{"id":26301,"date":"2019-11-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tmc.edu\/news\/2019\/11\/conformis-custom-hips\/"},"modified":"2020-01-06T19:22:34","modified_gmt":"2020-01-06T19:22:34","slug":"conformis-custom-hips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tmc.edu\/news\/2019\/11\/conformis-custom-hips\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting fitted with a custom hip"},"content":{"rendered":"
The pain in Kathy LeTourneau\u2019s hips was excruciating\u2014for years. Her doctors in Longview, Texas, finally diagnosed her with osteoarthritis in both hips.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a constant pain,\u201d LeTourneau, 68, said. \u201cIt just kept getting worse and worse. I\u2019m not one to give up, so I just kept working through it, but I gained weight because I wasn\u2019t exercising a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, affects more than 30 million adults in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>. It can develop in any joint in the body, but it is particularly common in hips, since they bear so much of the body\u2019s weight.<\/p>\n Osteoarthritis can occur for a variety of reasons, including age, obesity, genetics and overuse or repetitive stress on the joints.<\/p>\n The pain in LeTourneau\u2019s hips turned small, everyday movements into agony. Lifting her legs and sitting down to get in and out of her car or into her shower-tub combination pushed pain up into her hips. Simple household chores, like vacuuming, became arduous tasks that took a physical toll on her body.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything that we take for granted was really affected,\u201d LeTourneau said. \u201cNot being able to do things, like play in the park with my kids or take walks, was hard.\u201d<\/p>\n In the hip, the femoral head\u2014the highest part of the femur, or thigh bone\u2014is connected to the large pelvic bone like a ball and socket, with a layer of cartilage between. Synovial fluid lubricates the joints to reduce friction, allowing the leg to move and swivel smoothly at the hip joint. But when the cartilage that provides padding breaks down to the point where there is direct bone-to-bone contact, aches, pains, stiffness, swelling and decreased range of motion and flexibility can occur.<\/p>\n A hip replacement is the common treatment.<\/p>\n After a colleague from work underwent a successful knee replacement surgery by Terry Clyburn, M.D.<\/a>, an orthopedic surgeon at Houston Methodist Hospital, LeTourneau decided Houston was where she needed to go. Fortunately for her, Clyburn, an expert in implanting customized knee replacements uniquely tailored to each individual patient using technology from a company called Conformis<\/a>, was just starting to use the Conformis Hip System, as well. He was one of the first 10 surgeons in the nation to offer custom hip replacements and is currently the only surgeon in Houston performing them.<\/p>\n