Recuperating from Hip Replacement Surgery

I’m writing this article to encourage people who are going through the difficult process of recuperation after hip replacement surgery. Not everyone will have the same experience I had, but I have a few simple tips that will apply to most people.

Background. I had my replacement surgery on my right hip on February 16, 2007. I don’t know what caused the damage to my hip, although my wife and I suspect it was a fall from a stepladder about 15 years ago. I fell about 7 feet, landing squarely on my right hip. That may have been the beginning of the deterioration that led to my surgery.

Your physical condition will determine, in part, how quickly recuperation can proceed. I am about 5/10″ tall and weigh about 164 pounds. I am in good physical condition other than some back problems. At the time of surgery, I was 67 years old. I had the surgery on a Friday afternoon and was discharged to my home on the following Monday afternoon. I did not have to go somewhere for physical therapy, nor did any therapist have to come to my home.

Here are some simple tips that I found helpful in the recuperation process.

I. Pre-Op Exercises. When I saw the surgeon to schedule the operation, I received a list of exercises to begin doing before the surgery. They were simple exercises with the purpose of strengthening the area that would be affected by the surgery, and to prepare me for the actual process of recovery. Because I did the exercises, I have no way knowing how my progress would have been different if I hadn’t done them. The surgeon suggested them, so I decided they were important.

II. Perspective. Because the process of recuperation is painful, it’s important to get some perspective on where you’ve been. Fix in your mind the pain you experienced before surgery and the pain you experienced immediately after surgery. You can measure your progress by the decrease in the pain level as you go through the recuperation process. My surgery was finished by 3:00 p.m. Later that day, the surgeon had me dangle my legs off the edge of the bed, then get up and take a few steps. I was glad to get back into bed! The pain was intense. The next day, however, I was walking several feet using a walker, and the pain got better as the days and weeks went by. Knowing what I had been experiencing, it was easy to see how much better I was getting.

III. Playing through the Pain. This is important! Mark it down at the start: there will be pain in the recuperation process. If you let the pain stop you or slow you down significantly, your progress will be slow. A friend of mine had knee replacement surgery several months ago. After the surgery, he asked the doctor if it was possible to hurt himself doing the post-op exercises. No, said the doctor, so my friend pushed himself to heal as quickly as possible. Another person, who had the same surgery at about the same time, lagged far behind in the recuperation process because he allowed the pain to slow him down. The choice is yours, but playing through the pain will pay big dividends in a faster recovery time.

IV. Pain Medication. Pain medication can be your friend, but don’t make it too much of a friend. When I was in the hospital, the staff made sure I had my pain medication well before my physical therapy. In the early stages of recovery, the medication helped make the therapy easier to bear. When I returned home, I used it the same way before I did my exercises and walking. As soon as I could, however, I began to reduce the dosage until I was finally able to eliminate it completely. Don’t be afraid of the medication, but don’t become dependent on it.

V. Pushing Yourself. Don’t be satisfied with what you can do at first in the recovery process. Push yourself to do more. When I returned home, I was happy to be able to walk to the house next door. Then I managed to get to one end of the block. Next was I was able to walk the entire block. As time went by, I increased the distance I walked. Now I routinely walk two or three miles during the day. Sometimes more. As the saying goes, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll never accomplish more than you’ve done before. Push yourself!

VI. Persistence. This undergirds everything. There will be times when you will want to take a vacation from the exercises and walking that are part of the recuperation process. The choice, again, is yours, but you need to consider the consequences of whatever you decide. As I write this, it’s been a little over 10 weeks since my surgery. I have a little weakness in my hip and a very slight limp, but the pain I was experiencing before the surgery is virtually gone. The surgery and the efforts I put into my recuperation have been well worth it!