Hip Replacements

Unfortunately I’m old enough to remember the time before hip replacements and knee replacements were offered to everyone!

I can remember my grandma’s friends with twisted knobbly knees and creaky hips walking with difficulty on their errands around the village and catching the bus into town. Sensible shoes and even a hat for the weekly trip to the town to wander around the shops and have a cup of tea in the department store!

My first ‘job’ in the hospital when I was a student was taking the osteoarthritis knee group. I can still feel the terror of standing outside the physio gym door with a group of 10 older ladies waiting inside for me to run the class. They were all old hands because in those ‘olden times’ as my children like to call them, the physio gym was the place these ladies came every week for 3 months to do their knee exercise class. Most of them had already had 1 or even 2 students take the class because we were only there for 6 weeks at a time.

There was no option for replacements then. They had to find ways to relieve the pain and keep mobile. Our exercise classes helped so most of them did 3 months on and 3 months off.

When I plucked up the courage to walk in and found them already on the mats on the floor (shock horror) I realised there was nothing to be scared of. They are very happy memories of exercising while chatting about anything and everything-often not to be repeated! I still have a recipe I was given at the end of my 6 weeks-I didn’t save the cake that went with it! The hardest part of that class was helping 15 ladies off the floor at the end!

I also remember the orthopaedic wards when a fall and a broken hip meant 8-12 weeks in bed on traction. My job was to go to everyone and give them bed exercises. Often we would do them as a group but not everyone wanted to join in! There was lots of encouragement from the ward when it was their turn to start getting out of bed and learn to walk again. By then everyone knew each other well! After weeks in bed, learning to walk again wasn’t easy and trips to the gym happened most days. I can remember rollator walking frames being introduced into the NHS and what a difference it made. Adding wheels so frail, weak ladies in particular didn’t need to pick up the frame every step. What progress!

Sadly what they realised was that older people didn’t recover well from weeks in bed. Many didn’t survive the traction and if they did few made a good enough recovery to go home and back to normal life. Apparently most people who fell and fractured a hip would be dead within 12 months. Hip replacements for fractured hips has saved many people from an early death. It might feel like they are hurrying you out of hospital but the reason they are so keen to get you up on day 1 or 2 after surgery for a broken hip is the sooner you are up and moving around the better for your long term health.

40 years on and hip replacements are available for everyone. No longer do people have to suffer with pain and stiffness for years and years in their later life, instead a straight forward operation and they are as good as new. Same with knee replacements. The waiting list may be long for surgery but the option is there to give you better movement and reduce the pain you feel.

There are other joint replacements too-shoulders, ankles, fingers that are less common and possibly less successful.

 How amazing are the advances to keep us active and reduce our pain!

I guess we should count our blessings and be glad we are not sentenced to pain and disability with arthritis like our parents and grandparents, that we have options and choices. Let’s choose to stay as strong and active as we can so that we can look after ourselves and enjoy life for as long as possible.