The hip is one of the largest weight-bearing joints in the body. When it's working properly, it enables you to walk, sit, bend and turn without pain. To keep it moving smoothly, a complex network of bones, cartilage, muscles, ligaments and tendons must all work in harmony.

The hip is a very stable ball-and-socket joint: A ball at the top of the thighbone fits into a rounded socket or cup-like cavity in your pelvis. Bands of tissues called ligaments form a capsule connecting the ball to the socket and hold the bones in place.

A layer of smooth tissue called cartilage cushions the surface of the bones, helping the ball to rotate easily in the socket. Fluid-filled sacs cushion the area where muscles or tendons glide across bone. The capsule surrounding the joint also has a lining that secretes a clear liquid called synovial fluid. This fluid lubricates the joint, further reducing friction and making movement easier.

Injury or disease can damage your hip in several ways, resulting in a broken or deteriorated bone, irritated bursae or worn cartilage. Damaged cartilage can lead to various forms of arthritis. The three most common types are osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and traumatic arthritis.

The objective of general hip care is to maintain daily activity through stretching while contributing to strength and cardiovascular fitness. Keeping weight down decreases stress across the hip joint. If arthritis is already present, consider low impact exercise like elliptical training, walking, swimming and biking.

• Orthopedic hip surgery to replace all or part of the hip joint with an artificial joint called
  a prosthesis
• Damaged cartilage and bone are removed before new metal, plastic or ceramic joint surfaces are inserted
• Removing damaged or arthritic cartilage decreases long-term pain and enables
  bone realignment
• Procedure may take several hours and rehabilitation is prescribed following the operation
• An artificial hip joint has 4 parts:

  A socket that replaces your old hip socket. A liner that fits inside the socket. A metal or ceramic ball that will replace the round head of your thigh bone. A metal stem attached to the shaft of the bone to add stability to the joint.

• A typical hospital stay is 3-4 days

• Less radical orthopedic procedure that provides an alternative to total hip replacement
• Appropriate for younger, active people; it enables them to return to activities they enjoyed prior to their hip problems
• Replaces worn ball-and-socket surfaces in the joint with smooth, durable high carbide cobalt chrome. A metal cap that locks onto the top of the hip bone and corresponds with a smooth metal socket that is locked into the pelvic joint
• After resurfacing, instead of grinding bone on bone, the resurfaced metal on metal hip joint glides with a smooth natural motion

• Used to remove loose cartilage, repair labral tears or remove problematic bone spurs
• Several small incisions are made around the hip joint, an endoscope is inserted into the incisions and images are projected onto a screen
• This minimally invasive procedure is best for patients who are younger, active and in overall good health
• Recovery is much faster than with large incision surgeries

• When a labral tear of the hip occurs, a piece of this tissue can become pinched in the joint causing pain and catching sensations
• Loose bodies are pieces of cartilage that form within the joint. They look like small marbles floating within the joint space. These loose bodies can become caught within the hip
  during movements
• If something is catching within the hip joint, hip arthroscopy can be used to relieve
  this snapping
• Patients may sustain an injury causing a piece of cartilage to break away from the surface of the bone. These people may benefit from removal of that piece of cartilage.
• Patients with pinching of the hip joint may benefit from removal of the bone spurs causing
  this impingement
• Persistent hip bursitis (outer hip pain) that has failed injections and therapy