THR Resources regarding work return

[Solar7]

My parents are going to be my primary caretakers when/if I get surgery done. I am currently unemployed, and work has always been a really big pain point between my family and I. My career stresses me out to no end, so I hate work. They would view getting back to work as something they want to do - in fact my dad retired last year and has already re-entered the workforce because he was bored. So they've always been dismayed that I can't seem to find work fulfilling or as something I take pride in and want to do.

I'm wondering if anyone has some resources that are maybe a little bit more conservative with how quickly people were able to get back to work. My parents are unlikely to take personal stories from this forum or anywhere else on message boards with any kind of seriousness.

Because my work leaves me so emotionally and mentally drained (I work in advertising - media planning/digital media, most recently as a Director, working with tens to hundreds of millions of budget per year), the gym and stuff like that end up going out the window, and I'm worried that will be the case with PT, walking, and more. My surgeon is seemingly the kind of guy who approaches things with a bunch of optimism like it's what people want to hear, with no time for listening to how mentally prepared someone is to do this. My dad is a very positive, go-get-em, on your feet kind of guy.

Without properly preparing my parents for how long my recovery really could last, I'm worried that especially my dad will see something like a 2-week post-op approval to get off of a walker as a sign I can start applying for jobs en masse that day. I don't want to start a job at like 50%, even WFH, knowing that I'm going to be plunging back into the world of 10+ hour days with constant emails and lack of sleep.

I know everyone heals at a different rate, but anything you can share, even if it's personal stories, would help. There's a lot of great stuff I've read here in the forum, but I know my parents aren't going to bother to read someone's 11 page recovery thread.

Thanks all! Still in the process of getting extra MRIs and scans to make sure I can do this surgery and get relief, and something isn't holding that back.

 

[MissFanny]

I am a fast recoverer and I work from home, so this isn’t the conservative side. But it is my experience:

• First surgery I was back to work after 4.5 weeks. I did one week of half days and went back FT after that.
• Second surgery (now) I am going back Monday, May 8, 3.5 weeks from surgery date. I will do one week of half days again and then hopefully back to FT.

For me, it was also more mental than physical as you allude to in your post. I work with someone who returned at 2 weeks post-op (twice), but I don’t think I can handle the stress of work that quickly. I need time to build my energy and endurance back up. I need to get the swelling under control and get back in the habit of sleeping through the night before I can even think about tacking work on to everything else. The amount of time it takes to get there is different for everyone and difficult to gauge until you go through it.

Hey, I was thinking about you and your question about delaying surgery the other day. My first hip was much worse (more worn down and painful) than my second. The recovery with the hip that wasn’t as bad has been considerably easier. In case you need another reason not to delay.

 

[Jaycey]

The recommended time off work post THR is 10-12 weeks and then a phased approach to work return. The time can be shorter for some. But there is recovery and also Energy drain for THRs.

Recovery from my first THR was over one year due to waiting for years and limping around.

After my second THR I was working from home at 4 weeks out and back in the office at 6 weeks out. I have to admit that the office return was very difficult. I should have waited at least 2 more weeks before attempting it.

 

[Hip4life]

I had planned on 6 weeks, what my OS said. I didn’t realize at the time he meant MINIMUM. I went back to work at 14 weeks and then phased in over 2 more weeks. I had to negotiate with my boss for 8 weeks, then 12 weeks, and finally the 14. I’m lucky she was very understanding. Those last 2 weeks were because I couldn’t pass our return to work physical strength test. So yes, it can be a longer process. It’s not that you’re immobilized the whole time but I used my walker for 2 weeks and my cane for at least 6 more. The energy drain should not be discounted! It can’t be seen but is real. Best wishes. Keep us posted.

 

[Midwestgal]

I went back to working from home at 11 weeks. It was tough to do home p .t. sit in a desk for 8 hrs. I am 16 weeks post op tkr and still need to get up and move after 30 mins or my knee swells.

 

[FionaW]

I had a senior management job when I had my hip replacement in 2014, and I took 12 weeks sick leave, then another 4 weeks annual leave. I was exhausted, in pain and on opiate pain medication for 10 weeks, and I had decision-making responsibilities, a team of staff, and a £2M budget, and I could barely manage to do my own online shopping or write an email! I was relatively young (48) and fit, but nevertheless I needed to sleep for a couple of hours every afternoon, and elevate my legs and exercise many times a day, which would not have been possible if I’ve been working. It felt irresponsible to go back to work when I wasn’t functioning properly, and foolish not to look after myself properly. I took the additional four weeks because I wasn’t allowed to drive until 12 weeks, which meant that I could only do limited exercise. I went to the pool and gym 4-6 times per week in that extra month, and recovered better as a result.

 

[FionaW]

It’s also worth noting that a lot of the guidance on returning to work is not evidence-based. The NHS website says “it’s often possible to return to office based work within around six weeks”, but that’s unsourced, and it feels like health practitioners pull numbers out of the air, and (as you have already observed) tell people what they (usually) want to hear…

However, there is a recent systematic review that looks specifically at return to work after hip replacement, across all the relevant research studies: https://josr-online.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13018-023-03578-y

There is a lot of variation between different studies, but the average work absence is about three months. People who have minimally invasive surgery and younger people seem to return to work more quickly, which isn’t surprising really. There is a useful table which includes a column showing the average return to work time for each study: https://josr-online.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13018-023-03578-y/tables/2

 

[MissFanny]

*Didn’t realize you can’t delete posts and—upon further thought and rereading what I wrote—thought my response sounded defensive. Edited to remove content. Basically, I feel ready to return to work and don’t feel it will be detrimental to my work or healing. I got lucky and have been able to resume most activities quickly!