After you have a total hip replacement, your doctor usually recommends certain hip precautions to prevent dislocation of the new hip. Rehabilitation after hip surgery focuses on reducing pain, increasing the range of motion, strengthening exercises, and regaining mobility to improve the quality of life. Moreover, utilizing assistive devices in self-care tasks is helpful to maintain hip precautions and avoid some common complications such as dislocation.
By: Franciscan Health
What is total hip replacement (THR)?
- Total hip replacement is a surgical procedure that removes the painful hip joint and replaces it with man-made components. It produces better pain relief, functional recovery, and substantial quality of life improvement (Spalević, Milenković, & Kocić, 2018).
What are the reasons for hip surgery?
- Has chronic hip pain, stiffness, and limited mobility caused by osteoarthritis, femoral neck fractures, rheumatoid arthritis, and post-traumatic arthritis.
What is the hip precautions?
– Do not bend over at the waist !
– Do not cross your legs when sitting !
– Do not turn your operated leg inward !
** Adhering to hip precautions helps to prevent post hip surgery dislocations.
What activities cause post THR dislocations?
According to the article by Smith, Davies, Ingham, & Mann, these following activities relate to total hip replacement dislocations:
- Getting into or out of bed
- Twisting or turning in bed
- Putting socks and shoes
- Getting onto or up from a toilet
- Picking up objects from floor
How assistive devices relate to hip precautions?
Advantages of adaptive devices
– Prevent post hip surgery dislocation
– Increase independence in daily activities
– Improve quality of life
- Adaptive devices include: Reacher, dressing stick, shoe horn, sock aid, raised toilet seat, shower bench. These assistive devices are used to prevent clients with post hip surgery from bending over at wait and to improve their independence in everyday activities (Bozorgi, Ghamkhar, Kahlaee, & Sabouri, 2016)
– Long handle reacher: picking up items off the floor.
– Dressing stick: pulling up or pushing off the socks or pants.
– Shoe horn: putting the shoes on, or taking them off.
– Sock aid: putting on the socks or stockings.
– Raised toilet seat: increasing the height of toilet.
– Abduction pillow: placing this pillow between legs to prevent your hip from turning in or away from your body.
References
Spalević M, Milenković S, Kocić M, et al. Total Hip Replacement Rehabilitation: Results and Dilemmas. Acta Medica Medianae. 2018;57(1):48-53. doi:10.5633/amm.2018.0108.
Toby Smity, Leigh Davies, Christopher Ingham & Charles Mann. What activities cause hip dislocation? A review of 100 total hip replacement dislocations. Advances in Physiotherapy. 2012; 14:2, 55-60.
Jame Bozorgi AA, Ghamkhar L, Kahlaee AH, Sabouri H. The Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy Supervised Usage of Adaptive Devices on Functional Outcomes and Independence after Total Hip Replacement in Iranian Elderly: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Occupational Therapy International. 2016;23(2):143-153. doi:10.1002/oti.1419.