Why hip precautions

For example, call if:. Call your doctor or nurse call line now or seek immediate medical care if:. Watch closely for changes in your health, and be sure to contact your doctor or nurse call line if:. Author: Healthwise Staff. Gilbertson MD - Vascular Surgery.

Care instructions adapted under license by your healthcare professional. If you have questions about a medical condition or this instruction, always ask your healthcare professional. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.

It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again. Important Phone Numbers. Topic Contents Your Recovery How can you care for yourself at home? Other tips When should you call for help? Where can you learn more? Top of the page. Your Recovery Hip replacement surgery replaces the worn parts of your hip joint. How can you care for yourself at home? What are some precautions for self-care after hip replacement surgery posterior?

Hip Replacement Posterior Precautions: Don't bend your hip too far. Hip Replacement Posterior Precautions: Don't cross your legs. Other tips Go slowly when you climb stairs. Make sure the lights are on. Neither included study showed any benefit of hip precautions in preventing dislocation. Conclusion: The rate of dislocation after anterolateral THA is low and is not improved by hip precautions. Hip precautions are associated with a slower return to activities, significant expense, and decreased patient satisfaction.

Existing studies risk being compromised by a type II error, but a definitive study may be prohibitively large and expensive. Education is typically performed by nurses, physical therapists, or physicians. Patients are informed verbally and on some occasions by a video demonstrating hip precautions and body movements to avoid following the surgery. Frequently, patients receive paper handouts listing out hip precautions and diagrams depicting movements to avoid.

Many times, these handouts will discuss alternative movements to use. Often time, patients also receive supervised mobility training. The main movements that should be avoided are hip adduction, hip flexion, and external or internal rotation. These precautions are often prescribed for at least 6 weeks or until the soft tissue surrounding the hip has at least partially healed. The utilization of a posterior approach for the THA was a significant risk factor for implementing postoperative hip precautions.

There is also equipment available for patients to help them follow their newly prescribed hip precautions. Some patients purchase raised toilet seats and chairs to prevent them from bending at the hip more than 90 degrees.

Sock aids and dressing sticks are often used to make dressing and changing clothing easier for the patient. There are also environmental modifications that can help prevent hip dislocations; these include removing all tripping hazards from home, moving around the layout of home furniture so that there are fewer turns, and installing grab rails around the house.

Compliance with hip precautions can be challenging for patients to follow. Many activities that were once simple to perform are instantly complicated. Activities of daily living can be significantly affected. Examples of activities of daily living include bathing, grooming, dressing, toileting, and transferring.

Lack of independence can leave patients very upset and disheartened, further affecting the rate of compliance. Clinicians and other healthcare professionals clinicians, specialists, nurses, physical therapists who work with hip arthroplasty patients need to understand pre and postoperative hip precautions. These are designed to prevent exacerbation of symptoms and optimize healing and function following various arthroplasty procedures.