Resurfacing: if it works for driveways why not hips? A new option for active boomers

After years of trying, a new approach from Europe for aching hips is now in clinical trials in the United States. It's called the "Birmingham Hip Resurfacing System" and involves covering a damaged hip's ball and socket with smooth metal rather than cutting away worn bone and replacing it.

The Birmingham approach reportedly uses longer-lasting materials with the expectation that the hip joint will be able to hold up to the heavy recreation of today's 40- and 50-somethings even better than traditional hip implants. In a typical hip replacement, surgeons cut off the femoral head, the joint's ball, and then replace it with a metal ball mounted on a rod implanted deep in the thigh bone. A plastic socket replaces the original. Those artificial hips can bring tremendous relief to people crippled by hip pain.

But the metal-on-plastic friction means that traditional hip implants can begin to wear out in about 15 years, and possibly earlier in an active individual. For the average 60+ year-old, that's not an issue. However, a 50-year-old could very well wear out an initial replacement and have little thigh bone left to fit another--not a good prospect. This has limited the options for relief for active individuals in middle age making the possibilities of hip resurfacing so appealing.

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