Exercises after hip replacement at home

Follow your own protocol first

Surgeons use different approaches (front, side or back of the hip), and each comes with its own rules about which movements to avoid and for how long. These are often called hip precautions, such as not bending the hip past 90 degrees or not crossing your legs. Your team will tell you which apply to you. If anything here conflicts with that advice, follow your team.

This guide covers exercises that appear in many home programs, grouped from earliest to later. It's background, so the plan you were given makes more sense.

Early exercises (often from the first days at home)

Usually done lying on your back, a few times a day, slowly and within comfort.

• Ankle pumps: point and pull the feet, 10 to 20 reps, often hourly while awake early on.
• Quad sets: tighten the front of the thigh, hold 5 seconds, 10 reps.
• Glute squeezes: squeeze your buttocks together, hold 5 seconds, 10 reps.
• Heel slides: slide the heel towards you to bend the hip and knee a little, within your precautions, 10 reps.
• Lying hip abduction: slide the operated leg out to the side and back, toes pointing up, 10 reps, if your team allows.

Building strength as walking improves

• Standing hip abduction: holding a counter, lift the operated leg out to the side and back, keeping the body upright. 2 sets of 10.
• Standing hip extension: holding a counter, take the leg straight back a little without leaning forward. 2 sets of 10.
• Standing knee raises: lift the knee to a comfortable height, within your precautions. 2 sets of 10.
• Sit to stand from a firm, higher chair, using your hands at first. 2 sets of 5 to 10.
• Mini squats holding a counter, small range. 2 sets of 10, when your team allows.

Walking and stairs

Walking is a key part of recovery. Short, frequent walks usually beat one long one, and you'll progress from frame or crutches to a stick and then nothing as your physio advises.

On stairs: up with the good leg, down with the operated leg, with a hand on the rail and the crutch or stick moving with the operated leg.

Daily life

• Use a raised toilet seat, firm higher chairs and any aids you were given, as long as your team recommends them.
• Get in and out of cars and beds the way your physio showed you.
• Sleep in the position your team advised; a pillow between the knees is common for some approaches.

Pain, swelling and pacing

Some pain, swelling and bruising in the weeks after surgery is expected. Exercising when your pain relief is working often helps. If the hip is much sorer or more swollen the next day, cut back the reps rather than stopping, and mention it to your physio.

Call your team or get urgent help if

• Your calf is painful, swollen or red, or you're short of breath or have chest pain.
• The wound is red, hot, leaking or you have a fever.
• You feel a clunk, sudden severe pain, or the leg looks shorter or turned.
• You can't bear weight when you could before.

A sample day in the early weeks

Many people split the day into two or three short sessions: ankle pumps, quad sets, glute squeezes and heel slides in the morning, a few short walks around the house through the day, and the same exercises again in the evening. Ice and rest in between. As the weeks go by, standing exercises and longer walks take over.

Tracking your progress

• How far can you walk comfortably, and with which aid?
• Can you stand from a chair without using your hands?
• Can you manage stairs with one rail?
• How steady do you feel standing on the operated leg for a few seconds near support?

Why strength matters long term

The new joint replaces worn surfaces, but the muscles around the hip do the work of supporting it. The glutes on the side of the hip keep your pelvis level when you walk, and weakness there shows up as a limp or a lean to one side. That's why side-lying and standing hip abduction appear in so many programs.

Keeping up strength work long after the early weeks helps with walking distance, getting up from low chairs and balance. Many people carry on with a short routine a few times a week for good, once their team signs off on it.

Before your next appointment

• Note which exercises feel easy and which still hurt.
• Write down how far you can walk and with which aid.
• List questions: when can I drive, sleep on my side, return to work or a sport.
• Bring your exercise sheet so your physio can update it.

Later on

Once your surgeon and physio sign you off for general exercise, strength training helps keep the new hip well supported. Apex One's workouts and the Hip stiffness and mobility program are for that later stage, only with your clinician's okay. You confirm that with a tickbox before starting any rehab program.

Count every rep with your phone

Questions

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