Questions to Ask Your Hip Surgeon Before Saying Yes

The most useful question I never asked my surgeon was not about the operation at all: it was “what will the first six weeks actually ask of me at home?” I walked out of my consultation with a date and a leaflet and almost none of the things I later needed to know. So this is the list I should have carried in: grouped, specific, and written from the patient’s side of the desk rather than the surgeon’s.

Bring it on paper. Bring someone with you, because you will not remember half of what is said. And notice how the answers feel, not just what they contain. A surgeon who welcomes a written list is telling you something good before they answer a single line.

Questions about the surgeon and their experience

Start here, because skill and volume sit underneath everything else. Ask: “Roughly how many hip replacements do you do in a year, and how long have you been doing them?” Higher annual volume is broadly linked with better outcomes in the orthopaedic literature, and the question is completely routine. A confident answer, not a defensive one, is what you want.

Then ask which surgical approach they use and why. The main routes are posterior, anterior (front), and lateral, and each has trade-offs, with none clearly best for everyone ¹. What matters most is that your surgeon is experienced in the approach they are recommending for you. It is fair to ask: “Is this your usual approach, or are you choosing it specifically for my hip?” You can read more in our piece on hip replacement surgical approaches.

Questions about your own risk

Ask for your numbers, not just the textbook ones. The general figures are useful anchors: dislocation runs at about 1 to 2 in 100, and deep infection at about 1 in 100. But your own situation shifts those. So ask: “Given my age, weight, and health, what are my main risks, and what are you doing to lower them?”

Worldwide, osteoarthritis is the leading reason people reach this operation, and it tends to arrive alongside the other conditions of later life ². That means blood clots, infection, and dislocation are not abstractions. Ask specifically how they prevent blood clots (you will likely be on blood thinners, compression, and early movement), and what would happen if an infection set in. I found that hearing the plan for when things go wrong made me less frightened of them, not more.

Questions about the implant

This is the part most people skip, and I was one of them. Ask: “Which implant do you plan to use, and why that one for me?” Then ask the question behind it: “Does it have long-term registry data?”

The reason is longevity. Implant survival is around 90 to 95% at 10 years, and large pooled studies suggest about 6 to 8 in 10 are still working at 25 years ³. A device with decades of registry tracking behind it is a safer bet than a newer one with a clever marketing name and a thin record. If you are younger, this matters even more, because your hip has to last longer. Our guide to hip implant types and materials explains the bearing surfaces and fixation in plain terms.

Questions about the recovery

Ask the surgeon to walk you through the timeline, because this is what you actually live. Useful ones: “How long will I be in hospital? When will I be up and walking? How long will I need crutches?” The usual shape is a hospital stay of 1 to 3 days, walking the same day or the day after with a frame and then crutches, and walking aids for about 2 to 6 weeks.

Then the precautions. If you are having a posterior approach, dislocation precautions are commonly advised for the first 6 to 12 weeks while the soft tissues heal, and you need to know exactly which movements to avoid. Ask them to be concrete. Our article on hip dislocation precautions lists the early movements to leave alone, and our recovery timeline sets out the weeks in order.

Questions about your real life

These are the ones I had to work out alone, and they are the ones that change your week. Ask: “When can I drive again?” (typically around 6 weeks, once you are off strong painkillers and can do an emergency stop). “When can I go back to work?” (often around 2 to 6 weeks for desk work, around 3 months for physical work). “When can I sleep on my side, climb stairs normally, or pick something off the floor?”

Ask about pain relief, too, and about physiotherapy: who arranges it, how soon it starts, and what you should be doing yourself at home. Conservative measures and structured exercise sit at the centre of recognised osteoarthritis care, and they do not stop mattering once you have a new joint ⁴. The work you do in the first months shapes the result. If you want to get ahead of all of this, our guide to preparing for hip replacement surgery covers home setup and what to buy before the date.

Questions about cost and the practicalities

Money is allowed to be one of your questions. In public systems the operation is often free or heavily subsidised at the point of use, with waiting times that vary. If you are self-paying, costs vary widely by country and health system, broadly the equivalent of US$10,000 to US$40,000 or more once you add the implant, surgeon, anaesthetist, hospital, and physiotherapy. Ask what is included in any quote, and what is not.

Finally, ask the catch-all that saved me: “Is there anything I have not asked that you think I should know?” Surgeons see hundreds of these journeys and you will have one. That single question lets them hand you the thing you did not know to look for.

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This is general information from one patient’s experience, checked for medical accuracy, and it is not medical advice. Your own answers depend on your hip, your health, and your surgical team, so take these questions to a qualified clinician who can examine you and follow you over time.