When osteoarthritis settles in your hip joint, you may only feel slight discomfort at its onset. As osteoarthritis progresses, however, you may lose a lot of mobility, have increased episodes of intense pain and also decrease your chances of a simpler type of hip surgery like re-surfacing the joint. While these are debilitating symptoms that can directly impact your daily life, you should know that putting off hip surgery can also lead to other, more serious health issues.
Heart Disease Is Harder To Treat And Is More Dangerous Than Hip Pain
When your hip joint becomes extremely painful because of advanced osteoarthritis, you may have no choice but to become less active. As you begin to give up daily activities like exercise, you have higher chances of gaining weight. Gaining weight and leading a sedentary lifestyle are high risk factors for heart disease. Heart disease is a lot more dangerous than an arthritic hip, so if you are putting of hip surgery because you dread dealing with it or you are afraid of experiencing greater pain, you should weigh the risks of not having it. Consider the pain that may be associated with heart surgery, the risk of dying from a major heart attack or living with the after effects of a serious stroke.
Increasing The Risk Of Having Two Bad Hip Joints Instead Of One
If you have a bad hip, you are probably putting a lot more weight on your other hip. You should know that over time, putting more weight on your good hip can cause it to become prematurely worn out, increasing your risk of needing two hip joints replaced rather than just one. If both of your hip joints become worn out, your risk of falling and getting seriously injured also increases. If you start favoring both hips, you may begin sitting a lot more than you used to, leading the way to serious muscle atrophy, a condition that entails your muscles losing mass and becoming weak and less contributory to mobility.
Limping Leads To Lower Back Problems
Favoring your bad hip usually causes you to limp. Limping around the house for a day may have already caused your lower back to ache and throb. You should know that limping, even off and on every few days, can cause unnecessary wear and tear on your lower back that will lead to the progression of degenerative forms of arthritis in your spine. When you stop to think about how one hip problems can ultimately lead to you being painfully immobile, the reasons you might have for putting off hip surgery may become a lot less important.
If you have exhausted other treatments for hip pain like corticosteroid injections, medication and physical therapy, the time to seriously consider hip surgery is at hand. For more information, contact Orthopaedic Associates Of Osceola or a similar location.
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