Squeaky Hips: Dr. Douglas Padgett talks with Joan Hamburg

WOR 710 radio - The Joan Hamburg Show—NEW YORK—May 15, 2008

Listen to Dr. Douglas Padgett, chief of the Adult Reconstructive and Joint Replacement Service at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, as he talks with WOR radio talk show host Joan Hamburg about squeaky hips, a topic that was featured in a recent New York Times article.

More than 250,000 Americans get total hip implants each year. Hip replacements have a success rate of more than 90 percent, based on patients' achieving relatively pain-free mobility after recovery periods that range from a few months to a year.

Any artificial hip can occasionally make a variety of noises. But until Stryker, a medical products company, began marketing highly durable ceramic hips in the United States in 2003, squeaking was rare.

Now, tens of thousands of ceramic hips later - from Stryker and other makers that entered the field - many patients say their squeaking hips are interfering with daily life.

Dr. Padgett discusses ceramic hips as well as explaining about the other materials used in hip replacement.