The operation fixes the torn ligament, the worn joint or the broken bone. You get your bend, your strength and your stairs back afterwards, over months, mostly at home, mostly on your own.
Most people plan the surgery in detail: the surgeon, the hospital, the insurance, the time off work. Few plan the months after it. Those months decide how far the knee bends, whether the arm lifts above your head, and when you trust the ankle on a staircase again.
This site is about those months. A physiotherapist in practice since 2006 writes and reviews every article.
What you get here
Week-by-week recovery
What to work on now, what to leave alone, and what your body should be doing by week two, week six, week twelve. Written for the person doing the work at home between appointments, which is where almost all of the recovery happens.
Normal, or call your surgeon
Swelling, stiffness, bruising and broken sleep are normal after surgery and nobody tells you how much is too much. Calf pain or swelling, fever, a wound that leaks or reddens, or a sudden loss of movement is not normal. Every recovery guide here names the warning signs, so you know which pile your symptom belongs in. See blood clot after surgery.
Before the operation
Two things change your recovery before it starts. You recover better from surgery you walk into stronger, so there is work to do in the weeks beforehand. And for some conditions, a proper course of strengthening delays surgery or makes it unnecessary, so it is worth knowing whether you have had that course before you book a date.
Recovery guides by surgery
- Knee: knee replacement week by week, exercises after knee replacement, swelling after knee replacement, stiff knee after knee replacement, partial knee replacement, ACL reconstruction, meniscus surgery and knee arthroscopy, MPFL reconstruction, cartilage repair, tibial plateau fracture, broken kneecap, quad or patellar tendon rupture
- Hip: hip replacement week by week, exercises after hip replacement, hip replacement precautions, hip arthroscopy, hip fracture surgery, pelvic fracture
- Shoulder: rotator cuff repair, exercises after rotator cuff surgery, shoulder replacement, reverse shoulder replacement, Bankart and Latarjet, biceps tenodesis, broken shoulder, broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade, stiff shoulder after a broken arm
- Spine: microdiscectomy, laminectomy and decompression, spinal fusion, ACDF, exercises after back surgery
- Foot and ankle: broken ankle surgery, exercises after a broken ankle, ankle ligament surgery, Achilles rupture, heel bone fracture, bunion surgery
- Any surgery: weight bearing explained, blood clot warning signs, balance exercises to prevent falls
- Hand, wrist and elbow: covered in depth at our sister site, handpainnomore.com
Getting back to normal life
The questions that come after the first few weeks: when you can drive, sleep on your side, get back to work, or play your sport again.
- Getting around: walking after knee replacement, stairs after knee replacement, stairs after hip replacement, when to stop using crutches, driving after surgery, going back to work
- Around the house: showering after knee replacement, showering after hip replacement, best sitting position after hip replacement, kneeling after knee replacement, sleeping after knee replacement, sleeping after hip replacement, sleeping after rotator cuff surgery
- Travel and relationships: flying after knee or hip replacement, sex after hip replacement, sex after knee replacement
- Sport and exercise: cycling after knee or hip replacement, running after knee replacement, golf after hip replacement, golf after shoulder replacement, tennis and pickleball after joint replacement, swimming after rotator cuff surgery
- The things nobody mentions: constipation after surgery, scar care after surgery
Home exercise programs
- Spine: lower back pain, sciatica, neck pain, spinal stenosis
- Knee and hip: knee arthritis, meniscus tear, hip arthritis
- Shoulder: rotator cuff strengthening, shoulder impingement, frozen shoulder
- Ankle: ankle sprain
Deciding about surgery
- Is it time? knee replacement, hip replacement, shoulder replacement
- Is it worth it? rotator cuff surgery, bunion surgery, back surgery, ACL tear without surgery
- Which operation? anterior vs posterior hip, hip resurfacing vs replacement, partial vs total knee, high tibial osteotomy, revision knee replacement, ankle fusion vs replacement, ACL graft types
- Getting ready: knee replacement, hip replacement, shoulder surgery, and questions to ask your surgeon
Not at surgery yet? Start with your condition
- Shoulder: frozen shoulder, rotator cuff tear, shoulder impingement, shoulder arthritis, shoulder pain at night, calcific tendinitis, biceps tendinitis, AC joint separation, AC joint arthritis
- Knee: knee arthritis, meniscus tear, runner’s knee, jumper’s knee, IT band syndrome, kneecap dislocation, MCL injury, LCL injury, PCL injury, osteochondritis dissecans, knee bursitis, Baker’s cyst
- Hip and groin: hip arthritis, hip bursitis, gluteal tendinopathy, hip labral tear, avascular necrosis, groin strain, hip flexor strain, snapping hip, hamstring tendon tear
- Spine: slipped disc, sciatica, spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, degenerative disc disease, facet joint pain, compression fracture, SI joint pain, pinched nerve in the neck, cervical myelopathy, adult scoliosis
- Foot and ankle: ankle sprain, high ankle sprain, plantar fasciitis, heel fat pad atrophy, Achilles tendinitis, Haglund’s deformity, ball of foot pain, Morton’s neuroma, foot stress fracture, adult flat foot, Lisfranc injury, stiff big toe, turf toe, hammer toe
- Injections: cortisone shot side effects, PRP for the knee, gel injections for the knee, epidural steroid injection, radiofrequency ablation, prolotherapy, stem cell injections
The full list, grouped by body part, is on the conditions and surgery page.
Why this site exists
Your surgical review lasts a few minutes. Your physical therapy sessions are an hour a week at most, and in many places they stop long before you are back to normal. The rest of it, the other hundred and sixty-seven hours, is you at home with a printed sheet of exercises and no idea whether what you are feeling is progress or a problem.
This site fills those hours. It does not replace your surgeon’s protocol or your therapist. It explains them, and it tells you plainly when to stop reading and pick up the phone.
Who writes this
Louise Yow holds a BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy from Queen Margaret University, Scotland, and has practiced since 2006 across public hospitals, a private hospital, nursing homes and private clinics. That range matters for surgery: the ward, the nursing home and the outpatient clinic each see a different stage of the same recovery. More about Louise.
Start here
Browse the articles, or go straight to your stage:
- Recover: after surgery, week by week
- Prepare: the weeks before your operation
- Prevent: before surgery is decided
This site is for general education and is not medical advice. Follow your surgeon’s post-operative protocol, and ask your surgeon or physical therapist about anything specific to your case.