Hip Surgeon in Anchorage, Alaska

Pain and stiffness in or around your hip joint can make life difficult. In fact, chronic hip pain can be debilitating. What’s more, hip conditions can worsen without proper treatment. That’s why it’s imperative to meet with a hip specialist any time you experience major discomfort in your hip.

The good news is that hip pain is treatable through the use of hip surgery or nonsurgical treatments. When you visit our orthopedic care specialists, the first step is reaching an accurate diagnosis. This is done through careful evaluation with a physical exam and the use of imaging, such as X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These tools allow our surgeons to get a good sense of which hip injuries or hip disorders are causing your joint pain.

Our doctors treat a wide range of hip conditions. The most common causes of hip pain include:

• Arthritis
• Avascular necrosis
• Broken bones, or hip fractures, including femoral, pelvic, or acetabular fractures
• Bursitis of the hip
• Femoroacetabular impingement
• Hip dislocation
• Hip strains
• Labral tears of the hip
• Sports-related accidents

After diagnosis, our specialty-trained surgeons will walk you through any nonsurgical options available, reserving surgery for only severe hip joint problems. Some of the most common options for patients include medicine, physical therapy, nonoperative sports medicine care, and/or orthotic devices.

If surgery is necessary, one of our hip surgeons can explain which surgical procedures can help you and perform the surgery you need using the latest surgical techniques. Whenever possible, our surgeons will use minimally invasive methods in surgery, such as hip arthroscopy.

One of the most common reconstructive hip surgeries our surgeons perform is hip replacement. This includes total hip replacement, partial hip resurfacing surgery, or hip replacement using the anterior approach. Similar to other joint replacement surgeries, like knee replacement, these procedures involve having all or part of your natural joint removed then replaced with artificial components.

When You Should See a Doctor to Treat Your Hip Pain

For most patients, occasional soreness or stiffness in the hip isn’t cause for alarm. However, we recommend patients seek an orthopedic surgeon if:

• The pain in your hip leads to limited mobility, preventing you from fulfilling your daily tasks.
• The pain in your hip keeps you awake at night.
• You find that your hip pain is unresponsive to home remedies.
• Your hip pain lasts for more than a couple of days.
• The pain in your hip extends to other body parts, including your knee.
• You have hip pain as a direct result of a traumatic accident, like a car crash or a sports injury.