Most people hope to go directly home from the hospital after hip replacement surgery. You should talk about this issue with your doctors and nurses in the weeks before your hip replacement. They can advise you about whether going directly home is good for you.
If you are weak before the surgery, you and your doctor may plan on you staying in a skilled nursing facility ahead of time.
Even if you and your doctor planned for you to go home, your recovery may be slower than expected. When you no longer need to be in the hospital, the hospital will discharge you so that you can go to a place that can give you the right care. As a result, you may need to be transferred to a rehabilitation or a skilled nursing facility.
If you reach the point where you no longer need to be in the hospital but still need care by health care providers, the hospital may transfer you to a rehabilitation or "rehab" facility. This is for people who are likely to recover quickly. These facilities offer more intensive, short-term (1 to 2 weeks) physical therapy.
If you have other health problems, such as heart or lung problems, which may delay recovery, you may be sent to a skilled nursing facility. You'll receive longer-term nursing care to help you recover.
It is important to plan where you would like to go before you have your surgery. Look for one that provides quality care and is in a good location for you and your family.
Take these steps also:
When it is time to leave the hospital, you may still not be ready to go home. Before you can go home after surgery, you must be able to:
Other factors may also prevent you from going directly home from the hospital:
While a doctor will supervise your care, other trained health professionals will be helping you grow stronger:
Registered nurses will:
Physical therapists will teach you how to:
It's a good idea to check out different skilled nursing facilities that you would like to go to. Visit two or three facilities and choose more than one facility where you would be comfortable.
Important factors in the facilities you choose will include:
Your most important goal is to get safely back in your home. The quality of care you will receive at this facility plays the biggest role in getting you home.
So, when looking into the facilities that are near you or those suggested to you by friends or the hospital, find out about the following:
Bennell KL, Buchbinder R, Hinman RS. Physical therapies in the management of osteoarthritis: current state of the evidence. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2015;27(3):304-311. PMID: 25775185 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25775185.
Bennell KL, Egerton T, Martin J, et al. Effect of physical therapy on pain and function in patients with hip osteoarthritis: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2014;311(19):1987-1997. PMID: 24846036 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24846036.
Cameron M, Chrubasik S. Oral herbal therapies for treating osteoarthritis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014;5:CD002947. PMID: 24848732 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24848732.
Cibulka MT, Bloom NJ, Enseki KR, Macdonald CW, Woehrle J, McDonough CM. Hip pain and mobility deficits-hip osteoarthritis: revision 2017. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2017;47(6):A1-A37. PMID: 28566053 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28566053.
Clarke A, Pulikottil-Jacob R, Grove A, et al. Total hip replacement and surface replacement for the treatment of pain and disability resulting from end-stage arthritis of the hip (review of technology appraisal guidance 2 and 44): systematic review and economic evaluation. Health Technol Assess. 2015;19(10):1-668. PMID: 25634033 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25634033.
Doroshow JH. Malignant tumors of bone, sarcomas, and other soft tissue neoplasms. In: Goldman L, Shafer AI, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 25th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2016:chap 202.
Goodnough LT, Monk TG. Patient Blood Management. In: Miller RD, Cohen NH, Eriksson LI, Fleisher LA, Wiener-Kronish JP, Young WL, eds. Miller's Anesthesia. 8th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2015:chap 57.
Harkess JW, Crockarell JR. Arthroplasty of the hip. In: Azar FM, Beatty JH, Canale ST, eds. Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics. 13th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2017:chap 3.
Hayashi J, Leff B. Home care. In: Ham RJ, Sloane PD, Warshaw GA, Potter JF, Flaherty E, eds. Ham's Primary Care Geriatrics. 6th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2014:chap 12.
Hochberg MC, Altman RD, April KT, et al. American College of Rheumatology 2012 recommendations for the use of nonpharmacologic and pharmacologictherapies in osteoarthritis of the hand, hip, and knee. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2012;64(4):465-467. PMID: 22563589 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22563589.
Huddleston JI, Goodman S. Hip and knee pain. Firestein GS, Budd RC, Gabriel SE, McInnes IB, O’Dell JR. Kelley and Firestein’s Textbook of Rheumatology. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2017:chap 48.
Lavelle DG. Hip resurfacing. In: Azar FM, Beaty JH, Canale ST, eds. Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics. 13th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2017:chap 4.
Leong M, Murphy KD, Phillips LG. Wound healing. In: Townsend CM, Beauchamp RD, Evers BM, Mattox KL, eds. Sabiston Textbook of Surgery. 20th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2017 chap 6.
Lieberman JR, Engstrom SM, Solovyova O, Au C, Grady JJ. Is intra-articular hyaluronic acid effective in treating osteoarthritis of the hip joint? J Arthroplasty. 2015;30(3):507-511. PMID: 25542833 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25542833.
Lowe CJ, Davies L, Sackley CM, Barker KL. Effectiveness of land-based physiotherapy exercise following hospital discharge following hip arthroplasty for osteoarthritis: an updated systematic review. Physiotherapy. 2015;101(3):252-265. PMID: 25724323 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25724323.
Manyanga T, Froese M, Zarychanski R, et al. Pain management with acupuncture in osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2014;14:312. PMID: 25151529 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25151529.
Matteson EL, Osmon DR. Infections of bursae, joints, and bones. In: Goldman L, Shafer AI, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 25th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2016:chap 272.
Percope de Andrade MA, Campos TV, Abreu-E-Silva GM. Supplementary methods in the nonsurgical treatment of osteoarthritis. Arthroscopy. 2015;31(4):785-792. PMID: 25633815 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25633815.
Schnitzer TJ, Marks JA. A systematic review of the efficacy and general safety of antibodies to NGF in the treatment of OA of the hip or knee. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2015;23 Suppl 1:S8-S17. PMID: 25527221 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25527221.
Sershon R, Balkissoon R, Valle CJ. Current indications for hip resurfacing arthroplasty in 2016. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2016;9(1):84-92. PMID: 26830851 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26830851.
Svege I, Nordsletten L, Fernandes L, Risberg MA. Exercise therapy may postpone total hip replacement surgery in patients with hip osteoarthritis: a long-term follow-up of a randomised trial. Ann Rheum Dis. 2015;74(1):164-169. PMID: 24255546 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24255546.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Blood and blood products. www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/BloodBloodProducts/default.htm. Updated February 2, 2018. Accessed November 13, 2018.
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, timeliness, or correctness of any translations made by a third-party service of the information provided herein into any other language. © 1997- A.D.A.M., a business unit of Ebix, Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.