Bouncing Back from Back Surgery

If you've been suffering from hip pain and a lack of mobility for a long time, hip replacement surgery will be a welcome relief. Recovering from this major surgery doesn't happen right away—you'll have several weeks after the surgery of recovery, and then several months until you're back to living the way you did before the surgery and before your pain.

It's imperative that you carefully follow your recovery instructions, which are typically given to you in a booklet after your surgery. Deviating from them can cause complications that delay or harm your recovery. Here are some actions that you don't want to make.

Pushing Too Hard

It's natural to want to get through the recovery process as quickly as possible, but you need to understand that the timelines you've been given are based on plenty of research and trials with past hip replacement surgery patients. If your recovery booklet specifies that you should be able to stand a day or two after the surgery, don't push things by setting a lofty goal of being able to walk right away. You need to remember that the joint is still very raw, and too much physical exertion can exacerbate your pain and potentially even cause the replacement joint to come out.

Avoiding Pain Medication

If you're the type of person who doesn't like taking pain medication more than he or she has to, you might be tempted to take a lower dose than what is recommended to you. In the days or weeks after the surgery, for example, you might feel that you're pretty comfortable without pain medication, and thus skip the dosage when you're supposed to take it. One concern is that your pain will eventually catch up with you, and because you're behind on your dosage of medication, you'll be considerably agony in the short term.

Not Allowing Time For Rest

Much of the healing after your surgery takes place when you rest, so it's important that you heed your surgery team's advice about getting plenty of rest. When you live in a busy household with lots of demands, you might be tempted to skip out on rest. For example, even if you can't stand very long, you could set up a chair in the kitchen to work at preparing food. Doing so, however, isn't restful—and this could slow down your recovery time. This is a time to rest as much as you need and let your family members contribute around the house to support you in your recovery.

To learn more about how to recover from your hip replacement surgery, contact an orthopedic clinic.