Hip Surgery
Recover Stronger After Surgery
The right rehabilitation plan can help restore movement, rebuild strength, and support your return to everyday activities and the sports you enjoy.
What Is Pre- and Postop Rehabilitation for Hip Surgery?
Pre- and postoperative rehabilitation for hip surgery is a structured physical therapy program that helps you prepare for surgery and recover safely afterward. Care focuses on walking confidence, hip strength and mobility, pain control, and a gradual return to daily activity.
Your plan is individualized to the procedure — such as hip arthroscopy, labral repair, femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) surgery, fracture fixation, or other hip procedures — and to your surgeon’s protocol. At CSOG Physical & Occupational Therapy, care is coordinated with your Colorado Springs Orthopaedic Group surgical team when needed.
(For total hip replacement specifically, see also the Total Joint Replacement page.)
Why Rehabilitation Matters for Hip Surgery
Preparing before surgery and following a progressive plan afterward can help you:
- Enter surgery with better strength, mobility, and movement awareness
- Protect healing tissues and honor surgical precautions
- Restore hip motion and walking mechanics
- Rebuild gluteal, core, and lower-extremity strength
- Improve balance and reduce fall risk
- Reduce pain and stiffness
- Return to work, recreation, and sport when cleared
What Does Preoperative Rehabilitation (Prehab) Involve?
Prehab usually begins several weeks before surgery when timing allows. Goals commonly include improving strength and mobility, practicing gait aids, and learning what to expect after surgery.
Prehab may include:
- Hip and core strengthening as tolerated
- Flexibility and mobility work within comfortable limits
- Gait training and balance practice
- Education on crutches, walker use, and weight-bearing expectations
- Activity modification strategies for daily tasks
- Guidance on home setup for early recovery
What Does Postoperative Rehabilitation Involve?
Postop rehab progresses in phases based on your surgery and your surgeon’s protocol.
Early protection and mobility
Focus on safe transfers, walking with the prescribed assistive device, swelling and pain control, and gentle activation of supporting muscles while honoring precautions.
Restoring motion and gait
Therapy advances hip mobility and helps normalize walking pattern, step length, and confidence on level surfaces and stairs.
Strengthening and endurance
Progressive glute, core, and lower-body strengthening rebuilds stability for standing, walking, and daily activity.
Return to activity
The final phase prepares you for work, recreation, and sport-specific demands when cleared, including higher-level balance, strength, and movement control.
Common Rehabilitation Techniques
Your therapist may use a combination of:
- Therapeutic exercise and progressive strengthening
- Gait training and assistive-device progression
- Balance and proprioception work
- Manual therapy when appropriate and cleared
- Neuromuscular re-education for hip and core control
- Soft-tissue techniques for surrounding muscle tension
- Home exercise programs matched to each recovery phase
Surgeries That Commonly Benefit From This Care
Common procedures include hip arthroscopy, labral repair, FAI-related surgery, proximal hamstring or other soft-tissue procedures, fracture fixation, and other hip surgeries. Total hip replacement may share overlapping rehab principles and is also covered on the Total Joint Replacement page. Your therapist will match precautions and milestones to the exact procedure performed.
Tips for a Successful Recovery
- Follow weight-bearing and dislocation or motion precautions exactly
- Use your walker or crutches as directed
- Progress walking distance gradually
- Stay consistent with your home program
- Report increasing pain, swelling, numbness, calf pain, or wound concerns promptly
- Return to running, cutting sports, or heavy lifting only when cleared
Summary
Pre- and postoperative rehabilitation is an important part of recovery after hip surgery. Prehab helps prepare your body and set expectations before the procedure. Structured therapy afterward guides walking recovery, restores strength and mobility, and supports a safer return to everyday life and activity.