ARTHRITIS OF THE HIP JOINT

Herbert D. Huddleston, M.D., F.R.C.S. Dr. Huddleston is Board Certified in Orthopedic Surgery. He restricts his surgical practice to Surgery of the hip and knee. Dr. Huddleston grew up in South Africa and graduated from the Medical School of the University of Capetown. He completed his training in General Surgery in England, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. His orthopedic residency training was taken at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, after which he moved to Los Angeles to do a one year Fellowship in Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery with Professor Charles O. Bechtol.

After spending time in England with John Charnley, the father of modern hip replacement, Dr. Huddleston joined Charles Bechtol in private practice as his assistant. Bechtol, while Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of California in Los Angeles, was one of the first three surgeons to introduce the Charnley technique of hip replacement into the United States.

Dr. Bechtol and Dr. Huddleston became partners in a private practice limited exclusively to Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery. Upon Bechtol’s retirement, Dr. Huddleston took over the practice.

Dr. Huddleston's extensive experience includes more than six thousand hip replacements and five thousand knee replacements. He has revised more than seven hundred failed hip replacements referred to him from around the United States.

He has published research on the causes of failure of cemented joint replacements and on leg length techniques and issues in hip replacement. He teaches and lectures on the subject of joint replacement surgery. Dr. Huddleston has designed a hip replacement system (the Omega system) which is used throughout the world.

Dr. Huddleston is a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, and a Fellow of the International College of Surgeons. He is a member of the American Association of Arthritic Hip and Knee Surgeons. Dr. Huddleston is on staff at the Valley Presbyterian Hospital and the Providence Tarzana Hospital.

Dr. Huddleston and his wife, Fran, and three sons, Michael, Christopher and Nicholas, enjoy sailing, skiing, tennis and travel.

WHY DR. HUDDLESTON MAY BE THE RIGHT SURGEON FOR YOU. He has had special training in joint replacement surgery. His practice is restricted to hip and knee surgery. He has performed more than six thousand hip replacements. He has performed more than five thousand knee replacements. He does all his own surgery, from beginning to end. He uses the same joint replacement team in the operating room daily. He selects the best implant for you, regardless of cost. He selects implants that are right for you and your lifestyle. His two hospitals do not dictate what implants he can install. He has a special technique for perfectly measuring the leg length in every hip replacement. He routinely uses the revolutionary mini-incision hip replacement and mini-incision knee replacement techniques. As a result his patients recover from surgery extremely rapidly with minimal post-op restrictions, and with a rapid return to normal walking. His anesthesiologists are experienced with elderly and high risk patients. The nursing staff at his hospital have had extensive experience with joint replacements. He still accepts what insurance pays for his services (for now).