Showing posts with label implant. Show all posts

Arthritis Patient Succumbs To Sedentary Life

Posted on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 by Depuy Pinnacle Lawsuit

Study shows that people stricken with arthritis succumb to sedentary lifestyle due to the pain and physical restrictions, according to About.com website.  A disease which may lead to an implantation of an artificial device such as Depuy pinnacle which was reported by a british surgeon to BBC.

Unlike in the United States wherein device registries are still emerging, there are some other countries which already have device registries that track the inserted device performance on patients with problem on their hips and knees. It has already been existing in countries such as Australia and England compared to the United States, BBC News said.

The report added that a joint BBC Newsnight and the British Medical Journal investigation report that problems with such device have been long known, but no action was taken to stop it from being distributed. It added that the all-metal hips have a high failure rate and rubbing between the ball and cup can cause metal to break off, seeping into tissue and causing complications, BBC News reports.

However, despite the fact that arthritis-stricken patients were being advised to engage into an exercise program as a prevention of any artificial device implantation, most of them still put limitations in what they can do and blame arthritis for it. Arthritis is an inflammation of a joint which causes pain, swelling, and stiffness, and resulting infection, trauma, degenerative changes, metallic disturbances, or other causes, defined by answers.com.

Sedentary lifestyle on the other hand is a medical term used to describe a type of lifestyle with irregular physical activity.   That person can also be known as a couch potato, whose activities include sitting, reading, watching television, playing certain video games, and computer use for much of the day with little or no vigorous physical exercise.  This may contribute too many preventable causes of death, according to the Boomer, Health and Lifestyle.

One of these health problems which may lead to death is arthritis. This illness may grow worse if a person continues to embrace his or her situation through living a sedentary lifestyle rather than fighting back through having an active lifestyle. Having an active lifestyle is not limited to getting into sports only or  doing exercise, rather  a person can also engage into simple activities such as walking somewhere instead of driving and climbing stairs instead of taking elevators, About.com website says.

Although, this may be unrealistic to people stricken with moderate to severe arthritis, because it is  quite possible that their disability interferes with walking long distances or stair climbing, but  they should still make effort to move more while respecting their limitations. Some people find exercise as boring but they need to think out of the box and do something like  go swimming, bicycle, hiking and others which may lessen the risk of worsening their condition, About.com reported.

But what makes it more enjoyable is that people stricken with arthritis may have a buddy with whom they can share the activities rather than doing it alone.  Doing so may prevent a person from deteriorating which may lead to a hip or knee replacement which has been a subject of several complaints supporting several Depuy pinnacle lawsuit.

URL References:

http://arthritis.about.com/od/preventionandriskfactors/a/reasons_to_exercise.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17192520
http://www.thirdage.com/news/sedentary-lifestyle-tv-advertising-make-perfect-storm-for-childhood-obesity_06-27-2011

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Revision Surgery in Hip Replacement

Posted on Friday, July 15, 2011 by Depuy Pinnacle Lawsuit

Revision is defined as modifying something so it’ll be better than its original. In revision surgery, an earlier procedure will be revised because the complications hinder the patient’s normal functioning. In hip replacement surgeries due to hip fractures, a revision surgery is needed when the prosthetic devices have been damaged due to wear and tear and other reasons.

A Brief on Hip Replacement

Hip Replacement is performed to get rid of the damaged hip joints and cartilage and be replaced with prosthetic devices like DePuy Pinnacle Hip Replacement device. The procedure typically lasts 2 to 4 hours and the prognosis is generally good. Usually, hospital stay will not be more than 5 days and it will take around 3 to 6 months to have full recovery if the patient adheres to the treatment and rehabilitation plan.

When is Revision Surgery Needed?

Surgeons perform hip revision surgery for 2 main reasons: if pain is severe and the disability cannot be managed by other treatment modalities and the extent of damage shown in x-ray tests is serious and operation is needed immediately. Hip Revision usually becomes necessary if the following conditions will arise:
  •     Infection
        Infection in the tissues surrounding the prosthetic device needs immediate medical attention because it can further spread to different sites and may potentially damage the hip bone. We wouldn't want a systemic infection to happen and spread throughout the body.
  •     Fractures
            Hip injury is considered as the top cause of fractures in America. The majority of those who underwent hip replacement belong to the elderly and incidentally, they are also considered to be the most at risk for fractures.
  •     Loosening of the Artificial Hip Joints
            The hip device is initially tight-fitted into the bone so it will stay in place but over time, wear and tear will loosen the device and can begin to move into small amounts. This phenomenon causes pain and patient’s range of motion will be limited. It will take an average of 15-20 years for these devices to last but some like those manufactured by DePuy compelled the patients to file for a DePuy Pinnacle Lawsuit because of premature loosening of the devices which happened a couple of years after hip replacement. This is a very serious situation because replacing the device is much more difficult and usually not as successful as the first operation.

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About Hip Replacement Surgery and What to Expect

Posted on Monday, June 27, 2011 by Depuy Pinnacle Lawsuit

The natural hip joint of a human being is formed by the top of the thigh bone, called the femur, meeting the socket of the pelvic bone, called the acetabulum. The acetabulum and femur are both naturally made to fit into each other.The bones in the hip are protected and cushioned by the cartilage that the hip is equipped with. However, the most common cause for hip replacement surgery, hip arthritis can cause this cartilage to wear down to the point where the bones begin to rub against each other causing the person pain.

The next logical step for someone who has begun to show signs of hip arthritis or any other cause for hip pain would usually be hip replacement surgery.  In the United States alone over 270,000 people elect to undergo hip replacement surgery to relieve pain, return mobility, and remove stiffness from their injured hips.  The hip replacement surgery happens in two parts, first the top of the femur or femoral stem is removed and replaced with an artificial ball, afterwards the acetabulum is replaced with an artificial shell where the ball will be placed.The two artificial components are made to simulate natural movement as closely as possible.

Normally as with any surgery there will be an expected recovery time as the body heals and begins to adapt to the new artificial implants.  There are some bodies however that actually rejects the implant causing the patient even more pain.  Other common severe adverse side effects to the surgery can include: bone dislocation, leg length discrepancy, failure to improve all pain, bone fracture, change in component position, infection, and even loosening and dislodging of the implant.

Once surgery has been completed and the body has finished its healing process, there are other potentially harmful side effects one needs to be careful of. The failure of the hip replacement system is the next thing the patient needs to be careful of. The DePuy Pinnacle, one of the most recent Hip Replacement systems by DePuy Orthopaedics Inc, has had an unusually high failure rate of 15% amongst its recipients.

The failure rate of the Pinnacle has actually caused many of its recipients to file a Depuy Pinnacle Lawsuit against Depuy. If you have received a DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement that has begun to fail, you may need to consult with a DePuy Pinnacle lawyer as soon as possible to know what your possible legal options can be.  Free Consultations are given by most lawyers, and many will not even charge you unless your case receives compensation.

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