Question
Hi,
   You have helped me before.  My mom is out of rehab after having her hip replaced, and having it dislocate.  Now, everything seems to be going as I might expect.  But, here are some questions:
1)  Is it likely that the surgeon did something wrong that caused the dislocation ?
2) I imagined that the surgery would allow a person to live with so much more freedom, but, in fact, the restrictions on kinds of movements are pretty strict.  What do you consider to be the most important precaution to avoid a dislocation ?
3)  Could you put me in touch with a person who had the surgery, had a dislocation, and now is very happy with his or her recovery ?  I want to assure my mom that things may be very good for her.
    Thanks for any help you can give me !
                 Neil  

Answer
Neil:
I had several dislocations.  Sometimes the hip dislocates because the patient went over the 90 degree angle, turned a leg inward, slipped, or the muscles are not strong enough to hold the prosthsis in place.  How long has it been since her replacement surgery? You normally have to be very careful for the first 3-6 months, and then you can "loosen up a bit".

If a prosthesis dislocates, the surgeon will pop the leg back in and all should be fine.

I don't know if the surgeon did anything wrong.  I am sure the hip was stable when she came out of surgery.  It may have been a freak thing.  The only problem with a dislocation is that once it happens, your mom has to be even more diligient with her precautions because she is at a higher risk for another dislocation.  The most important thing for her to remember is not to turn the knee inwards, or go over a 90 degree angle while sitting.  She should sleep with her abduction pillow all the time.  Use a cane until the muscles heal since she will have a lot of muscle pain for a few weeks from the dislocation.

Is her replacement cement or ceramic?  The cement ones have a lower rate of dislocation, than the ceramic hips.

This may have been a freak accident.  Just be sure she follows the instructions perfectly.  If she continues to have dislocations, (I had many), the final impact may be that she will have a failed hip and they will have to go in and put in a larger cup, which was what happened to me.  It's not fun, and dislocations hurt like hell.  Be sure she carries a cell phone or pager with her ALL THE TIME.  In case she has an accident.  I always have a cell phone in my pocket no matter what.

If they have to put in a larger cup, that's a good thing.  Once they revised my hip and got the larger cup in there, I stopped having dislocations.

Sharon