Your recovery, step by step
Hip replacement recovery
A practical guide to Mr Mussa’s usual primary hip replacement pathway. Your written discharge instructions and the advice of your surgical and physiotherapy teams take priority.
This timeline is a guide, not a deadline. Recovery varies with your operation, health and progress. Revision surgery and complex procedures often need a different plan.
- Before surgery
Prepare your home and support
Your pre-assessment team will discuss your health, medicines and discharge arrangements. Plan help with shopping and daily tasks, clear trip hazards and discuss suitable chairs and walking aids with the team.
- Day of surgery & hospital stay
Mobilise with support
Mr Mussa’s usual primary hip plan allows full weight-bearing with nurse or physiotherapist supervision. You will be shown how to walk and manage essential steps. Selected patients may go home on the day of surgery or within 24 hours, but safe discharge criteria must be met; a longer stay may be appropriate.
- Weeks 0–2
Protect your hip and care for the wound
The usual plan is two crutches for two weeks. Follow your discharge exercise programme and take short, regular walks as advised. Keep the dressing in place according to your hospital’s instructions and minimise unnecessary dressing changes. If clips are used, arrange removal with your practice nurse at around 14 days, unless your team specifies otherwise.
- Weeks 2–6
Progress steadily
If safe and agreed by your physiotherapist, progress to one crutch in the opposite hand for a further four weeks. The usual six-week precautions include avoiding bending the hip beyond 90°, turning the leg inward, bringing it across the midline and crossing knees or ankles. Use the chair or toilet raisers advised by your team. Your own operation may require different instructions.
- Around 6 weeks
Review your recovery
A follow-up with Mr Mussa at approximately six weeks reviews your wound, walking, comfort and progress. Walking without aids depends on balance, strength and a safe gait. Do not stop using an aid simply because a calendar date has arrived.
- Following months
Return to the activities that matter
Strength and confidence continue to improve over several months. Agree your return to work, driving, exercise and sexual activity with your team. Driving requires safe control of the car and an emergency stop, appropriate medication use and agreement with your insurer; it is not an automatic six-week clearance.
Getting active again
Exercise and sport after hip replacement
Regular activity helps rebuild movement, strength and confidence while the operated joint and surrounding tissues heal. Begin with the walking and exercises recommended by your physiotherapist and progress gradually.
Your discharge instructions take priority. This guide mainly concerns uncomplicated primary replacement. Revision surgery, custom reconstruction, fractures or additional repairs may require a different programme.
When can I return to exercise?
| Activity | What should guide your return? |
|---|---|
| Walking | Use your prescribed aids and increase distances as your walking pattern, strength and confidence improve. |
| Static cycling | Your physiotherapist can advise when your movement is sufficient and help with seat height and resistance. |
| Swimming | Wait until your wound has completely healed and your team agrees that you can enter, leave and use the pool appropriately. |
| Golf and low-impact gym exercise | Start with controlled, gentle practice before longer sessions or a full round. |
| Outdoor cycling and racquet sports | Discuss previous experience, balance, strength, twisting movements and fall risk with your team. |
AAHKS describes a gradual return to suitable sports within the first three months after hip replacement, with fuller return often taking four to six months. These are guides, not clearance for every activity. Gentle practice and unrestricted participation are different stages.
Sources: AAHKS: resuming sports after hip replacement; Leeds Teaching Hospitals: hip replacement rehabilitation.
Can I run after hip replacement?
Running and repeated high-impact exercise are generally not recommended after total hip replacement. Greater loads raise concerns about wear, loosening and injury, but the long-term risk for an individual runner is uncertain. It would be inaccurate to say every patient who runs will damage their replacement.
If running matters particularly to you, discuss your goals with Mr Mussa before surgery and before attempting to return. Your experience, operation, bone quality and recovery all matter. Reaching a particular month does not automatically make running advisable.
Sources: AAHKS: resuming sports after hip replacement.
Can I play football, rugby or contact sports?
Contact and collision sports are generally discouraged because they involve impact, sudden changes of direction and possible falls. There is no standard postoperative date that makes them appropriate for everyone. Discuss your sport and level of participation with your surgeon; permission for gentle exercise does not mean clearance for competitive or contact sport.
Sources: Leeds Teaching Hospitals: hip replacement rehabilitation.
Everyday life & wellbeing
Sex and intimacy after hip replacement
Questions about intimacy are a normal part of recovery. You can discuss them confidentially with Mr Mussa or your physiotherapist.
When can I have sex after hip replacement?
Follow your discharge instructions and surgical restrictions. Before resuming intercourse, your wound should be healed, symptoms manageable and you should be able to move into and out of your intended position without breaking your precautions. If unsure, ask your surgical team; you do not need to wait for a routine appointment to ask.
What do British and American recommendations say?
The NHS’s general guidance suggests avoiding sex for six to eight weeks. AAOS emphasises healing, pain and swelling; its report of return around six weeks comes from limited studies, not an automatic clearance rule. AAHKS describes a broad return between one and three months. These guides do not replace your own instructions.
Sources: NHS: recovering from a hip replacement; AAOS: sexual activity after hip replacement; AAHKS: sexual activity after hip replacement.
Which sexual positions should I consider?
No position is safe for every hip replacement patient. The position of your leg and your prescribed limits matter more than the name of the position.
- Lying on your back: support the operated leg comfortably without drawing the knee towards your chest.
- Lying on your non-operated side, if permitted: support the operated leg to prevent crossing or twisting.
Discuss these options with your team. Supported side-lying is different from a position that deeply bends the hip or lets the leg fall across your body.
Sources: AAOS: sexual activity after hip replacement; AAHKS: sexual activity after hip replacement.
Which movements should I avoid?
If prescribed posterior hip precautions, follow your limits on bending, crossing the legs and inward rotation. Restrictions differ by operation and patient. Avoid deep bending, forceful twisting and movement beyond those limits. Kneeling on top of a partner and some face-to-face side-lying positions may be unsuitable during recovery.
A painless movement does not override your precautions. Move slowly, use support and take care changing position. Stop for pain, catching or instability; seek advice for symptoms that persist afterwards.
Sources: AAHKS: sexual activity after hip replacement; Leeds Teaching Hospitals: hip replacement rehabilitation; AAOS: sexual activity after hip replacement.
References and further reading
Content reviewed and approved: . This page combines Mr Mussa’s usual pathway with British and American patient guidance. Timings vary between sources and individual care plans. NICE recommends discussing return to usual activities but does not prescribe universal sport or sexual-position clearance.
- NHS: recovering from a hip replacement
- AAHKS: resuming sports after hip replacement
- Leeds Teaching Hospitals: hip replacement rehabilitation
- AAOS: sexual activity after hip replacement
- AAHKS: sexual activity after hip replacement
- NICE NG157: joint replacement recommendations
- NHS: complications after hip replacement
Read the knee replacement recovery guide → · Meet Mr Mohamed Mussa →
