New Equipment at OSF Makes for a Speedy Recovery
By: Christy Stelzer WMBD/WYZZ Reporter
Updated: March 20, 2009
WMBD/WYZZ— Bloomington— A piece of equipment is making it possible for people to literally walk away after a hip replacement. Dr. David Dodgin is an Orthopedic Surgeon at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center. He is the only surgeon in McLean County who uses a specialized table for the less invasive anterior hip replacement surgery. During a traditional hip replacement, patients lay on their side; this table allows the body to lie in a more natural position allowing more accuracy, less pain, and a quicker recovery. It is so successful, he says he uses it on 95 percent of his patients.
"It makes our implants more precise, which is hopefully going to make them last longer and have patients more satisfied,” Dodgin said.
Dr. Dodgin says it takes a different type of training to learn the unique surgery and has done at least 800 anterior hip replacement surgeries so far in his career.
