Preparing for Hip Replacement Surgery: Steps and Guidelines

Hip replacement surgeries are extensive and require a lot of preparation from your end before you go through with it. Even though one might think that the preparation is required to get the surgery, it is in fact the opposite. The pre-operative hip replacement steps are dedicated to helping you recover from your surgery and get accustomed to your prosthetics. 

So, to help you understand what to expect before hip surgery, here is a complete hip surgery preparation checklist. Always remember that the hip replacement surgery guidelines aside, you need to ensure that you get your surgery from only the best hospitals. It will help you ensure that your recovery is safe and you can minimise the risks associated with the surgery.

Hip Replacement Surgery Preparation Guidelines

Understanding Your Surgery Readiness

Hip replacement surgeries can be performed both on an emergency basis or as a part of a long going treatment plan. The surgery readiness is determined based on your blood work, pre existing conditions, age, and cardiac assessments. These steps are important to ensure that you are physically fit enough to go through the surgery. As an advanced procedure, you need a certain amount of physical fitness to be able to go through the procedure without putting any risk to your health. So, doctors ensure you are a suitable candidate for surgery in this regard before putting you under the knife.

Discussing Ongoing Medications With Your Doctor

Once you have been cleared for surgery, the actual preparation process begins. The first and perhaps one of the most important things that you must do is to disclose all your medications and ongoing treatments to your doctor. This is crucial because medications can affect your body and put you at a higher risk for your surgery. Doctors will in most cases ask you to stop using certain medicines well before the surgery. This is done to ensure that the medicinal compounds and their effects on your system are flushed out before the surgery.

Prepare Your Home For Post Surgery Recovery

Once you are back from the hospital, it will not be the same for quite some time. There needs to be forethought from your part to ensure your home is ready for you after the procedure. This includes making certain changes around the house so that you are not forced to move in ways that hurt or are difficult for you to do. The range of motion doesn’t come back in one day after the surgery, it takes as long as 12 weeks to fully recover. So in the meanwhile, your home must be modified to ensure you are comfortable and safe inside it.

Stop Smoking Before Surgery

As a patient preparing for hip replacement, smoking cessation is a crucial part of preparing for the surgery. Even if you can’t quit completely, limiting smoking significantly is necessary to ensure you are ready for surgery. Smoking can impede the recovery process and even increase your risk for postsurgical complications. So, if you are an avid smoker, it is important you discuss quitting and medical treatments for quitting smoking with your doctor before the surgery.

Limit Drinking Alcohol Before Surgery

Weeks leading to the surgery and the entire recovery process it is best advised that you abstain from drinking alcohol. It will help you safely go through surgery and keep yourself safe against unwarranted surgical complications both during and after the surgery. This also applies to other controlled substances apart from alcohol.

Eat Healthy & Focus On Diet

Leading up the surgery and during the recovery process, diet plays a very important role. Especially during the recovery process, you need to provide your body a balanced diet rich in nutrients to help your body recover quicker. A diet rich in proteins, vitamins, and minerals are the best way to give your body the nutrients it requires to recover from a surgery.

Understand What You Will Be Going Through

Talk to your doctors and get clear about the procedure of the surgery. Even though it doesn’t particularly do anything for you, you should still be knowledgeable about any surgery you will be going through. This will help you clear any doubts or ask about any concerns you may have both about the procedure or the recovery process. Understanding what you will be going through in thorough details will help you prepare for it better mentally.

Prepare Yourself Mentally For The Surgery

Once you have done all the previous steps, the last thing is to face your fears and talk to your doctors and counselors about your fears. It will help you be confident walking into the surgery. When you go in with a positive mindset, it has a positive impact on your recovery, which will help you respond better to the recovery process once it is done.

Conclusion

With all the steps mentioned in this blog, you will be completely prepared for your surgery with full knowledge about what you will be going through. This preparation process is extremely important for patients who are perhaps going through a surgery for the first time. So, now that you know about the preparation steps, be sure to follow them thoroughly.  Visit our website to learn more about our hip replacement surgery.