What is medical realignment?

Hip dislocation or hip impingement issues cause severe pain. A hip dislocation happens when a thigh bone or femur slips out of your hip bone socket. It's considered a trauma. Hip dislocation happens in adults and in children. Hip impingement is a broad term that covers hip deformities or extra bones or cartilage causing pain.

Treatment for each depends on the severity and location of your condition. In many cases, the solution is medical realignment of your hip, also called an osteotomy. A hip osteotomy prepares the hip joint bones for your surgeon to correctly position and reconstruct them. 

When is medical realignment of the hip conducted? 

The surgical procedure corrects problems with the femur and hip joint. Doctors may also do this instead of a total hip replacement to preserve as much of your natural, healthy hip as possible. The realignment surgery involves cutting the bone so the doctor can position it back to its normal place. Surgeons also find and eliminate fragments of bones in the area. Having bone fragments in your hip means the area heals poorly and can continue to stay out of alignment. 

What to expect from medical realignment of the hip

A hip osteotomy requires general anesthesia. That means you're fully asleep for the operation. Your surgeon makes an incision at your hip joint. The damaged bone and tissue are cut away. The surgeon prepares the bone and tissue to put it into the hip joint. The surgeon then stabilizes the joint with a metal plate or pin. The surgery corrects and redirects the shape and alignment of the bones and tissue in your hip.

Conditions that may require medical realignment

There are conditions that can cause the need for a medical hip alignment, including:

  • Hip socket fractures
  • Hip impingement issues
  • Tears to the labrum (rim of hip socket)
  • Articular cartilage damage at the hip joint
  • Femoral neck anteversion and retroversion (excessive angles)

In younger patients, hip dysplasia may require medical realignment. Hip dysplasia means that the femoral head doesn't sit correctly in the hip joint. The surgery can fix the poorly developed areas of the hip joint. Early intervention to repair hip alignment reduces pain and may delay arthritis damage to your hip.

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