Post-Surgery Recovery

Supporting a Parent's Hip Replacement Recovery | A Family Guide | Physio to Home

Michael Ghattas, Physiotherapist7 March 2026

Your parent is coming home after a hip replacement. North Tasmania's home physiotherapist explains exactly what to expect, how to help safely, and why home physiotherapy in the first six weeks makes all the difference.

Micheal Ghattas

3/6/2026 · 7 min read

How to Support Your Parent's Recovery After Hip Replacement: A Guide for Families in North Tasmania

By Michael Ghattas, DPT | AHPRA Registered Physiotherapist | 18 Years Experience

Physio to Home, North Tasmania | Last reviewed: March 2026

When a parent comes home from hospital after a hip replacement, families are often simultaneously relieved and overwhelmed. The surgery went well. They are home. But now what? The hospital has given a folder of instructions, a follow-up appointment in six weeks, and a walking frame. The person in front of you is moving carefully, in pain, and nothing like as capable as they were before they went in.

The weeks that follow discharge are the most critical period in hip replacement recovery — and they are the period during which families carry the most responsibility for the person's safety, progress, and wellbeing. This guide is written specifically for adult children and family carers navigating this period in North Tasmania.

Who this guide is for

This article is for family members and carers of older Tasmanians who have recently had a hip replacement — or who are preparing for one — and want to understand their role in recovery, how to help safely, and what to expect week by week.

What Has Just Happened: Understanding the Surgery

A total hip replacement (total hip arthroplasty) involves removing the damaged femoral head and acetabular socket and replacing them with prosthetic components. It is a major operation. Despite the fact that it is now routine and highly successful, it involves significant soft tissue disruption, and the body needs weeks to heal the muscles, tendons, and joint capsule around the new implant.

The surgical approach — posterior, anterior, or lateral — determines the specific hip precautions your parent must follow. Your parent's surgeon will have explained these. A home physiotherapist will translate them into the specific practical context of your parent's home.

Understanding that this is major surgery — and that the tiredness, pain, and limited mobility in the first weeks are normal and expected — helps families calibrate their support appropriately. Recovery takes months. Progress in the first two weeks is measured in metres walked, not kilometres.

What the First Week at Home Actually Looks Like

Families are sometimes shocked by how limited their parent is in the first week home. This is normal. Here is what to expect:

Pain is present and significant. Your parent will have been prescribed pain medications. These should be taken regularly — not just when pain is severe — for the first week or two. Pain that is poorly controlled leads to reduced movement, which delays recovery.

Fatigue is profound. The body is in recovery mode. Sleep, rest, and short activity sessions are the appropriate rhythm. Do not encourage your parent to push through exhaustion.

Walking distances are very short. In the first week, walking the length of the hallway and back is an achievement. Do not compare this to what they could do before surgery — the comparison is not useful.

Hip precautions must be observed strictly. The specific precautions depend on the surgical approach — but typically include: not bending the hip past 90 degrees (no low chairs, no reaching to the floor), not crossing the legs, and not rotating the foot inward. Violating these precautions risks dislocating the new hip. This is the most important safety information for family carers to understand and reinforce.

Swelling is normal. The operated leg will be swollen and may bruise extensively. Elevation — raising the leg above the level of the heart — and ice help manage this. Both should be done regularly throughout the day.

How to Help: Practical Guidance for Family Carers

Setting up the home before discharge

The most useful thing a family can do before their parent comes home is prepare the home. This means:

Raising the toilet seat — a raised toilet seat (adding 5–10 cm) is essential to avoid bending the hip past 90 degrees. These can be sourced from pharmacies or medical equipment suppliers in Launceston.
Arranging a firm chair with armrests that the person can push up from — low, soft sofas are not appropriate in the first weeks.
Removing loose rugs and floor mats that are trip hazards.
Clearing pathways through frequently used rooms.
Placing commonly needed items within easy reach — at waist height, not requiring bending or reaching up.
Ensuring the bed height is appropriate — not too low, not too high. The physiotherapist can advise on this.
Arranging a shower stool and non-slip bath mat.

If your parent has a home physiotherapy visit arranged for the first week, these modifications can be reviewed and refined at that visit.

Assisting with walking

Your parent will have a walking aid — typically a walking frame. Your role as a family carer is to walk alongside them and be available to assist if they lose balance — not to hold them up or bear their weight. Over-assisting with walking creates dependency and slows the development of the independent muscle activation that drives recovery.

Walk on the outside of the walking frame, slightly behind. Do not hold their arm unless they are unstable. Encourage them to take the next step themselves before offering help. If they are struggling significantly with the walking frame, this is information for the physiotherapist — not something to push through.

The stairs

Stair practice after hip replacement requires specific technique and should be introduced by a physiotherapist before families attempt it unsupervised. The general principle is: going up, lead with the operated leg; going down, lead with the non-operated leg. But this depends on the surgical approach and the specific instructions from the surgeon. Do not improvise with stairs — wait for the physiotherapist to assess and teach the correct technique in your parent's specific staircase.

Recognising warning signs

Contact your parent's surgeon or GP promptly if you notice: sudden increase in pain, redness or warmth spreading from the wound, wound discharge, fever above 38°C, sudden severe swelling or pain in the calf (possible DVT), or sudden shortness of breath. These warrant medical assessment, not watchful waiting.

Why Home Physiotherapy in the First Six Weeks Is Critical

The first six weeks after hip replacement — before most patients are cleared to drive — are the most important and most vulnerable period of recovery. The exercises performed in this window determine how well the hip heals, how quickly strength returns, and whether the compensatory limp that develops in the early weeks becomes permanent.

This is also the period when attending a clinic in Launceston is most impractical. If your parent lives in George Town, Scottsdale, the Tamar Valley, Longford, or Deloraine — or even in the outer suburbs of Launceston — regular clinic trips are logistically difficult and physically exhausting for someone who is already spending their energy on recovery.

A home physiotherapy visit from Physio to Home resolves this directly. The physiotherapist comes to the home — assesses the actual environment, teaches the exercises in the actual space, corrects technique on the actual furniture, and reviews the hip precautions in the actual daily context. This is not a lesser substitute for clinic physiotherapy. For post-surgical recovery, it is better.

Families who want to do the most impactful thing for their parent's recovery should arrange home physiotherapy before or immediately after discharge. Contact Physio to Home and we will schedule the first visit within the first week at home.

What Families Can and Cannot Do

It is worth being explicit about the boundaries of family support in hip replacement recovery — both to protect the carer and to protect the patient.

Families can: prepare the home, monitor for warning signs, encourage consistent exercise, assist with practical tasks (meals, transport for medical appointments, medication management), and provide emotional support.

Families should not: attempt to physically assist with transfers, walking, or exercises beyond what a physiotherapist has demonstrated. Improper handling during a transfer can cause a hip dislocation, a fall, or a carer injury. Wait for the physiotherapist to demonstrate safe handling technique before assisting with any physical task you have not been shown.

Families should communicate: if you are concerned about your parent's progress, their pain levels, their wound, or their exercise adherence — tell the physiotherapist at the next visit. You observe your parent between visits; your observations are clinically valuable.

For Families Who Live at a Distance

Many adult children in Tasmania have parents in regional areas but live themselves in Launceston, interstate, or overseas. If you are coordinating your parent's hip replacement recovery from a distance, Physio to Home can help in several ways:

Arranging the first home visit directly from a phone call or email, without requiring your parent to navigate the booking process
Providing a written summary of findings and progress after each visit that can be emailed to you
Communicating with your parent's GP, surgeon's rooms, or aged care coordinator on your behalf
Advising on home modifications and equipment needs remotely before your parent comes home from hospital

Contact us before discharge if you can — a phone call before your parent comes home allows us to plan the first visit for the first week, which is when it matters most.

Funding Home Physiotherapy for Your Parent in North Tasmania

My Aged Care — Home Care Package — If your parent receives a Home Care Package, physiotherapy is a covered service. Contact their care coordinator to arrange it.

Medicare GP Management Plan — Up to five subsidised visits per year. Your parent's GP can write the plan before or shortly after discharge.

Private health insurance — Most extras policies cover physiotherapy including home visits.

Private self-funding — Home visits can be arranged directly without a referral or funding pathway.

Not sure which applies? Contact Physio to Home and we will check your parent's funding eligibility before the first visit — no cost, no obligation.

Frequently Asked Questions

The hospital physio said Mum is doing well. Does she still need home physio?

Yes. Hospital physiotherapy is focused on getting the patient safe enough for discharge — walking to the bathroom, managing a short corridor. It is not a rehabilitation programme. The work of recovery — rebuilding strength, correcting the limp, regaining full range of motion — happens in the weeks and months after discharge, and it requires consistent, supervised physiotherapy.

My father is reluctant to do his exercises. What should I do?

This is very common. Pain, fatigue, and low motivation combine to make exercise feel unreasonable in the early weeks. The most effective approach is to make the exercises feel manageable and routine — same time each day, tied to an existing habit, kept short and achievable. A physiotherapist who builds rapport with the patient tends to get better exercise adherence than a family member making the request, which is another reason regular visits help.

My parent lives alone after the surgery. Is that safe?

It depends entirely on their level of function at discharge and the specific layout of their home. A home physiotherapy assessment in the first week will clarify what is and is not safe for solo living at their current level, and identify any additional supports needed. Do not make assumptions about safety without a professional assessment in the actual home.

Ready to Arrange Home Physiotherapy for Your Parent in North Tasmania?

Whether your parent is preparing for surgery or has just come home from hospital — Physio to Home is here. We provide AHPRA-registered hip replacement rehabilitation in the home, funded through My Aged Care, Medicare, and private health insurance, across all of North Tasmania.

📞 [Insert phone number]

🌐 physiotohome.com

About the Author

Michael Ghattas, DPT

AHPRA Registered Physiotherapist | Doctor of Physical Therapy | 18 Years Clinical Experience

Michael is the founder of Physio to Home, a mobile physiotherapy practice serving older adults and rural residents across North Tasmania. He specialises in post-surgical rehabilitation, falls prevention, and aged care physiotherapy delivered entirely in the home setting.

References & Further Reading

Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry (AOANJRR). Annual Report 2023. AOA, 2023.

Coulter CL, et al. Physiotherapy after total hip replacement: a systematic review. *Physiotherapy*, 2019.

My Aged Care. Home Care Packages Program. Commonwealth of Australia, 2025. www.myagedcare.gov.au

Australian Physiotherapy Association. Post-operative rehabilitation guidelines: hip arthroplasty. APA, 2023.

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