Published on Jan 24, 2016

More than 300,000 people have complete hip replacement surgeries in the U.S. every year.

“What happens is the bone wears away, there becomes a pain generator within the hip joint, and you have to remove the arthritic portions of the joint and replace those arthritic portions,” says Dr. Daniel Harmon, who is an orthopedic surgeon on medical staff of Lee Memorial Health System.

New surgical techniques are resulting in less discomfort and shorter recovery times. The anterior or frontal approach is less likely to result in complications from conventional surgery.

“In the traditional approaches you always had to watch your range of motion afterwards. What’s nice with the anterior approach is that there are no hip precautions following surgery,” says Dr. Harmon.

Today’s joint patients have higher expectations than in years past. Sure they want to get rid of pain, but they also want to restore function and to get back to the things they love.

“The first six weeks there’s less use of narcotics, less use of walking aids, earlier return to functional status, early return to mobility,” says Dr. Harmon.

Jack Suhshko was suffering from severe arthritis, and Dr. Harmon used the anterior method to replace his hip. That was six weeks ago, and today Jack says his quality of life has never been better.

“I’m not worried about my hip at all. I go up and down two flights of stairs. I walk a half a mile to a mile every day,” says Suhshko.

And it looks like he’s not slowing down any time soon.

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Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of medical care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For nearly a century, we’ve been providing our community with everything from primary care treatment to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.