What Should I Be Doing 2 Weeks After Hip Replacement?
- Tom Morgan, Chartered Physiotherapist
- Aug 9
- 3 min read
Two weeks after a hip replacement, recovery is still at an early stage even if you are already moving around the house more independently.
The first fortnight is about establishing a safe routine: regular short walks, prescribed exercises, appropriate use of walking aids, managing pain and swelling and following any precautions that apply to your surgical approach.
How should you be feeling?
Pain and swelling should generally be moving in the right direction, but the operated leg can still feel heavy and weak. Fatigue is extremely common because your body is healing and walking with an aid costs more energy than normal walking.
How far should you walk?
There is no correct distance at two weeks. The handbook notes that many people are managing short outdoor walks of a few minutes by this point, but there is wide variation.
Aim for steady progress rather than comparing step counts with somebody else.
Should you still use crutches?
Very possibly. The walking aid should allow you to move with a controlled, level pattern. Removing it too early can reinforce a limp.
Progress when strength, balance and gait quality allow, ideally with physiotherapy guidance.
What exercises should you be doing?
Early exercises still matter, including gluteal activation and hip control. By this stage, sit-to-stands, heel raises, clam shells where appropriate, standing hip exercises and controlled marching may form part of the programme.
Your exact exercises should respect the surgical approach and precautions given by your team.
Want the full hip replacement recovery plan?
What about stairs?
You should use the technique taught before discharge and the rail or walking aid recommended by your team. The goal is safe control rather than rushing towards an alternating stair pattern.
Can you do household tasks?
Light tasks can usually be reintroduced gradually as comfort allows. Keep pacing in mind. A small amount of activity followed by rest is usually more useful than trying to catch up on everything at once.
Do hip precautions still matter?
Yes, if your surgical team gave you precautions. Restrictions vary by surgical approach and surgeon. Some posterior-approach patients are temporarily advised to avoid combined deep flexion, adduction and internal rotation, while anterior precautions may differ.
Do not assume generic internet advice overrides your own instructions.
How should you sleep?
Back sleeping is often the simplest early option. If side-lying is permitted, a pillow between the knees can help keep the hip supported. Your own surgical team's advice should take priority.
What should you watch for?
Pain should be generally decreasing from around the end of the first week. Fever, spreading wound redness, new discharge, one-sided calf swelling or pain that is increasing rather than settling should be reviewed.
When should you seek further advice?
Recovery is rarely a perfectly straight line, but new or rapidly worsening symptoms should not simply be pushed through. Contact your surgical team, GP or physiotherapist if pain, swelling, movement or function is moving in the wrong direction rather than gradually improving. Seek urgent medical attention for symptoms such as sudden breathlessness or chest pain, marked one-sided calf swelling, a hot increasingly red joint with fever, sudden loss of function, or other symptoms your surgical team has told you require urgent review.
Want the full hip replacement recovery plan?
This article provides general information and does not replace advice from your own surgeon, physiotherapist or medical team. Recovery varies between individuals and any specific restrictions or weight-bearing instructions from your surgical team should take priority.
Comments