Overview
Treatments to reduce pain, restore hip function and prevent osteoarthritis
Hip preservation uses different surgical techniques to treat hip pain and restore hip function.
It can help you reduce your risk for premature arthritis and hip replacement surgery in your later years. Hip preservation procedures may be beneficial for patients who experience pain due to a torn hip labrum, athletes who put their hips through extreme ranges of motion, and people who are diagnosed with hip dysplasia and have pain related to undercoverage of the hip socket.
Hip preservation is rapidly evolving, and the latest techniques allow for a broad range of patients, including high-performance athletes, to maintain normal hip function.
About
What is hip preservation?
Hip preservation includes a group of orthopedic surgical procedures. These treatments aim to help your hip joint move more easily and with less pain.
The goal of hip preservation is to slow the damage caused by osteoarthritis and delay the need for a total hip joint replacement.
The hip joint allows your leg to move through a wide range of motions. The joint is a cup-shaped socket and a ball at the top of your thigh bone. The socket is lined with cartilage that cushions the bones and allows smooth leg movement, and the labrum sits around the acetabulum to provide a suction seal to the hip. When the labrum is torn, patients can experience pain and mechanical symptoms in the hip, most often felt at the groin. When the cartilage that lines the socket and ball begins to wear down, osteoarthritis occurs and can cause hip pain and limited motion.
Treatment process
What you can expect from hip preservation
Your care team decides the right hip preservation procedure for you.
Hip arthroscopy
We repair torn labrum cartilage, remove extra bone or bone chips and can trim unstable cartilage. This improves movement of the hip and reduces pain.
Meet our team
Hip preservation experts at your side
UW Health's hip preservation program is staffed by a team of experts, including orthopedic surgeons, non-operative sports medicine and rehabilitation doctors, physical therapists and athletic trainers.
Locations
Hip preservation care locations
We provide specialized hip preservation at UW Health clinics in Madison.
Patient stories
Success in motion
Patient resources
Rehabilitation guidelines
Getting you back to the activities you enjoy
Joint pain, a broken bone or other conditions that affect how your body moves can sideline you from the activities you enjoy. Our orthopedic specialists can treat your orthopedic needs.
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