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Hip replacement surgery: why it is done, getting ready, the surgery, recovery, and life with a new hip
For anyone whose hip pain limits what they can do; for anyone told they may need a new hip, or with a surgery date on the calendar; and for the people who will help them at home. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS, part of the NIH) says hip replacement surgery removes the diseased parts of the hip joint and replaces them with new, artificial parts, to relieve pain, improve how the hip works, and help you move. This page passes on, by name, what NIAMS says: why it is done and what to try first; getting ready weeks before, and setting up your home; the anesthesia, the incision and the new parts; the hospital, therapy, a recovery that goes on for a year, and a second surgery; and life with a new hip, with NIAMS’s list for preventing falls. It builds the words to say to your surgeon, and prints a card to keep by your chair.
Right now
- Chest pain, trouble breathing, or a fall where you are badly hurt or cannot get up: call 911 (ours). Also for anyone in danger right now.
- Something else about the new hip or the incision worries you: call your surgeon’s office. Before you go home, ask which signs mean call the office and which mean 911, and whom to call at night (ours).
- Thinking about suicide: call or text 988, any time (ours). A long recovery at home can feel lonely. See Depression.
More help
- Bones and joints: Pain in your bones, joints or muscles: find the right page · Arthritis · Osteonecrosis · Living with long-term pain.
- Getting ready and help at home: Quit smoking · Caring for someone · Getting older.
- Care and costs: Medicines list · When you need a doctor and can’t pay · Get ready for the appointment.
- In a crisis: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Pain, a bone or a joint, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for back pain, arthritis, pain that lasts, headaches, broken bones and sickle cell, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor, nurse or therapist has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 16, 2026 on NIAMS’s Hip Replacement Surgery page, both parts: Overview, Symptoms, & Causes and Diagnosis, Treatment, & Steps to Take (NIH, last reviewed August 2023). Its Spanish twin, Cirugía de reemplazo de cadera (October 2023), has a shorter first part; our Spanish page says where a fact comes from the English page. Ours: 911 for chest pain, trouble breathing, or a fall where you are badly hurt or cannot get up, or anyone in danger; 988 for thoughts of suicide; asking before you go home which signs mean call the surgeon’s office and which mean 911, and whom to call at night; a list of every medicine, and not stopping one on your own; asking about cost and coverage before the day; that being scared is normal; a second opinion; telling the surgeon’s office about any fall; and the order of the steps. What we left out: any brand, implant, medicine or dose; any list of movements to avoid after surgery; how many years a new hip lasts; blood clots and other risks the pages we read do not describe; costs and what insurance pays; and NIAMS’s research pages. This page saves nothing and loads no trackers.