Each year, more than 20,000 hip replacement operations are performed in Canada. While hip implants work well, they often don't allow patients to return to all their physical activities.

Now researchers in Montreal are developing a new surgery that will repair the joint and get patients back on their feet faster.

Irwin Belitsky used to loves playing sports, and he did it all: squash, tennis, hockey, racquetball. But as he grew older, his hips couldn't keep up with him. He had developed severe arthritis in the hip, an increasingly common problem for aging baby boomers.

"I can't go for walks. I can walk a block or two, then the bone on bone causes friction and pain," he says.

Irwin has already had one traditional hip replacement. But in younger patients, the hip implant tends to wear out over time and needs replacing. So for his second hip surgery, he's going to become one of just a handful of Canadian patients to get a new minimal hip replacement.

Doctors won't replace the whole joint as a traditional replacement would do. They will simply replace the surface that has worn down in a procedure called Articular Surface Replacement. The articulating surfaces -- the surfaces that rub together -- are metal, a material that has proven to be a good, low-wearing surface. The rest of the bone of the hips will remain.

"We preserve most of the bone. We grind away the diseased tissue and replace it with new implant that's smaller," explains Dr. John Antoniou, an orthopaedic surgeon at Montreal's the Sir Mortimer B. Davis - Jewish General Hospital.

The operation takes about same time as a traditional procedure. But with less bone removed, patients can expect a faster recovery.

Doctors also hope the device may last longer.

"Potentially, these hips could last 25 or 35 years," says Antoniou. "So the wear properties are much better than traditional replacements."

Hip resurfacing was tried in North America 20 years ago and failed. Jewish General says the procedure has undergone many changes in recent years with the help of advancements in engineering and materials.

But some doctors remain skeptical and say they will need to see long-term data on how long the new devices really last.

"It's investigational, in the sense we're not sure about its role and its niche in the treatment of hip arthritis," says Dr. Jeffrey Gollish of Toronto's Sunnybrook & Women's Health Sciences Centre.

Dr. Antoniou says popularity of resurfacing has been growing in parts of Europe and Australia because of good success rates. And so far, all his patients have been doing well.

"They are all home walking with a cane or nothing, three to four weeks after surgery," he says.

Irwin recently had the procedure. He says that three days after his operation, he noticed a faster recovery compared to his first traditional hip implant.

"I have no swelling, it's as if I never had a hip operation," he says. "And the incision is a third of the size.