3 to 6 Weeks After Hip Replacement Surgery You'll likely be able to walk without a walker or crutches.
Returning to normal after your hip surgery
You should be able to stop using your crutches within 4 to 6 weeks and feel back to normal after about 3 months. After this time you should be able to perform all your normal activities.
In most cases, you will be able to resume driving about four weeks after surgery. To drive, you must be off pain medications. However, you should not drive a car or any other motor vehicle until your surgeon says it's okay to do so.
Generally, I advise patients to walk only a few hundred yards a day total until they get to around six weeks. By that point, the implants are ingrown with bone, meaning that the bone is fused to the implant.
Try to sit in a straight back chair (avoid low sofas, recliners, or zero-gravity chairs) for the first 6 weeks.
It's best to avoid sleeping on your affected side for at least six weeks. After your doctor gives you the go-ahead, listen to your body, and only lie on your operative side when you feel comfortable.
Instructions after first postop visit (6-8 weeks after surgery): You should now be comfortable in walking with a cane or nothing at all, placing full weight on the operated leg. At this point, if you haven't already done so, you may wean to using 1 crutch or cane in the opposite hand/arm.
Gentle exercise is beneficial, such as short, gentle walks around your home and outside. Supervised physiotherapy, like rehabilitation programmes and hydrotherapy, can also help improve recovery in the weeks following surgery.
You will need to learn exercises that make your new hip stronger and take special precautions. You will need to have someone with you at home for 1 to 2 weeks after you leave the hospital or rehab center. You will need help preparing meals, bathing, moving around the house, and doing other daily activities.
However, even the most successful hip replacement is not immune to postoperative aches and pains, the most common of which are pains in or around the buttocks.
The best sleeping position for your hip is to lie on your back with a pillow between your legs. This will ensure you won't twist your body during sleep, which could put you at risk of your new hip popping out of its socket.
Repetitive motions and high-impact activities can damage an implant over time. These types of activities include running, heavy weightlifting, jumping, and more. You may need to avoid sports, such as soccer, cross-country running, racquetball, or basketball, which involve these repetitive motions.
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Many people can return to normal activity 12 weeks after their procedure. It's important to avoid overdoing it — and to expect some good days along with some bad ones. Sometimes, full recovery from hip replacement surgery takes six months and up to a year.
Within 12 weeks following surgery, many patients will resume their recreational activities, such as talking long walk, cycling, or playing golf. It may take some patients up to 6 months to completely recover following a hip replacement.
How long does hip replacement pain last? Every patient's recovery time is unique based on several personal factors. Most people, though, experience surgical pain for approximately two to four weeks following hip replacement surgery.
In the beginning, walk for 5 to 10 minutes, 3 to 4 times a day. As your strength and endurance improve, you can walk for 20 to 30 minutes, 2 to 3 times a day. Once you have fully recovered, regular walks of 20 to 30 minutes, 3 to 4 times a week, will help maintain your strength.
Step up first with your unaffected leg. Then bring the affected leg up to the same step. Bring your crutches or cane up. To go down stairs, reverse the order.
As part of hip replacement, the soft tissues surrounding the joint must be stretched to the appropriate tightness to ensure that the joint stays in place. That can result in a slightly longer leg length. It is usually a matter of a few millimeters, and many people don't notice it.
Normally, driving should be avoided for the first 6 weeks and even travelling as a passenger is best avoided for the first three weeks (except for essential journeys), as getting in and out of a car can risk straining the hip and stretching the healing tissues.
It can take upto 6-8 weeks for the tissues to heal and hence the prolonged hip precautions before being able to tie shoe laces, bend down and pick up things, crossing the legs, sleeping on the side or even driving.
After a hip replacement, many patients can kneel down after completing the precautionary period of three months. The safe way to do this is to perform a single-legged kneel whereby the patient kneels on the knee of the operated side only. This means that the other hip has to bend whilst the operated hip stays extended.