Things to avoid after Hip Replacement Surgery
After Surgery Care, Orthopedics
Hip replacement surgery is a complicated procedure recommended to patients with hip joint, injury, or osteoarthritis of the hip. It is often advised to patients who suffer from severe and persistent hip pain, which is not relieved even a bit with the help of other interventions such as medications, injection, or physical therapy. Total Hip replacement is the most common procedure.
Life after a hip replacement surgery is more or less the same as how it was before the intervention. However, the hip pain is drastically reduced and even completely eliminated in patients.
But recovery from hip replacement surgery may take a lot of time. Some patients are able to recover faster than the others as the rate of recovery varies considerably among patients. In addition, the recovery rate is dependent on several factors, including the overall health of the patient, the success of the hip implant, and the occurrence of any complications after the surgery.
Since the recovery rate of hip replacement primarily depends on the outlook of the patients and the success of the surgery, it is important for the candidates to ensure that they take all the necessary precautions for a speedy recovery.
There are certain activities that hip replacement candidates cannot perform or do after the surgery. They must, therefore, ensure not to even try conducting these activities as it can hamper their recovery or damage/dislocate the hip implant.
Following are Some Hip Replacement Long Term Restrictions and Precautions:
Bend beyond 90 degrees: It may sound painful as is, but bending at the waist beyond 90 degrees is completely a no-no for hip replacement patients. They may even not be able to do it at all, and must not try it under any circumstances.
Pick up something while sitting: Trying to pick up something from the floor while sitting on a chair or a stool is also not recommended.
Squatting on your knee to pick up stuff: Whether you can squat on your knees or not to pick up something largely depends on whether you were able to do it before surgery or not. If you were not able to do it then, make sure not to try it now.
Turn feet excessively while bending down: Hip replacement candidates will not and must not bend their feet inward or outward excessively while bending down. Thus picking up things by squatting down must be done by keeping your feet straight, if it must be done at all.
Bring knee higher than hip: Patients must avoid bringing their knee up to the level of their hips and waist. This may affect the hip implant and in worst cases, can dislocate it too.
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Written By Dr. Suneet Singh
Verified By Dr. Surbhi Suden
Dr. Surbhi Suden is one of the founders of Lyfboat and a doctor with a renowned name in the Medical tourism industry. She has been working with international patients since 2008 and is a deeply committed professional with a long term vision of transforming the current healthcare scenarios.