Moving again after surgery, especially hip surgery can be very challenging. Physical therapy needs to followed strictly to ensure a full rehabilitation. Thankfully there are many hip and core exercises that will help you regain full function.
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A hip replacement is an extremely serious operation and all the advice from medical professionals should be followed before you start to formulate your own plan to strengthen the core area after a hip replacement. Once the more physiotherapy based movements have been perfected, as outlined in this great guide from OrthoInfo , strengthening the core musculature and the hip using strength training will be very beneficial. Initially these simple but effective movements will be great to move your recovery in the right direction.
These core exercises after hip replacement are meant for 3-4 months after surgery once you have regained nearly full function. Before this simpler exercises should be used alongside walking to help create the conditions for a stable recover from surgery.
Reducing tightness from the surgery will be of great relief, movement is a great way to increase blood flow to this area of the body and reduce the sensation of tightness that might be appearing.
Regaining range of motion through the hip is crucial to arriving at full health. This can be helped substantially by improving core strength as the hip stabilisers are an important part of the core musculature.
Regaining strength in the hip will not only increase function of the hip joint but also prevent any issues occurring in the future.
Doing some form of activity in the morning is a great habit to make, with or without a hip replacement surgery. Try some core exercises for 5-10 minutes and go on a 10-15 minute walk before starting your day will help you move in the right direction.
Complete 3 rounds
You need to have a full plan outlined by a physiotherapist that will involve movements like the ones above but are specific to your body and situation. Once you’ve moved through this plan successful, you can start to design your own functional core routine to continue to progress your core strength.
There are no “best exercises”, everything is context dependant and specific to someones goals and situations. The most important adaptation from an exercise is balance and core stability, whilst regaining full range of motion. Thankfully there are many different exercise which can create this adaptation. I would also advise avoiding aggressive rotational or dynamic exercises when taking your first steps back to resistance training.
Again, it’s really depends on the severity of the operation, the individual involved and a number of other factors. Your physiotherapist will be able to give you specific advice tailored to your situation. Adherence to the physical therapy after total hip replacement will be a key factor in the speed of recovery. Someone who spends a great deal of time working on their sliding hip abduction, hip internal rotation and hip glute maximum post replacement hip surgery will recover very well and in a timely fashion. These core exercises are more to help post the hip exercises for the hip joint muscles.
The use of strength training and mobilization techniques has been shown to be beneficial in those who under go a hip replacement as it improves hip range of motion and gait performance. Strength training has also been shown to increase strength post operation which will allow people to regain normal function as early as possible.
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This resource was written by Sean Klein. Sean Richard Klein has thousands of hours of coaching experience and a BSc in Sports Science with Management from Loughborough University. He owns a gym in Bayonne France, CrossFit Essor, which runs group classes and a Personal training studio.