Hip replacemnet in 50 yr old. How long is recovery likely to be?

[ampere]

A friend of mine is having this in a month or so's time for OA.

We will be helping her out but I don't know things like- can we take her out in a car? Will she be able to flex her hip that much that soon after the op?

She is otherwise in reasonable health.

My dad (a lot older) was walking the following day, he had to show he could climb stairs before leaving hospital.

She will be able to go in a car but may not want to if sore, and she will not be able to drive for a while.

Recovery is amazing - dhs gran was 96 when she had her last one, and she was still up the next day and out of hospital in a few days, and was not in good shape going into the op.

Thanks. The poor woman cannot wait! She's now on a walking stick...

We want to know what we can plan that she is likely to be able to do, really, to make her convalescence that bit easier. And with a bit of fun! She's scared, too, because she's fairly recently divorced and her DSs are at uni. She was hoping the op would be in the summer hols for that reason but she cannot afford to postpone it.

Iirc my gran was pretty much bouncing around by 6 weeks - age 87 (now 91)

Arrange to go round for coffee after a couple of days and, if she's up to it, go for coffee somewhere with flat access. Supermarkets at a quietish time is good :)

Get her to get as much info from her physio as possible as to what she can/can't do. Is she scheduled for any time in a rehab facility after the op? She will spend a lot of time in bed/sitting so if you've any good books you could lend/give her some to pass the time.

A friend of mine has had 3 hip replacements - same age, one hip done twice -and there are very strict guidelines (e.g. can't sit on a chair where your hip is lower than your knee).

One thing that was very handy for my friend, both before and after the op, was one of those vacuum mugs that people use for commuting. She could make a cuppa in it in the kitchen, put the lid on, and bring her tea into the sitting room - it's impossible otherwise to carry tea/coffee while on crutches.

Also for the kitchen, a bar stool is useful to sit on while cooking (obv not one that she would have to climb up on though!)

I gave her one of these and it was the right height.

Hope it all goes well for her and how nice of you to be thinking of outings to cheer her up!

My mum had both hips done (separately) in the last 5 years, she is now 76. She was up and about the next day and left hospital 2 days later although this was quite quick. We took her home in the car. The Occupational Therapy dept. came and assessed her house, they raised her armchair so she wouldn't be sitting with her hip lower than her knees, gave her a raised seat for the toilet, a frame for the loo, a seat for the shower, a perching stool and a grabber on a stick. My mum found the best thing was to be overcautious, she felt so well that it would have been easy to do something and cause a dislocation.

Good tip from previous poster, my mum got a flask filled with hot water, then made tea throughout the day (when I was at work).

To the OP, if your friend is in alot of pain now from arthritis, she will notice the difference immediately, my mum looked like a different person the night of the op apart from being drowsy from anaesthetic.