Which Hip Replacement procedure do you recommend?

I had both of my hips replaced at age 59. It's a great surgery that restores function and relieves pain in people who would otherwise be headed for life in a wheelchair. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "which hip replacement procedure". Hip replacement involves cutting off the head of the femur, reaming out the femur [thigh bone] and acetabulum [pelvis], replacing the femoral head with a ball attached to a stem and inserting a cup (and usually a liner) in the reamed out acetabulum. The variations on this same theme involve which materials are used (metal, polyethylene, ceramic), surgical approach (anterior, posterior, posterolateral), and incision size.

There is also a surgical procedure that is technically not a total replacement. It is referred to as resurfacing. It is similar to total replacement in the treatment of the acetabulum. It is different from total replacement in that the head of the femur is not cut off; rather it is reshaped to accept a metal cover (or a "resurface"). In younger people who would qualify for this (sometimes controversial) procedure it is purported to conserve bone and postpone the total replacement later in life.

For the record I had my hips replaced 7 years ago and they are doing fine. I have a metal/poly bearing (metal ball, poly cup liner). The surgical approach was posterolateral and I had huge (11") scars. They have almost completely faded away. I am very happy with my new fake hips and wish I had had it done sooner. As it was I couldn't take a step without a cane for the last 6 months before surgery.

For more information on fixing bad hips, have a look at this web site which was developed by an ortho surgeon as a service to patients. It appears in (slightly fractured) English translation and contains no commercial content.

http://totaljoints.info/

The site covers both total hips and total knees. Scroll down to the sections that deal with hips.