[Jeff Higgins]

Time for an update.

This has been one hell of a summer. My hip dislocated three more times since I started this thread. Just met with my orthopedic surgeon this morning to discuss options. It turns out that surgery is the only option. Fortunately, due to the design of the replacement parts, it will be far less invasive than the initial replacement.

The cup shaped insert in my pelvic bone actually has a replaceable insert. The current insert is 36mm in diameter. We are going to replace it with a 40mm insert. The ball on top of the femur insert will then get a 40mm liner popped over its top. It's that easy. Drive through window at the hospital.

It turns out that my L4, L5, and S1 vertebra are essentially fused. Because they are, they limit the fore/aft tipping range of motion of my pelvic bone. Because it does not rotate as much, the result is a requirement to make up that range of motion somewhere else when I move my legs. That "somewhere else" is in the hip joint. In my case, that results in the shaft on the femur insert fouling on the lip of the cup in my pelvis, leveraging the ball out of the cup. The extra diameter will allow for enough of an increase in the range of motion to prevent that contact.

The plan is to do this sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Rainy, crappy time of year up here anyway. Since the surgery is far less invasive than the first time, the recovery will be that much quicker as well.

I'm relieved that we found the "smoking gun". We x-rayed my lower back and hip from the side to check range of motion between sitting and standing. My pelvis essentially did not change position, or angle, between the two positions. Not good. It should have tilted at least 20 degrees. So, well, at least we have something to fix. Hopefully I can keep it in place until then. I think having a clear understanding of why it pops out will help with that.