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Alternative To Hip Replacement Helps Patients Remain Physically Active

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on April 17, 2025.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 17, 2025 — Jason Cutter had been feeling pain in his hips for years, and it had started to put a dent in his activities as an amateur hockey player and outdoorsman.

Cutter, 50, chalked up his hip problems to aging, insufficient stretching and strain from the heavy tool belts he wore during his side hustle as a house remodeler.

But former professional hockey players in Cutter’s rec league said his pain could be coming from the hip joint itself, and urged him to see an orthopedic surgeon.

Cutter wound up getting an alternative to total hip replacement surgery that can help hardcore athletes and weekend warriors with hip problems stay in the game and remain highly active.

The procedure, called Birmingham hip resurfacing, allows three times as many patients to remain active in high-intensity sports compared to total hip replacement, according to a new study in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

Total hip replacements often limit recipients’ ability to participate in high-impact or intense physical activity, researchers said.

But Birmingham hip resurfacing is much more likely to allow patients in their 30s, 40s or 50s to stay active in demanding sports, researchers said.

In the procedure, only the hip socket is replaced, and the head of the thigh bone is resurfaced to work more smoothly with the new socket, researchers said.

For the new study, researchers compared Birmingham hip resurfacing patients to those who opted for a total hip replacement, in which the head of the thigh bone is removed so a complete ball-and-socket mechanism can be installed.

Tracking 224 patients age 35 to 59 who underwent the procedure between 2006 and 2013, researchers found about that 60% remained highly active compared to 20% of patients who got a full hip replacement.

“Compared with a total hip replacement, three times as many patients who had hip resurfacing successfully returned, 5 to 10 years later, to running and cutting sports — those requiring rapid turns and shifts, such as basketball and tennis,” senior researcher Dr. Robert Barrack, a professor of orthopedic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a news release.

“Remarkably, almost all are still active — an average of 14 years after surgery,” Barrack added.

Results also showed that the surgery has a good long-term track record. Fewer than 4% of patients who had their hips resurfaced needed a follow-up procedure for any reason, even 15 years after the operation.

Three months after he underwent a hip resurfacing, Cutter was cleared to get back on the ice and resume hockey play.

“I’m squatting, I’m doing all my leg exercises. I’m stretching — I feel fantastic,” he said.

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted April 2025

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