Dr Simon Young, an orthopaedic surgeon, says the idea is that a hip replacement should last as long as you do. A good way to think about how long a hip replacement will last, whether it be 10 or 15 years or more, is to think about it in terms of your Lifetime Risk of Revision. This is the likelihood that your new hip will last the rest of your life, revision means changing it, so needing to have another operation. The key factor in this equation is your age when you have your hip replaced. For every person who receives a new hip, the goal is for it to last forever.

If you are in your seventies, eighties, or nineties, not only is there less time that it will have to last, but what you do on your hip will be different to what you do in earlier phases of your life. Someone in their eighties will do much less on their hip than someone in their forties. You will get more wear when you have a hip replacement younger.

The graph below shows that for someone in their nineties, there is about a 5% chance that their hip will need changing in future. Whereas for someone who has a hip replacement in their forties or fifties, there’s around a 25 to 30% chance that it would not last their whole life and they would need another hip replacement.

Lifetime risk of requiring a hip revision comparing age and sex.

Good news! The most likely scenario is that your new hip will last you the rest of your life 😊

The younger you are, the more chance you will need it changed at some point in your life, but don’t let that stop you from moving around, exercising and doing the things you love after hip replacement surgery. Talk to your surgeon about your lifestyle and the activities you love so that they can tailor the surgery and hip replacement parts to your needs and give specific advice about how hard you can go on your new hip.

Older hip replacements: What is the life cycle of my older hip replacement that I had done 27 and 21 years ago?

Dr Simon says that the hips they were putting in 27 years ago will have been made out of materials that aren’t as technologically advanced as what is available now, but they were still designed to last. If you aren’t experiencing any pain or problems, then there’s nothing to worry about.

If you did get symptoms, or you haven’t had an X-ray for around 15 years, Dr Simon suggests that you go to your G.P. and get an X-ray to check up on how your hip replacement is, particularly if you have symptoms. Hips that have lived with you through a lot of movement over a long lifespan can start to wear. Hopefully, everything is still working as it should, and you don’t need a revision, but if you do need a revision, you can expect that to last the rest of your life. Nowadays, hips don’t have a set lifespan of 10 or 15 years; Dr Simon says that when hip replacement surgeries are done, they are expected to last the rest of your life.

More information:

Article: What do I need to know before my hip replacement surgery? (arthritis.org.nz)

Webinar: Exploring hip replacement surgery with an orthopaedic surgeon and a patient.

This article was written by Tracey Kellett, Online Health Advisor