"Fusion is an option very rarely done at this point." Doctor Thomas P. Sculco, Surgeon-in-Chief at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, comments on the old practice of hip fusion as a form of hip surgery and notes it is rarely done today.

Dr. Sculco



Fusion is an option very rarely done at this point.



Another procedure that was used history much much less today was hip fusion. So if the two joint surfaces are destroyed we would fuse the two surfaces. So basically create a stiff joint and take the pain away by not allowing any motion in that joint. Now of course the downside is that once the joint is fused it doesn't move. The knee will move. And you will be able to walk actually very well. Because motion will be picked up in your spine and other areas as you walk. The problem of course is that load is great on the spine as a result of that. And many of these patients developed arthritis in their back 20 or 30 years later. But fusion is an option. Very rarely done at this point. But can be considered in a young person who is a working person. A laborer. Gonna but huge loads on the joint. Where you may not want to subject an implant to those loads for 30, 40, 50 years.