Hip replacement recovery

What the operation does not fix

Most people limp for months or years before a hip replacement, and the muscles around the hip, particularly the glutes, waste and weaken during that time. Surgery replaces the joint. It does not restore the muscle. That leftover weakness is why people are left with a limp they cannot explain, difficulty on stairs, or an aching hip and back a year later despite a perfect looking joint on X-ray.

What rehabilitation involves

Early on, restoring a normal walking pattern rather than the compensations you have been using for years, plus movement, swelling management and confidence. Then progressive strengthening of the hip and glutes, which is the part that determines the final result. Then getting back to whatever you stopped doing, which for many people is walking any distance, golf, cycling or gardening.

Precautions and what you can do

Restrictions vary by surgical approach and by surgeon, and some now impose very few. Follow the advice your own surgical team gave you rather than what a friend was told about a different operation, and bring it to your first appointment so we work within it.

Packages

Available as a course paid in advance. Four sessions are £240, eight are £460 and twelve are £670.

When to contact your surgical team

A hot, red, increasingly painful hip with fever, sudden severe pain or an inability to weight bear, or calf pain and swelling all need same day contact rather than a physiotherapy appointment.