Hip surgery recovery: what to expect after hip replacement or keyhole hip surgery

Two operations are covered here. Total hip replacement swaps the worn joint for an implant. Keyhole hip surgery (hip arthroscopy) repairs or reshapes parts of the joint through small cuts. The first days differ. The principle is shared: recovery moves in phases, and criteria guide each one.

Your age and general health shape the pace.^[1] So does what was done inside the hip.^[2][3] Recovery has no fixed timetable. The ranges on this page are typical patterns, not promises. Your team’s own schedule governs.

The criteria principle is explained on the page about what recovery involves after any operation. The step-by-step protocol for your operation stays with its procedure page: hip replacement or hip impingement and labral tear.

After a hip replacement

Some pain and swelling in the legs and feet is expected. It usually gets better over a few weeks.^[1] Walk every day as far as is comfortable, and do the exercises you were given. A nurse takes out stitches or clips after about 10 days. A follow-up appointment around 6 to 12 weeks after surgery checks how you are recovering.^[1] Your team’s schedule governs these timings.

Hip position rules after a replacement

Early on, a few simple rules protect the new joint while it heals. Typical examples:^[1]

• Do not sit with your legs crossed.
• Do not bend the hip past 90 degrees (roughly a right angle).
• Do not bend down to touch your feet or ankles.
• Avoid low chairs and toilet seats without arms. Raised seats are available.
• Avoid sitting still for long periods.

These rules vary with the surgical approach and the surgeon. Follow the instructions your own team gives you.

After keyhole hip surgery

The hip is protected early by limiting weight-bearing, which means how much of your body weight you put through the leg. Physiotherapy starts early with gentle movement. In one typical protocol, protected weight-bearing lasts roughly 2 to 6 weeks, depending on what was done and the surgeon’s protocol.^[3] This is an illustration, not a timetable for you.

After a hip replacement, one UK reference suggests waiting at least 6 weeks before driving. Check with your doctor that you are fit to drive.^[1] Returning to work usually takes about 6 weeks, depending on the type of work.^[1] The same source advises avoiding sex for 6 to 8 weeks.^[1] These are population-typical ranges. Your own clearance governs.

While you recover, avoid jumping, sudden turns and exercise with a high risk of falling. Do not do heavy lifting until you are cleared.^[1]

After keyhole surgery, your treating team sets these milestones to match the procedure you had.^[2][3] The two operations do not share one set of dates.

Reading about a problem is a starting point. An assessment brings together the history, an examination where needed and any useful tests, and helps you and your clinician decide what to do next. How much physical examination is needed is a matter of clinical judgement. It may be limited when pain makes an examination unreliable, or when imaging clearly shows a problem that matches the symptoms, such as a fracture seen on an X-ray or an MRI scan that clearly shows an injury consistent with the symptoms. The Singapore Medical Council and the UK General Medical Council both allow remote medical consultations, where a physical examination is not possible, with safeguards: the doctor must be clear about the limits of an opinion formed without an examination, and whether an in-person examination is needed, or referral to other services, is left to the clinical judgement of the attending doctor.

Signs that need urgent help

Some symptoms should not wait for a routine appointment. Each item below says where to go.

After an injury

• After a fall or injury, you have severe hip pain, or you cannot walk or put weight on your leg. Go to an emergency department or call 995.
• After a fall or injury, you have any tingling or loss of feeling in your hip or leg. Go to an emergency department or call 995.
• After a major injury, such as a motor vehicle accident or a fall from a tall height, your hip is very painful and you cannot move your leg very well. Go to an emergency department or call 995.

At any time

• You have severe hip pain that started suddenly, and you have not had a fall or injured your hip. Arrange an urgent same-day assessment.
• Your hip is swollen and feels hot, the skin around your hip has changed colour, or you have hip pain and feel generally unwell with a high temperature (or feel hot, cold or shivery). Go to an emergency department or call 995.
• One leg has throbbing pain, usually in the calf or thigh, and swelling. Arrange an urgent same-day assessment. If you also feel short of breath or have chest pain, call 995.
• You have severe difficulty breathing, pain in your chest or upper back, a very fast heartbeat, or someone has passed out. Call 995.
• You have difficulty breathing that comes on suddenly. Call 995.

After hip surgery

• You have recently had a hip replacement and you have a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery, oozing or pus from your wound, throbbing or cramping pain in your hip or leg, or redness, tenderness, swelling or pain in your hip or leg that is not getting better or is getting worse. Arrange an urgent same-day assessment.
• You have unusual hip movement or deformity in your replaced hip, which could mean that the hip has dislocated again. Go to an emergency department or call 995.
• You have new pins and needles, numbness or weakness in your leg, knee or foot, or your toes are cold, pale or blue. Go to an emergency department or call 995.
• You are worried about your replaced hip, for example it is painful or swollen, or you hear clicking or popping noises from the joint. Contact your care team.

If you are admitted by the doctor at the urgent care centre of one of these private hospitals, the Parkway Pantai hospitals (Mount Elizabeth Orchard, Mount Elizabeth Novena, Gleneagles and Parkway East), Farrer Park Hospital and Thomson Medical Centre, you may ask for Dr Sean Leo to be your attending orthopaedic surgeon. If you are instead discharged and referred for orthopaedic follow-up, you may contact the clinic to arrange an appointment. Both are subject to the hospital’s admission processes and to Dr Leo’s availability.