It takes a long time for the body to heal after hip replacement surgery because it involves shaving off the diseased or injured part of the femur (thighbone, or upper leg bone) and replacing it and the socket with prosthetic materials. The patient’s natural tissues must then eventually heal together with the new prosthetic parts so that they work together as a unit, just as a natural hip does.
Hip replacement is usually done for one of three reasons: osteoarthritis (also called just “arthritis”), osteoporosis, or major trauma to the pelvis and femur. Regardless of your reason for having hip replacement surgery, you can expect to go through certain steps during your recovery.
Hip Replacement Recovery After the Operation
Immediately following surgery, you will be moved to the post-op area to wake up from the anesthesia. The medical staff will have you move around as soon as possible after the operation, because post-surgery patients are susceptible to developing blood clots.
Later that day or the next day, you will be asked to sit up. With the aid of a walker or crutches, you will be shown how to start walking with your new hip.
In order to help prevent blood clots while you recover, you will likely be given compression stockings. Depending on your overall medical condition, your doctor may also prescribe blood-thinning medication to help avoid developing a clot.
Within a Week of Hip Replacement Surgery
You will begin to see a physical therapist either later that day of the surgery or the following day. The therapist will give you a program of simple exercises to perform with your new artificial hip, and you should be able to perform these motions without too much pain.
Most of these exercises will involve standing up and walking around with a walker or crutches until you can manage with a cane, and later without any assistance at all. Your surgeon will likely ask you to come back for a follow-up checkup within two to three months to make sure that everything is healing normally. Within the next six to 12 months, you should find yourself back to practice your normal fitness levels again.
Orthopedic Physicians in Greater Detroit
If you or a loved one has fallen and hurt their hip, or if you have arthritis in your hip that is becoming debilitating and is giving you chronic pain, our orthopedic doctors are here to diagnose your ailment and provide the proper treatment to give you lasting relief.
Dr. Jack Lennox and Dr. Homer Linard, III, have many decades of medical experience treating musculoskeletal issues just like yours. They are board-certified in orthopedic surgery, and they diagnose and treat everything from sports injuries to arthritis pain – and from total joint reconstruction to partial reconstruction to pain-relief injections.
If you are in or near the Farmington Hills area in Michigan, contact our friendly team at Tri County Orthopedics today by calling us at (248) 474-5575 or fill out our simple appointment request form online, and let us help you get back to the active lifestyle you enjoy.
