Who is a good candidate for total hip replacement?

Pain... : The decision to pursue a joint replacement is based on your perception of how significantly your quality of life is being limited by the pain you are suffering due to arthritis. This is primarily a quality of life decision. You should be the person who determines when it needs to be done after your surgeon mentions that it is a consideration.

Life is affected: If you have activity-limiting hip pain and have a bone on bone appearance on your xray, you are a good candidate. I also like my patients to understand the limitations and be willing to modify their activities. I prefer that my patients avoid running or other high impact sports.

Arthitis: Patients need to have symptomatic pain from arthritis of the hip. This is confirmed with exam and x-rays. Before surgery, wt loss, arthritis medicine, use of cane, and possibly an intra-articular injection. Hip arthritis is becoming more prevalent with the average patient age for surgery decreasing. There are very few exclusions for patients eligible for tha once the above criteria has been met.