week 8 · last reviewed 2026-06-08
Hip replacement recovery: week 8
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 8
typical pain · week 8
Around week 8, the typical pain band sits at 0.6/10 (range 0–3.3). 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 6–12
Weeks 6-12 · back to ordinary
Most people are walking unaided and back to office work by this point per the THA RTW meta-analysis (desk roles around week 4 in modern protocols, manual labor still pending). The PROMIS cohort's three-month median Pain Intensity T-score of 43 corresponds to roughly 2/10 on an NRS — population-normal or slightly below.
Recreational activities like swimming, cycling on a stationary bike, and walking on level ground are widely encouraged from week 6 onwards. Posterior-approach hip precautions typically end at six weeks unless the surgeon specifies otherwise.
Strength work — bridges, hip abductor strengthening, controlled step-ups — is the dominant rehab focus through this window. Single-leg balance and gait drills typically follow.
documented at this week
This week
Around three months, the curve flattens
In the PROMIS cohort of 1,249 hip-replacement patients, pain scores settled to a low, stable level by about three months and changed little after that. The steep early drop is mostly done by now, so progress feeling slower around months two and three is the shape of the curve, not a stall.
Good to know
Bursitis over the outer hip usually settles without more surgery
In a series of 990 hip replacements, 5.4 percent developed trochanteric bursitis, an irritation of the cushioning sac over the bony point of the outer hip. Every one of those cases was managed without further surgery by the time of final follow-up, with 74 percent settling after a local steroid injection.
What's typical
The median at week 6 is zero
In the diary cohort, the median pain score at week 6 was 0/10 (range 0-8). Most people are essentially comfortable by now; a minority still have real pain, and both are on the published curve.
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
91.6% follow the swift track
In a 1,249-patient trajectory study, 91.6% follow a swift-recovery course. If yours feels slower, you're in a small, recognized group — the data tracks it, and it still trends down.
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.
The bigger picture
Walking speed recovers about the same whichever incision was used
A gait-lab study measured anterior, posterior and lateral approach patients before surgery and at 6 and 12 weeks. Measured walking speed and stride length improved across all three groups, and were statistically similar between approaches at every timepoint. The path the incision took is not what set the pace of walking recovery here.
Coming up
Golfers mostly get back on the course
In a large survey of golfers who had hip arthroplasty, 23.5 percent were taking iron shots by six weeks and 71 percent had returned by three months, with 94 percent eventually playing the same amount or more than before surgery. A companion analysis put the average return to a full 18 holes at about 4.7 months.
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 10 ·Return to work (Desk ~4 weeks; manual labor 3-6 months (wide, job-dependent))
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 8 — not medical advice, not a prediction for your body, and not a substitute for your surgeon or clinician.