Here’s the text from the top Google hit from the search “hip replacement statistics”.

“Between 200,000 and 300,000 hip replacement operations are performed in the United States each year, most of them in patients over the age of 60. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), only 5–10% of total hip replacements as of 2002 were in patients younger than 50. There are two reasons for this concentration in older adults. Arthritis and other degenerative joint disorders are the most common health problems requiring hip replacement, and they become more severe as people grow older. The second reason is the limited life expectancy of the prostheses used in hip replacements. Because total hip replacement is a complex procedure and requires a long period of recovery after surgery, doctors generally advise patients to put off the operation as long as possible so that they will not need to undergo a second operation later to insert a new prosthesis. This demographic picture is changing rapidly, however, because of advances in designing hip prostheses, as well as changes in older Americans’ rising expectations of quality of life. Many people are less willing to tolerate years of pain or limited activity in order to postpone surgery. In addition, hip prostheses are lasting longer than those used in the 1960s; one study found that 65% of the prostheses in patients who had had THR before the age of 50 were still intact and functioning well 25 years after the surgery. A larger number of hip replacements are now being done in younger patients, and the operation itself is being performed more often. One expert estimates that the annual number of hip replacements in the United States will rise to 600,000 by 2015.”

Wow! At 600,000 per year, after 20 years 12 million folks over the age of 50 would have an artificial hip. That would be something close to one quarter of all Americans over 50 having an artificial hip!

What is going on? Frankly, I think most people – even physicians – just aren’t looking at these numbers and thinking them through. I can make the argument that a typical human hip only lasts 50 to 90 years, and that medical science has found a way to fix this problem. I don’t see any evidence to support that argument. Alternatively, I can argue that we are in the midst of an epidemic of skeletal degeneration diseases. I happen to believe that this argument is supported by data.

The older I get, the less interested I am in theory and argument, and the more interested I am in facts, common sense, and personal responsibility. It is an uncontroversial fact that number of total hip replacement surgeries rises every year. It is a fact that it takes a long time to recover from hip replacement surgery. It is a fact that vitamins are needed to maintain the health of bones, including the hip. It is a fact that pain precedes hip replacement surgery by many years. If you are experiencing the early symptoms of hip deterioration, there’s lots to gain and nothing to lose by giving vitamins a try. Here’s all you need to do:

1) Get into a bathing suit and lie in the sun at noontime for just five minutes on most sunny days (2.5 minutes on each side)
2) Taking a 10,000 IU vitamin A supplement once per week
3) Take one or two thiamine supplements (preferably enteric coated TTFD) per week
4) Take one or two 250 mg time release niacin supplements per week
5) Take 1000 to 4000 mg/day of vitamin C

Again, if you are experiencing early symptoms of hip deterioration, you’ve much to gain and little to lose by giving the vitamins a try.

Sadly, it’s easy to ask people to get into a bathing suit and lie in the sun for five minutes, and difficult to accomplish. Undressing at noon to lie in the sun simply isn’t done. I’m no optimistic about solving this problem, and expect to see continuing increases in hip replacement surgery.