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Exercises After Hip Resurfacing

The hips are some of the most important and used joints in our body. Unfortunately, as many people get older, their hips start to give out because of this overuse. Some patients simply have bad arthritis. A hip resurfacing is a complete or partial replacement of the hip joint with a metal joint. Learning to live with a new hip can be painful, but exercises can ease the pain.

  1. Avoid High Impact Exercises

    • One of the most important things to do after hip resurfacing is to slowly begin working your hip. However, you should avoid any high-impact activities. "My Life in Action" says that you should not "perform high-impact activities such as running and jumping during the first year following your surgery to allow your hip bones to heal properly." As a result, it's best to take it easy for the first couple of weeks after your surgery, and then to slowly add some exercises into your daily routine. These exercises should be done every day so that your hip can heal properly, but they should never be overdone.

    Pool Exercises

    • One of the earliest treatments for a hip resurfacing is pool exercises. Therapists will often use swimming pools early so that the stress on the joints is less strenuous. It is also much easier to move around in a pool, as it will be much less high impact. Once you've healed enough to do them on your own, you can do these exercises at home in a private pool or in a public pool. You should always be supervised by a friend or family member so you don't hurt yourself and have some kind of lift to get in and out. These exercises include light stretching, bending your hip, and very light weight pressure.

    Walking

    • Once you've healed enough to start walking, you should do so every day: A good regimen of walking is important after a hip resurfacing. "Orthopedics New England" says "You should be walking at least four or five times per day, increasing your distance each time." It also says walking "is your most important exercise after a hip replacement or resurfacing." Walking will help increase your stamina and stability. It will be incredibly painful to walk at first, but walk you must. If you don't, your hip won't be used enough and it can grow stiff. If you don't walk every day, your hip will not heal properly, and this can cause major problems and can make your resurfacing pointless.

    Exercise Bike

    • Once your hip has grown strong enough for you to walk regularly, you can begin to use an exercise bike to strengthen your legs and hip. The UC San Diego Health Center says that you should "Keep the seat of the bike high to avoid extreme hip flexion" and that "Within the first couple of weeks after surgery, the bike should be used as a motion machine; pedal with non-operative leg and let your operative leg 'go along for the ride.'" Make sure that you use very low resistance when you start, and don't go very fast or very long on the bike. Once you've gotten stronger, which should take a few weeks, start going longer and harder. It shouldn't be extremely high impact till after one year.

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