When surgeons perform hip replacement they actually are replacing both the ball and the socket. There are essentially 2 ways to perform such hip surgeries – via the anterior approach or the posterior approach. The most common way in the past has been the posterior approach (the back approach) as opposed to the anterior approach via the front. For the posterior approach the normal incision would be at the back directly over the hip joint. This is done by splitting the muscle then dislocate the hip joint and in the process replace the ball with a metal ball and a stem that goes inside the bone marrow. The stem is held together in one or two ways.It’s either cemented into the hip joint with a glue that acts as a bonding agent that holds the implant solidly in position. It’s also common during hip replacements that surgeons do not use any cement using a technique in which the bone from the body will grow in or around the stem. However for this to happen the patient does need to have good enough bone. There are some patients whose bones are not good enough especially patients who suffer from osteoporosis.
During a posterior hip surgery approach, surgeons put a stem inside the bone marrow (one of the two ways); on the socket side it is replaced with a metal shell or cup and there is a liner made up of plastic or polyethylene. So essentially that replaces the damaged ball and socket during a hip replacement surgery.
The anterior approach is the more recently developed type of hip replacement surgery.It is also called the direct anterior approach. In this approach instead of cutting the back muscle, surgeons cut the front muscles. This is a much better approach as it lessens the chance of possible hip joint dislocation or commonly known as popping out. The other benefit doctors prefer anterior hip surgery is that the rehabilitation period of patients is much faster. Patients who opt for anterior hip replacement leave the hospital usually after just two days as opposed to three of four days with posterior hip approach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hEL8rWi4cc
