Hip Replacements: Changes Over 50 Years

Total Hip Replacement operations, as we now know them, have been performed in the United States since the late 1960s. In many cases, the post-op hospitalizations for the early operations lasted for two to three weeks and sometimes required that patients be in traction for much of that time. Now, 50 years later, many of these operations are increasingly performed as outpatients. This talk will review the history of this evolution and how this dramatic change has been accomplished.