Not to long ago my mother had a hip replacement surgery done at the hospital in our home town. As you can imagine it was a very difficult time for her and the family.

The cost of a hip replacement surgery is not just a money thing, although there are some financial costs involved. The real cost, however, is the time she lost in a slow and painful recovery from the surgery.

Once you begin to move beyond basic background information, you begin to realize that there's more to Hip Replacements than you may have first thought. My mother had her hip replaced because she was suffering from a very rare condition.

The whole family knew she had pain in her hips for months before we even knew that she would need a hip replacement. After lots of research the doctor eventually found what was bugging my mother.

She had avascular necrosis, a rare and strange disease for which she had none of the risk factors the doctor told her. Avascular necrosis is a condition which strikes divers, alcoholics and the elderly or some times even athletes. My mother didn't fit in any of these categories and still got the same disease.

The condition occurs when a certain area of the bone isn't getting enough blood supply, because the bone doesn't get the nutrition it needs it begins to weaken and eventually dies on its own. Due to the fact that this process happens inside of the bone structure, it can take a long while before it surfaces and you start feeling physical discomfort.

For my mom, the necrosis did enough damage to make her need a hip replacement. Her hip was simply to weak and rotted from the inside. Thankfully, research in the Hip replacement field has come a long way. Even so, it took months before she got most of her movement back. My mother needed to endure many difficult and intensely painful sessions with a physical therapist to improve her agility.

At this point in time she has gained most of her movement back. The doctors say that her hip replacement surgery was a success, but even with her new hip she will be less mobile for the rest of her life.

She now experiences that she isn't as active as she used to be because of the hip replacement surgery she has had in the past. She often gets tired if she walks to long.

She also shares a common complaint with other people who have done the same surgery. Her hip often tends to act up when the weather changes. Although many would think this is not a big issue it can be very painful at nights when you try to get some sleep.

So now you know a little bit about Hip Replacement.