Health

When you visit with your orthopedic surgeon, several important pieces of information will be gathered. The medical history, physical exam, and imaging studies are all key components to diagnosing your hip arthritis and to decide what type of treatment is most appropriate for you.

The “history” is the story of your hip pain. The surgeon will inquire how long you have had pain, where you have pain, its severity, how this affects your ability to function and perform daily activities, previous treatments, and your past medical history. Feel free to express how your hip pain affects your quality of life and what your expectations are after treatment. These are all important pieces of information that your surgeon needs to know in order to understand your perspective on your hip pain.

The orthopedic surgeon will then perform a physical examination of your hip. It is important for your surgeon to see how you walk, how your back works, the lengths of your legs, how your hip moves, where your hip hurts, and if the muscles, nerves and blood vessels in your legs all work well. The physical exam allows the surgeon to make a diagnosis and to determine if surgery is needed for your artrhitic hip.

Imaging studies are an important part of your visit with the surgeon. X-rays allow the surgeon to see the amount of cartilage worn away in your hip joint, bone spurs, and if there is anything unusual with the bony anatomy.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests are sometimes performed to assess the soft tissue structures such as the ligaments and cartilage of the hip. When an x-ray beam passes through the hip, the bones catch the beams and appear bright on the x-ray, but the beams pass right though the soft tissues and cartilage, so these are not visible. The MRI is a good test to look for labral tears, stress fractures, the health of the articular cartilage, and the amount of blood supply to the ball of the hip joint. This is particularly useful if the plain x-rays do not show any significant arthritic changes.

Once the surgeon has been able to hear your history, examine your hip, and review the imaging studies, a diagnosis can be made. Once the diagnosis is made, the surgeon can then discuss the treatment options with you. After the surgeon discusses the treatment options and makes a recommendation, you will need to decide which course of action to take.