return to work · last reviewed 2026-06-12
Return to work after gluteus medius repair
Clinical procedure: Gluteus medius/minimus (abductor) repair.
Typical, evidence-anchored estimate only. It is not medical advice, not a prediction for your body, and not a substitute for your surgeon or clinician.
Every number on this page comes from a published study of real patients and links to its source. Return-to-work timing varies widely with the kind of job, the cohort studied, and the person — treat the figures as orientation, not clearance.
When you actually return is a decision made with your surgeon and, where relevant, occupational health. The data below describes cohorts, not your case.
what the studies document
Back to work
Return to recreation is usually gradual
In an open-repair series tracking sport, about 60 percent were back to a lighter activity within one month, another 26 percent by three months, and 14 percent only after six months. Around three quarters returned to at least one recreational activity overall, often shifting toward lower-impact options.
sources
What this page is built from
- Augmented open hip abductor repair with serial 3/6/12/24-month outcomes (Ebert et al., n=110, 7-10 yr) prospective cohort · reliability 9/10
- Low-quality evidence supports surgery for gluteal tendon tears: systematic review with GRADE (Spencer/Fearon, 1,584 patients, 49 studies) systematic review (GRADE) · reliability 9/10
- Mini-open double-row gluteus medius repair, serial 6/12/24-month outcomes (Quinn et al., n=61) retrospective case series · reliability 6/10
- Endoscopic gluteus medius repair with selective gluteus maximus release, 6/12-month points (Della Rocca et al. 2022, n=22) retrospective case series · reliability 6/10
- Time to MCID and PASS after gluteus medius/minimus repair: survival analysis (Vogel et al., median MCID 5.7 mo / PASS 11.0 mo) retrospective case series · reliability 6/10
- PASS achievement after endoscopic hip abductor repair: systematic review (Akhtar et al. 2024, 272 patients, 13 studies) systematic review · reliability 8/10
- Suture anchor vs transosseous gluteus medius repair: systematic review and meta-analysis (680 patients, 21 studies) meta-analysis · reliability 8/10
- Evidence-based rehabilitation protocol after hip abductor tendon repair: systematic review (Ebert et al. 2022, 17 studies) systematic review / protocol · reliability 8/10
- Recreational activity after open hip abductor repair: return-to-sport timing distribution (Navas et al. 2022) prospective case series · reliability 6/10
Track your own week-by-week so a flare doesn't erase the months behind it.
Start a recovery logThis page reflects published cohort data on gluteus medius repair recovery — not medical advice, not a prediction for your body, and not a substitute for your surgeon or clinician.