“Does hip arthritis require hip replacement?”

Total hip replacement should be considered when
1) Severe Pain
2) marked joint space narrowing ( bone on bone )
3) inability to walk and perform usual tasks

Hey, the indication for joint replacement is pain if your arthritis is well managed you may not need one but yes end of the road may be a joint replacement surgery which has gotten really good.

Surgery is always the last resort for any situation. How long have you had hip arthritis? Early on, the pain is not constant & is relieved with NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory meds like advil or motrin (both are generic ibuprofen) or aleve (generic naproxen). But if you take NSAIDs daily for a year, there is a 0.6% risk of getting a stomach ulcer. Hopefully you only need to take NSAIDs for hip pain 3x/week. Any arthritic joint is more painful when there is no movement (e.g. getting out of the car after a long drive or getting out of bed after sleeping for
6 hrs). Therefore exercise (that is why physical therapy is helpful) & movement is critical. Also keeping our weight down is important.
BUT if you have severe pain that interferes with your ability to be independent and do your ADL (activity of daily life - like personal hygiene & cooking & going to work, etc) and your doctor says your joint is bone on bone - go for the surgery. My patients who have had the surgery often tell me they wished they had done it sooner & not suffered the way they did.

Yes, if it bothers you.

Not always. There are many ways to mitigate the potential discomfort experienced with hip joint arthritis.

Sometimes yes. Depends on the state of Decay. I see people who are geared for surgery after multiple injections and mostly have a huge success with them. There is always a chance that it can or will need surgery. If you do nothing, yes. It will degenerate and it will lead to more pain and dysfunction.

Hip arthritis CAN require a hip replacement, that does not mean it will always mean that though. To determine the severity, it would be wise to bring your radiographs/X-rays and the report to the chiropractor so they may explain the situation you are in and set you up with a treatment plan that will allow for maximum movement without creating more damage. The trick with arthritis is to keep the joints mobile because as time goes on without movement, the joints simply get more and more stiff, with the connective tissues acting as a kind of cast.
Thank you for the question, I hope it helped.

Sincerely,

Dr. Morales, D.C.