Surgery vs Conservative Treatment

Any operation needs to be earned.  There are very few operations that will be insisted upon by your surgeon with respect to elective orthopaedic procedures.  At all times we attempt to manage joint pain in a conservative manner unless there is data to support ongoing injury and/or destruction of the joint with conservative treatment.  However, if despite conservative treatment there is recurrence of pain and persistent discomfort related to the joint, one would then consider a surgical option.  In many cases there is a mechanical reason for the pain which obviously only an operation will effectively deal with.

Conservative treatment takes the form of physiotherapy together with medication with or without injections into the hip joint.  Injections into the joint most commonly include cortisone or steroids, but may also include platelet derived growth factor injections in specific cases.