Activities After Hip Replacement
After having a hip replacement, it will take time to completely resume your normal activities since you will experience some pain after total hip replacement. Being an energetic participant in the recovering process, you can get back to your usual activity easily and quickly. Though you can resume most activities, you have to change how you do them to keep your hip safe. You have to work to regain your strength and to get a successful and complete healing process. Here is some useful information that will help you to get recover while safely resuming your daily routines.
Hospital discharge
Based on your speed of recovery, your hospital stay will typically last from 1 to 4 days. Before you get discharged from the hospital, you have to practice some simple things like:
- Getting in and out of bed by yourself for eating, drinking and using the bathroom.
- Practice walking with an assistive device like a cane walker or crutches on the level surface.
- Try to climb up and down two or three stairs and perform the prescribed home exercises.
Accomplishing these simple goals before your discharge will be very helpful when you go to your home. If you cannot perform this, then it may be unsafe for you to go directly home after discharge. Ensure to perform regular physical therapy exercises even when you get back to your home to recover soon. Ensure to know some warning signs of an infection or a blood clot.
Warning signs of infection and blood clot
Some warning signs of infections are persistent fever, shaking chills, swelling of your wound, drainage from your wound, tenderness and increasing redness and pain with both activity and rest. Severe swelling of your calf, thigh, ankle and pain in your leg or calf unrelated to your incision are some warning signs of a blood clot. Very rarely, a blood clot may travel to your lungs and become life-threatening. When you experience a sudden onset of chest pain, shortness of breath or localized chest pain with coughing, these are some signs of a blood clot that has travelled to your lungs.
Recovery at home
When you move to your home, you will need some help at home for anywhere from several days to several weeks after hip replacement. You have to arrange for a friend, family member or caregiver to help you at home in your routine works.
Prepare your home
After hip replacement surgery, you may not tend to get back to your regular activities for a few days or months, so you have to prepare your home accordingly. The following tips will make your home more comfortable after your surgery but ensure to do this before you admit to the hospital.
- Initially, rearrange your furniture to make it spacious and comfortable to walk with a cane, walker, or crutches.
- Place all your frequently used items like phone, glasses, remote control within easy reach, so you don’t have to reach up or bend down.
- Get a good chair that makes you comfortable after your surgery and make your washroom ready by making your use comfortable like raised toil seat and other things.
Medication and diet
To recover sooner, you have to follow the proper medication and other activities suggested by your doctor. Ensure to talk with your doctor about all your medication and foods you have to take during the recovery process. You will be asked to take iron and vitamin supplements. If you are a person who regularly takes medicine for other reasons, then consult your doctor and speak about it to know whether to continue it or not.
If you are taking the blood thinner medication, then avoid supplements that include vitamin K and foods rich in Vitamin K. Green beans, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, cauliflower, lentils are some foods that are rich in Vitamin K. Also, consider drinking a lot of fluids and avoid alcohol for a few months after a hip surgery.
Wound care
During your recovery time, you have to give proper care to your wound to prevent infection. Following are some guidelines to take care of your wound.
- You have to change the dressing often as directed by your doctor and know how to change the dressing before you get discharged from the hospital. Try to keep the wound area clean and dry to prevent infection.
- Don’t urge to shower or bath since your wound need some time to get dry. When you take a shower before it dries, then it might get infected, so follow your doctor’s instructions.
Endnote
You have to be active but ensure not to do anything much and too fast. Get a break and slowly try to resume your normal activities like weight-bearing, driving, sleeping positions, and other things.