Hello wiggle,
Welcome to recovery and congrats on your new hip!
I would suggest you follow the dosing schedule prescribed and assess how it’s working for you. You want to be comfortably mobile and able to sleep, even though it may be in shorter blocks initially. If you find your meds aren’t keeping you comfortably mobile, contact your surgeon or care team to adjust your medication. Ice often, it really helps with the pain. You can ice as often as you like always placing fabric between bare skin and the ice source. You’ll find an article on ICE in the Recovery Guidelines below. Stop back often, we’ll be here if you need us!
As you begin healing, please keep in mind that each recovery is unique. While the BoneSmart philosophy successfully works for many, there will be exceptions. Between the recommendations found here, your surgeon's recovery protocol and any physical therapy you may engage in, the key is to find what works best for you.
Hip Recovery: The Guidelines
1.
Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2.
Control discomfort:
3.
Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.
4.
PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5.
Here is a week-by-week guide
6.
Access to these pages on the website
Pain management and the pain chart
Healing: how long does it take?
Chart representation of THR recovery
Dislocation risk and 90 degree rule
Energy drain for THRs
Pain and swelling control: elevation is the key
Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?
BIG TIP: Hips actually don't need any exercise to get better. They do a pretty good job of it all on their own if given half a chance. Trouble is, people
don't give them a chance and end up with all sorts of aches and pains and sore spots. All they need is the best therapy which is walking and even then
not to excess.
We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.
While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask the at each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.
United States
We each experience pain differently and to varying degrees. Pain is common at two days post op. If you are icing, try icing more frequently and for longer periods of time. It will help with pain and inflammation. Always place fabric between your bare skin and the ice source. Elevation helps also if you can tolerate it. Be sure to take your pain meds on schedule and if you don’t feel your meds are effective enough, I’ll encourage you again to contact your surgeon’s office for advice on your prescribed meds / dosage schedule.
