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Originally Posted by technicolor
Well, I took a hard spill this week and fractured my hip. Sigh. I underwent full hip replacement surgery and I now have a titanium/ceramic replacement installed. Since I'm young (52) the doctors say I should recover quickly (walking within 2 weeks, back on the bike in 3 months).
Wondering if there is any wisdom to be shared from other forumites around recovery time, do's and don't's during healing, etc.
This sucks.
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Technicolor,
I am 71 and got total hip replacement 5 weeks ago (March 4th) on the right due to severe arthritis. It had gotten so bad that I could no longer ride and it dictated a lot of what I could and could not do. I assume you got the anterior approach like I did. Mine was done as an outpatient and I was home in the afternoon.
My first day of physical therapy (PT) was the day after surgery, and I had PT twice each week for 4 weeks. That helped a lot. I was on a walker for nearly 2 weeks and then was able to use a cane, but by 3 weeks I was walking without any devices.
I work out in the gym pretty much every day now and do the stationary bike, the stair climber, quadricep curls, and hamstring exercises, on the machines designed for those. That helps also.
I think it will be about 2 months (around May 1st) before I can ride on the road because of the unlikely, but still real, risk of a fall which could mess up the new hip before the titanium spike gets fused completely in the femur.
Early on I was very careful and I still am in order to avoid some kind of fall which could set me back.
Good luck with the recovery,
Dave