Many people think that the only thing standing between them and some of their most enjoyable physical activities is the pain and discomfort they are dealing with in their hip. They believe that a hip replacement procedure will free them of their pain and return them to an active lifestyle, but according to a new study, that’s not always the case. We take a closer look at the study and explain why activity increases need to be patient-driven following a hip replacement operation.
Pain And Activity Levels After Hip Replacement
According to a new study out of Australia, while pain levels oftentimes significantly decrease following a hip replacement operation, that absence of pain doesn’t always make the patient more active, even though they believe that the only thing holding them back from activity before the operation is their pain. For the study, researchers examined 51 hip replacement patients before and after they received their new hip. Following hip replacement, patients had their activity levels tracked with wrist-worn trackers for a period of two years. At the end of the two years, researchers gathered the data and came to some surprising conclusions.
Let’s start with the good. Patients who underwent hip replacement surgery showed improvements in three key metrics:
- Decreased pain levels
- Increased quality of life
- Improvement in walking biomechanics, like gait, speed and step-length
However, these improvements did not make for more active patients. On average, the authors found that patients were sedentary for nineteen and a half hours a day before surgery, and they were sedentary for nineteen and a half hours a day after surgery.
What Drives Activity After Hip Replacement?
So even though the average patient has less pain and an increased quality of life, the study suggests that they aren’t any more active in the years following their hip replacement surgery. In other words, being in less pain isn’t going to magically make you a more active individual. If you’re quite sedentary prior to your operation, odds are you will continue to be sedentary after your operation, even if you are in less pain.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. While it won’t happen on its own, you can buck the trend and become more active if you really commit to lifestyle changes following hip surgery. This means carving out time for exercise, finding ways to incorporate activity into everyday tasks, and finding new hobbies that challenge both the mind and the body. It’s going to take effort, but with your renewed physical capabilities, it will be easier and more enjoyable.
So if you are considering undergoing hip replacement surgery because you believe it will make you more active, know that the surgery itself won’t drive these activity changes. You have to make a concentrated effort to be more active, and we can help you make these positive changes in your life. So if you are looking for more information about hip replacement surgery, or you want to take some steps to ensure you increase your activity levels after hip surgery, reach out to Dr. Botero and his team today.
