week 3 · last reviewed 2026-06-08
Hip replacement recovery: week 3
Clinical procedure: Total hip replacement.
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.
what's typical at week 3
typical pain · week 3
Around week 3, the typical pain band sits at 1.5/10 (range 0–3.5). This is a soft, interpolated read: this exact week wasn't measured, so the band is bridged between the nearest measured points. Treat it as a rough guide, not a target to hit.
weeks 2–6
Weeks 2-6 · gait, driving, and discharge of the aid
This is where the practical milestones cluster. Driving typically resumes around week 3-4 for a left hip with an automatic transmission and around week 4-6 for a right hip — the constraint is being off narcotic pain medication and being able to apply the brake reliably. Most people are off crutches and using a single stick by week 4, and off the stick entirely by week 6.
Pain by week six is essentially negligible for most people: median NRS 0/10 in the fast-track cohort with the upper range at 3/10. The remaining work is gait normalization and confidence, not analgesia.
Some patients report a transient day 9-12 rebound in pain — a small uptick that resolves within a week. The fast-track diary picked it up clearly in the cohort means. It is not a sign of complication; it is the typical response to increased activity in the second week.
documented at this week
This week
Driving comes back side-dependent
Typical clearance is about 3 weeks for a left hip and 4-6 for a right — gated on being off narcotics and passing a braking test, not the calendar alone.
What's typical
Reoperation for infection is uncommon in the first year
Across 35,056 planned hip replacements in two linked Swedish registries, 460 hips, about 1.3 percent, needed a reoperation for a deep infection within the first year. For roughly 99 in 100 people, that early-infection path did not happen.
Where it shows up
Where the hip hurt, and where it stops
Before a hip replacement, people most often marked pain in the groin, the front of the thigh, the buttock, the side over the bony hip point, and the front of the knee. In this study of 113 hips, 97.3 percent (110 of 113) reported complete pain relief within 12 weeks after surgery, across all of those areas.
Where it shows up
Pain in places that are not the hip
Hip pain does not always sit at the hip. In the same group of 113 people, pain over the lower back was present in 21.2 percent before surgery, with shin pain in 7.1 percent and calf pain in 2.7 percent. The study reported that the hip replacement resolved pain in these distant areas too, not just around the joint itself.
Where it shows up
A leg that feels longer often settles
Feeling that the operated leg is a different length is a common early sensation. In a review of 130 hip replacements, 22 people reported a perceived leg-length difference after surgery, and within about a year 45 percent had it resolve completely while another 18 percent reported clear improvement.
The bigger picture
Anterior approach leads early, then the gap closes by three months
In a randomized study of 130 people, the direct anterior group reported higher hip function and lower pain at 1, 3 and 6 weeks. By 3 months and 6 months the two approaches scored the same, with no significant difference. An early lead and a later tie are both common parts of this picture.
Coming up
Dislocation within the first two years is uncommon
In a nationwide Danish study of 31,105 hip replacements, the true cumulative rate of the hip dislocating within two years was 3.5 percent, counting every event. For about 96 in 100 people, the hip did not dislocate in that window.
Back to work
Work return, in the pooled numbers
Across 48 studies (9,267 patients), 70.7% returned to work — 87.9% of those who were working before surgery. Physically demanding jobs take measurably longer.
milestones around now
- wk 4 ·Return to driving (Left hip ~3-4 weeks, right hip ~4-6 weeks; off narcotics)
- wk 6 ·Off assistive devices / walking unaided (About 3-6 weeks, once gait is normal)
sources
What this page is built from
- National PROM registry after primary hip replacement (AOANJRR/ACORN) registry · reliability 9.5/10
- Postoperative pain trajectories in THA (PROMIS, n=1,249) prospective cohort · reliability 8.5/10
- Return to work following primary THA: systematic review and meta-analysis meta-analysis · reliability 8.5/10
Track your own week-by-week so a flare doesn't erase the months behind it.
Start a recovery logThis is a typical, evidence-anchored reading of hip replacement recovery at week 3 — not medical advice, not a prediction for your body, and not a substitute for your surgeon or clinician.