Quick summary
Six weeks of no driving, restrictions on how far you can bend, and nobody to make lunch. That is the bit the pre-op leaflet can miss. Most people need help for two to six weeks with washing, dressing, shopping and cooking. Ask about free reablement before you pay for anything.
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What the six weeks actually look like
The NHS advice after a hip replacement includes waiting at least six weeks before driving, checking with a doctor that you are fit to do so, and returning to work when you feel ready, which usually takes about six weeks depending on the job. A follow-up appointment normally comes at around six to twelve weeks (NHS, Recovering from a hip replacement).
Six weeks of not driving, in Wincle or Meerbrook or Chelford, is not the same problem as six weeks of not driving in the middle of Macclesfield.
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Hip precautions, and why they matter at home
After many hip replacements, surgeons ask patients to avoid certain movements to reduce the risk of dislocation. The common ones are not bending the hip past 90 degrees, not crossing the legs or the midline, not lifting the knee above the hip, and not twisting the leg or waist.
How long they apply varies. Leeds Teaching Hospitals gives six weeks or longer for some people; the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital gives six to twelve weeks depending on the stability of the hip after surgery. Not every surgeon uses precautions, and the ones who do do not all use the same ones, so follow the instructions from the team that operated.Â
Translate the restriction into the house. Not bending past 90 degrees means no reaching the floor, no low cupboards, no low chairs, no low toilet, no putting socks on, no getting things out of the oven, no picking up the post.
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Everyday task | Why it becomes hard | What usually solves it |
|---|---|---|
Putting on socks and shoes | Requires bending well past 90 degrees | Sock aid, long-handled shoe horn, or someone doing it |
Using the toilet | Standard seats sit too low | Raised toilet seat, frame |
Washing | Getting in and out of a bath is out of the question | Shower stool, perching stool, help |
Cooking | Cannot reach low cupboards or the oven, cannot carry while using a stick | Move things to waist height beforehand. Someone to prepare meals |
Shopping | No driving for around six weeks. Cannot carry bags | Delivery, or someone to shop |
Getting up from a chair | Low, soft seating is unusable | Firm upright chair with arms, raised on blocks if needed |
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Knee replacements are different
Knees do not usually come with dislocation precautions, so the bending restrictions are less of an issue. What knees demand instead is exercise, and a lot of it.
Recovery depends heavily on doing the physiotherapy exercises properly and often, and on regaining the ability to straighten and bend the joint. Swelling lasts longer than people expect, and pain during exercise is a normal part of it in a way that alarms families.
The practical implication: after a knee, the help someone needs is often less about lifting and more about having the time and space to do the exercises, plus somebody making the lunch while they do.
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Do the preparation before the operation
- Move everything to waist height. Kitchen, bathroom, bedroom. Nothing you use daily below your knees.
- Sort the chair. A firm upright chair with arms, at the right height, in the room where they will actually sit.
- Sort the bed. Feet flat on the floor when sitting on the edge, knees at about a right angle.
- Clear the routes. Bed to toilet, chair to kitchen, front door to chair. Rugs, wires, anything to step round.
- Fill the freezer. A fortnight of food that needs no bending to reach.
- Decide where they will sleep. If the bathroom is upstairs and the bedroom is upstairs, that is one problem. If they are on different floors, that is a bigger one.
- Arrange the help before the date, not after. Everything is harder to organise from a hospital bed.
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Ask about reablement before you pay anyone
Intermediate care and reablement are free for up to six weeks after a hospital stay, are not means-tested, and are arranged through the NHS or the council (GOV.UK).
Ask the ward directly: has she been assessed for reablement or intermediate care. Most people receive one or two weeks rather than six, because it ends when the goals are met.
For a planned joint replacement, some people are told they will not need it and are discharged straight home. That may be right. It is still worth asking, and worth asking whether an occupational therapist has assessed the house rather than the ward.
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What help do people actually buy?
Less than they fear, and for a shorter time than they expect.
The common shape is an hour in the morning for washing and dressing, plus help with shopping and meals, tapering over two to six weeks. Some people want an hour in the evening as well for the first fortnight. Very few need anything at three months.
If someone lives alone and there is no family nearby, the first week or two after discharge is where a temporary live-in arrangement occasionally makes sense. Above roughly eight to ten hours of care a day, live-in usually costs less than visits.
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What should worry you
Most recovery is uneventful. These are the things to act on rather than wait out.
- Calf pain, swelling, redness or warmth, or breathlessness and chest pain. Clots are a recognised risk after joint surgery and these need urgent medical assessment.
- Wound problems. Increasing redness, discharge, a wound opening, or a fever.
- Pain that suddenly worsens or a leg that changes shape or length, particularly after a hip.
- A fall. Ring 111, and 999 if they hit their head, cannot bear weight, or take a blood thinner.
- Going backwards. Someone doing less at week four than at week two needs the physiotherapist told.
Follow the advice of the team who operated over anything general, and ring the ward or the surgical team if something does not look right in the first weeks.
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Frequently asked questions
How long will she need help at home?
Commonly two to six weeks for washing, dressing, shopping and meals. Driving is usually off the table for at least six weeks after a hip, so transport help often lasts longer than personal care does.
Do I need to take time off work?
The first few days matter most. Many families cover the first week themselves and bring in help afterwards, which is usually the wrong way round: paid help is most valuable in week one, when the restrictions bite hardest.
Can carers help with the exercises?
A carer can prompt and encourage the exercises a physiotherapist has set, and make sure there is time and space to do them. The exercises themselves are prescribed by the physiotherapist, not by a care agency.
What if she lives alone?
Say so to the pre-op team, early. It changes the discharge plan, and it is the situation where reablement, equipment and a home occupational therapy assessment matter most.
When can she have a bath again?
Ask the surgical team, because it depends on the wound and on the hip precautions. Getting in and out of a bath involves exactly the movements that are restricted, so a shower stool is usually the answer for the first weeks.
Is it worth claiming Attendance Allowance?
Normally not for a planned recovery, because the need has to have lasted at least six months. It is relevant if difficulties were already there beforehand and the operation is part of a longer story.
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About Visiting Angels Cheshire East
Visiting Angels Cheshire East provides care at home across Macclesfield, Wilmslow, Knutsford, Congleton, Alsager and the surrounding villages, along with Buxton, Whaley Bridge and the Staffordshire Moorlands towns.
- Short term packages stay short term. Care after an operation should reduce as someone recovers, and we will tell you when it can.
- You choose your caregiver. You meet them before care starts, and if it is not right you say so and we send someone else.
- No visit is ever shorter than an hour. Washing and dressing after a hip replacement takes longer than it used to, and a rushed visit helps nobody.
- Carers trained in stroke recovery, Parkinson’s, dementia and complex care.
- Live-in care available, up to full time, for the first weeks home if that is what is needed.
Val had support at home after her hip replacement:
“Super service, very pleasant and caring staff that came to see me when I had my hip replacement done. Will miss our tea and chat now.”
Valerie Hewitt, Google review
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Not sure what you need yet? Start with a free assessment
Our free home care assessment is a visit at a time that suits you, with no obligation afterwards. In it we will:
- Walk the house with you before the operation if there is time, which is when this is most useful.
- Talk through a realistic package, what it would cost, and how it should taper week by week.
- Look at the money with you, and point you towards the funding, benefits and grants you may be entitled to.
- Tell you honestly if reablement should come first, or if a fortnight of shopping and meals is all that is needed.
If an operation date has come through and you are working out the practicalities, call us on 01625 720157. You can also send an enquiry, and you can see what our services cover.
Authored by Dr Niall Jawad, Director, Visiting Angels Cheshire East.
Published 6 September 2026. Last updated 6 September 2026.
This article is general information, not medical advice, and no substitute for the instructions given by the team who carried out the operation. Precautions, timescales and restrictions vary by surgeon, by approach and by individual, and their advice takes precedence over anything here. The author is a director of the company and is not acting in a clinical capacity, and Visiting Angels Cheshire East provides personal care at home rather than medical or nursing care. Contact the surgical team, a GP or NHS 111 with any concern, and call 999 in an emergency. To the fullest extent permitted by law, GB Care at Home Ltd accepts no liability for any loss or injury arising from reliance on it.
