Written By John Overall – August 22, 2016
TUCSON – The first hip replacement surgery was performed in 1960. Now, more than 300,000 total hip replacements are performed each year in the United States. 
Dr. Russell Cohen from the Tucson Orthopaedic Institute joined a team of other surgeons to develop a new surgical technique that allows their patients to get back on their feet sooner.
59-year-old Mindy Sparks suffers from severe arthritis in her hips. About six months ago the pain became unbearable, “I would walk across a parking lot and almost feel like crying it hurt so badly,” Sparks said.
Dr. Cohen showed News 4 Tucson Mindy’s X-Rays, “You can see here that her hip joint is completely gone. There’s no separation between the ball and the socket. So these two hips are about as bad as a hip needs to be before we recommend it be replaced,” Dr. Cohen said.
Dr. Cohen has been performing minimally invasive hip and knee replacements since 2003. About three years ago Dr. Cohen joined six other surgeons and came up with a procedure they call The Direct Superior Approach to the hip.