but not long ago she lived in constant pain.
"An intense pain right where your leg bends, and I thought, at first, it was from running, that I had sprained something or from exercise class and eventually my GP said, 'Go see an orthopedist,'" said Patsy Searcy.
At only 55, she was told she had osteoarthritis and bone spurs of her hip joint, and for nine months, her quality of life suffered.
"You end up not walking as much as you used to and not doing things just because the pain is debilitating," she explained.
At first Searcy was in denial that she needed a hip replacement, but soon began researching the best procedure and found that there was a way of doing it that gave patients a much faster and less painful recovery.
That lead her to Touro Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Richard Meyer. For the last few months, he has been doing his hip replacements in a way that helps patients heal much faster.
"Patients are able to get up much quicker. I mean literally, they're out of bed the same day or the next morning. They have much better muscle control and function. Most patients only use a walker or crutches for a week," Meyer said.
Here's how it works: normally doctors go through the buttocks in the back, or through the side of the body, to get to the hip joint. But for those procedures, important large muscles and tendons need to be cut.
"Patients are slow to get moving because of pain. They need extensive physical therapy afterwards, and there's also lots of hip precautions that are required. Many patients are not able to sit upright at 90 degrees because we are worried about the hip dislocating. You can not cross your legs or kneel down to tie your shoes," Meyer explained of doing the surgery through the buttocks or side of the body.
So Dr. Meyer goes through a four-inch incision on the front part of the body. That allows him to get to the hip joint by just moving and going through the natural separation of muscle groups. And with no muscle cutting, there's less pain and healing time.
There is another tool that allows doctors to have success cutting in the front of the hip, rather than from the back, and it all happens in the operating room.
There is a special table with movable sections for the patients' legs. After the doctor puts the socket in the hip bone, he can then lower the leg that he's working on, down towards the floor. That allows him much better access to the thigh bone where he puts the other part of the metal replacement.
"We can also be sure that the limb lengths are the same, and that's one of the things you worry about after hips replacements, is having one leg either too long or too short," Meyer said.
Searcy said she only took two weeks off from work when she had her surgery back in mid-June.
"They have you up and walking the day of the surgery. The day after, you do some stairs. Came in on Tuesday went home on Thursday, just with a walker, really only used that for a few days," said Searcy.
She said she's just back from a trip that she wouldn't have taken if she had not had this surgery.
"It's just really given me my life back. I don't have to think about, you know, am I going to feel up to doing this," she explained.
The average age for a hip replacement is in the 60s because of wear and tear arthritis, but doctors are seeing younger patients as well who have arthritis from injuries.
