Start preparing for hip replacement about SIX weeks before surgery if you can. You have two jobs: get your body as strong and healthy as possible, and set up your home so the first weeks are safe and easy.
For your body: keep exercising the hip and thigh, stop smoking, sort out dental and skin problems, and get health conditions under control. For your home: raise your seats, clear trip hazards, move everyday things to waist height and line up help for the first week or two.
Your hospital may run a pre-op class or give you its own checklist. Where it differs from this one, follow theirs.
Get your body ready
- Keep exercising: sit to stands, bridges, standing leg lifts to the side, an exercise bike or water exercise. This is often called prehab. It usually eases pain and helps function before surgery. The evidence that it speeds recovery after a hip replacement is mixed, but you’ll go in stronger and already know your exercises
- Practice with walking aids: if you can, learn to use crutches or a frame before the operation, ideally with a physio showing you, including how to manage stairs
- Stop smoking: quitting four to six weeks before surgery and staying off for four weeks after can cut complications by up to HALF. Smoking slows wound healing and raises the risk of infection. Ask your doctor for help to quit
- Weight, if you carry extra: even modest weight loss takes load off the new joint. Some surgeons set a target before they operate
- Dental work: get any needed treatment done well before surgery. Infection in the mouth can travel to a new joint
- Skin: check your legs and groin for cuts, sores or rashes, and tell the team about any. Don’t shave the area yourself
- Health conditions: blood sugar, blood pressure and other conditions should be as well controlled as possible. You’ll usually have a pre-op check with blood tests
- Medications: bring a full list, including supplements. You may be told to stop some, such as blood thinners, a week or two beforehand. Follow the team’s instructions exactly
- Alcohol: keep it moderate in the run-up to surgery
Set up the house
- Raise your seats: a firm chair with arms, high enough that your knees are level with or just below your hips. A firm cushion or furniture risers can lift a low chair. Low, soft sofas are hard to get out of
- Toilet: a raised toilet seat or a toilet frame with arms. Borrow, hire or buy it before surgery
- Bed: you should be able to sit on the edge with your feet flat on the floor. Put a lamp and phone within reach
- Reaching aids: a long-handled grabber, a sock aid, a long shoehorn and slip-on shoes with backs
- Clear the floor: take up loose rugs, tidy trailing cables and make a clear path wide enough for a walking frame
- Light the way: night lights between the bed and the bathroom
- Move everyday things to waist height: in the kitchen, bathroom and wardrobe, so you’re not bending to low cupboards or stretching to high shelves
- Bathroom: a shower is easier than a bath early on. A non-slip mat, a shower chair and grab rails help
- Stairs: make sure there’s a sturdy rail. If stairs are hard, consider setting up a bed downstairs for the first weeks
- Carrying things: you’ll need both hands for crutches. A bag you can wear, clothes with pockets or a small kitchen trolley help
- Pets: dogs and cats underfoot are a real trip hazard. Plan who walks the dog, keep pets out of the way at first and raise food bowls so you’re not bending
Set the house up for the person you’ll be the week after surgery, not the person you are today.
If you’ll have movement rules after surgery, some of this becomes essential rather than helpful. See hip replacement precautions. Which rules you get often depends on the route your surgeon uses; see anterior vs posterior hip replacement.
Line up help
- Someone at home: ideally a person who can stay, or check in daily, for at least the first several days
- Food: stock the freezer with ready meals and set up grocery deliveries
- Transport: you won’t be driving for several weeks, often around six. Arrange lifts to follow-up and physio appointments
- Work: plan your time off and a gradual return with your employer
- Chores: arrange help with laundry, cleaning, bins and the garden
The NHS has a clear guide to preparing for a hip replacement, including equipment and help at home. For what the first weeks look like, see hip replacement recovery week by week. For what to raise at your pre-op visit, see questions to ask before orthopedic surgery.
Call your surgical team before the operation if
- You develop a cold, flu, fever or any infection in the days before surgery
- You get a cut, sore, rash or insect bite on the operated leg
- You have a tooth infection or need urgent dental treatment
- You’re unsure which medicines to stop, or when
Mention it at your pre-op assessment if
- You live alone or have no one to help for the first days
- Your only toilet or bedroom is up a flight of stairs
- You’ve had a blood clot before, or a bad reaction to an anesthetic
The work you do in the weeks before surgery makes the weeks after it easier.