03/05/2025
Recovery from hip and knee replacement surgery..
Hip and knee replacements give most people excellent pain relief for decades and although expensive upfront (approx costs $25-30,000), are two of the best-value health spends in terms of quality of life gained.
Typically, recovery from these 2 hour operations involves 2-3 days in hospital, crutches for about 6 weeks.
Physiotherapy is very important, and at https://royston.co.nz and https://roystonds.co.nz, we work closely with our in-house physiotherapists https://www.focushealth.co.nz. Ongoing physiotherapy is important after you go home, too, for the first 6 weeks.
People are 80-90% recovered from hip and knee replacement surgery by about 2-3 months, but improvement continues for 12-18 months.
Knees are warm and swollen for up to 12 months - this is normal, not a concern.
A small percentage (3-5%) of people get stiff and may need a manipulation under anaesthetic at around 3-4 months if their knees are not bending (flexing) enough.
Hip replacement has a small risk of dislocation (2-3% of people), so physiotherapy is important to rehabilitate the protective muscle function and learn techniques to avoid this problem.
95% of hip and knee replacements last at least 15 years without needing further surgery, and many will last decades.
NZ-trained orthopaedic surgeon at Royston Hosp. Hip, Knee, Ankle Replacement, foot & ankle surgery
