DAA Hip Replacement:
Why He trained in the USA

Hip replacement surgery has a reputation problem in India. Most patients he meets have heard horror stories from relatives or neighbors: months of painful recovery, strict rules about how to sit and sleep, a constant fear of the hip "popping out" during daily activities. Many patients delay the surgery for years, living with severe pain and restricted mobility because the recovery seems worse than the disease.

That reputation is outdated. And the reason it is outdated is because of techniques like the Direct Anterior Approach and SuperPATH, which he had the privilege of learning firsthand in the United States.

The Problem with Traditional Hip Replacement

In a standard posterior or lateral hip replacement, the surgeon cuts through major muscles to reach the joint. The gluteus maximus, one of the largest and most powerful muscles in the body, is literally split open. The short external rotators, which stabilize the hip and prevent dislocation, are detached from the bone.

After the implant is placed, all of these structures have to be stitched back together and given weeks to heal. During that healing window, the hip is inherently unstable. That is why patients get strict "hip precautions" for 6 to 12 weeks: do not cross your legs, do not bend past 90 degrees, sleep with a pillow between your knees, use raised toilet seats.

It works. The surgery is proven and effective. But the recovery experience is rough.

The Arizona Surgical Training Institute: Where He First Saw DAA

He traveled to the Arizona Surgical Training Institute specifically to train in advanced hip replacement techniques. The institute is run by Dr. Jimmy Chow, who is the pioneer of the SuperPATH (Supercapsular Percutaneous-Assisted Total Hip) approach. This is one of the most tissue-sparing hip replacement techniques in the world.

During his time there, he observed and assisted in dozens of hip replacements using both SuperPATH and the Direct Anterior Approach. What struck him immediately was the difference in the recovery room. Patients who had their hips replaced in the morning were sitting up, eating lunch, and sometimes even standing with minimal support by the afternoon. No hip precautions. No fear of dislocation.

The reason is simple anatomy. With DAA, the surgeon enters the hip from the front, through a natural interval between the sartorius and tensor fasciae latae muscles. No muscles are cut. The posterior stabilizers remain completely intact. The hip is inherently stable the moment the implant is placed.

What He also Learned at Hedley Orthopedic Institute

After Arizona, he spent additional time at the Hedley Orthopedic Institute in the USA, which focuses on complex joint replacement cases. Here he saw revision hip replacements, cases with severe deformity, and patients who had failed traditional approaches. The depth of surgical planning and implant technology available at these centres was something he had not seen in India at that time.

He made a decision then: he would bring these techniques and this level of precision back to Mumbai.

Bringing DAA to Kandivali, Malad, and Borivali

When he returned to India, he started performing DAA hip replacements at his hospitals. The initial cases were carefully selected patients with straightforward anatomy. As his experience grew, he expanded to more complex cases: patients with avascular necrosis, severe deformity, and even some revision scenarios.

Today, at Namaha Healthcare in Kandivali West and CritiCare Asia Hospital in Andheri West, he performs DAA hip replacements routinely. The results speak for themselves:

• Patients walk within 24 hours of surgery, often the same day
• No strict hip precautions. Patients sit, bend, and move naturally almost immediately
• Hospital discharge within 24 to 48 hours
• Significantly less post-operative pain compared to posterior approach
• Virtually zero dislocation risk because the posterior stabilizers are untouched

Why DAA Is Still Rare in Mumbai

If DAA is so much better, why is not every surgeon in Mumbai doing it? The honest answer is that DAA is technically demanding. The surgical field is smaller, the learning curve is steep, and you need specialized equipment like fluoroscopic guidance and specific traction tables. A surgeon who has done 500 posterior hip replacements might feel uncomfortable switching to a completely different approach.

That is why it remains important for patients to specifically ask about DAA when consulting for hip replacement. If your surgeon only offers the posterior approach, get a second opinion from someone who performs DAA regularly. You deserve to know all your options.

his training Beyond the USA

After the United States, He also pursued specialized training in Germany and South Korea. The German centres taught him precision implant positioning and systematic surgical workflows. South Korea exposed him to high-volume, minimally invasive techniques where surgeons were performing dozens of joint replacements per week with remarkable efficiency.

All of this training comes together in every hip replacement he performs today. The ISAKOS Fellowship, the Fellowship in Hip Replacement Surgery, and the years of international exposure mean that when a patient walks into his clinic in Kandivali, they are getting world-class surgical technique right here in Mumbai.

One Patient Story That Stays with him

A patient named Vibhuti brought her mother to him for a dual hip replacement. Both hips needed to be done. he performed them using the muscle-sparing approach, and within one week her mother was walking independently. Vibhuti wrote to him afterward: "The surgery was flawlessly done. Most recommended surgeon for any hip and knee surgeries in Mumbai."

That is the outcome he aims for with every single patient. Not just a successful surgery, but a recovery so smooth that the patient forgets they had surgery at all.