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Your satisfaction following operation will depend on us providing as close a match as possible to your expectations. It is therefore just as important for you to have an accurate idea of what can be achieved as it is for us to provide as successful an operation as possible. The Oswestry questionnaires you complete are useful in determining the problems your arthritic hip gives you as well as defining which aspect of your symptoms you most want improved. Everyone is different. In the diagram below you will see a typical Oswestry hip score progression. Usually joint replacement/surgery is appropriate once the score has reached 60. Pain is the aspect of the score that can best be addressed, and through this you will become more active. Stiffness is difficult to help but fortunately this is the aspect of arthritis you probably find least distressing.
Following surgery there are a few days in which you feel little benefit (due to the pain of having an operation and the effects of the anaesthetic) but after this the pain you experience will rapidly decrease. It will take you a week to learn to climb stairs, 6 weeks to be able to drive, and somewhere within this period you will be happy to take a bath on your own. In 3 months most people are back at work, free of a stick or crutches and sleeping on the operated side. Improvement continues for a year or more. |