About 28% of knee and hip replacements are performed on people younger than 55 and the trend is expected to grow, U.S. News & World Report reported July 24.
By 2030, people younger than 65 are expected to account for 52% of hip replacements and 62% for total knee replacements, according to researchers. Many of those younger adults are former athletes.
"Hip and knee replacements are no longer for grandmas and grandpas," Richard Berger, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Chicago-based Midwest Orthopaedics atRush, told U.S. News. "Twenty years ago, we used to tell younger patients to come back in 10 years. Today, the average age of my patients is 57. This age group is typically less apprehensive about getting surgeries because they don't want to hobble around or live their life taking anti-inflammatories or pain pills."
Joint replacements are an outpatient procedure for many younger adults with faster and more effective recovery times, according to experts. The new joints are also built better and last longer, Dr. Berger said. Only 1% of people younger than 55 who had a hip replacement needed surgery to fix the new artificial joint.