Practical reading from Professor Paul Lee and the Lincolnshire Hip Clinic team — across hip replacement, Arthrosamid, ChondroFiller, PRP and the wider world of hip and groin pain.
Deep groin pain points most often to the hip joint, outer-hip tenderness to the greater trochanter region, and front-of-hip snapping to the iliopsoas bursa. Hip cortisone injections are not interchangeable: each targets a different pain generator and serves a different diagnostic or therapeutic purpose.
Prehabilitation before total hip replacement usually improves early function, walking speed and confidence, but its effects on long-term recovery are mixed. The most useful goals are walking, chair rises and stairs, alongside practice with aids, home preparation and safer early post-operative habits.
Arthrosamid is licensed for knee osteoarthritis, but some UK clinics are offering it off-label as an ultrasound-guided hip injection. Hip-specific evidence remains limited, so it sits as a private symptom-control option rather than a guideline-backed treatment for hip arthritis.
Most people leaving hospital after hip replacement need only simple home changes for the first one to three days: clear walking routes, raise chairs and toilets, keep essentials at waist height and have crutches or a frame ready.
Adult hip dysplasia can trigger early hip arthritis because the shallow socket spreads load poorly across the joint, increasing instability and wear on the labrum and cartilage; groin pain, clicking and a sense of the hip giving way are common clues.
There is no fixed age limit for hip replacement: suitability depends on persistent pain, stiffness, loss of function and overall health, not birthdays. After surgery, most people return to ordinary daily activity, but high-impact sport and heavy loading need caution because long-term implant survival remains mixed.
Groin or hip pain with clicking, catching, stiffness or a sense of abnormal movement, especially when it lasts for weeks or keeps returning, can point to a labral tear, dysplasia or instability rather than a simple strain. Worsening weight-bearing pain after steroid use, injury or heavy alcohol use raises concern for avascular necrosis.
Night-time hip pain is often a symptom pattern rather than a diagnosis: it may reflect pressure from side-sleeping or underlying problems such as greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS), hip osteoarthritis or femoroacetabular impingement. Pain over the outer bony point that worsens when lying on that side fits GTPS, while pain deep in the groin or front of the hip with stiffness, clicking or catching points to the hip joint itself. Simple changes such as adjusting sleep position, brief ice and load reduction may help, but night pain that lasts beyond 2 weeks, keeps returning or is worsening deserves proper assessment rather than repeated self-diagnosis.
Hip replacement choices usually turn on two decisions: whether to replace only the femoral head and neck, or both sides of the joint, and which surgical route to use. Total hip replacement is standard for arthritis, hemiarthroplasty for many displaced fractures, while SPAIRE is a muscle-sparing posterior approach, not a different implant.
Lincolnshire Hip Clinic
Led by Professor Paul Lee
Start with a free, non-medical discovery call with our team. We will tell you, honestly, which of our pathways — surgical or non-surgical — fits your situation. No GP referral, no pressure to proceed.
What we offer
