Is the rehabilitation different for anterior hip replacement surgery?
The rehabilitation is different because of the elimination of hip precautions as I just mentioned but also it is much faster. The rehabilitation is faster because the muscles are not traumatized during the approach to the hip. Patients are able to get up and walk with the use of a walker much easier and most progress to a cane with 2 to three weeks. Patients are walking independently without the use of a cane typically by 4-5 weeks and then returning to their normal activities shortly there after. This is in comparison to a posterior approach whereby patients are on walkers for almost the first 4 – 6 weeks, progress to cane for the next 3-4 weeks, then walk independently at about 10 weeks. Normal activities resume at about 3 months.
