Muscle Sparing Enhanced Recovery Hip Replacement

Muscle sparing enhanced recovery hip replacement is an incredible minimally invasive hip replacement technique which is now being used at Spire South Bank Hospital. It enables patients to be discharged 48 hours after surgery and to walk unaided within just a few days post operation.

Muscle sparing enhanced recovery hip replacement is a total hip technique being performed by a growing number of trained surgeons, and by Mr Nadim Aslam. By never surgically dislocating the hip, there is little trauma to the surrounding muscles and tendons. With this surgical technique, the implant is built inside the body, so the hip is never twisted into unnatural positions during surgery – a common element to many other hip procedures. With the muscle sparing enhanced recovery hip replacement, no muscles or tendons are cut during the procedure.

“Patients have made an enhanced recovery with this muscle preserving approach and are more confident with their hips at an earlier stage. I believe this is due to the fact that by reducing muscle and capsule damage, they keep more of their joint positional sense”

“Patients are able to drive and return to work much earlier. They require less long term analgesia”.

An incision in a muscle sparing enhanced recovery hip replacement procedure can be similar to the MIS incision shown below. This is often far smaller than an incision in a traditional total hip replacement procedure. More important than the incision is the fact the muscles are preserved leading to early stability and allowing patients to sleep on their side earlier.

In a muscle sparing enhanced recovery hip replacement procedure (left image), key muscles are parted, and not resected (cut) always.

This enables the patient to mobilise swiftly after surgery, possibly returning to normal daily living activities, without restrictions, more quickly than in a traditional total hip replacement, where the muscles are resected (right image).

Mr Aslam said “A new minimally invasive, tissue sparing total hip replacement. By not cutting any muscles around the hip and working through a small ‘window’ in the tissues, the hip can be replaced with minimal soft tissue damage. This leads to faster recovery, shorter hospital stay and long-term return to full function”.