Living With Your New Joint

You’re ready to get back to living. Recovery timelines vary based on your pain and activity level before surgery, but the first six months are considered your active recovery phase — pace yourself, and resist the urge to take on too much too soon. If your surgery and rehab go well, most patients are managing normal activities comfortably by three months in. You’ll start to feel like yourself again — just without the pain.

The key to living well with your new joint is simple: stay active, but avoid putting excessive stress on it.

Modern joint implants are built to function like a natural joint — which means, like a natural joint, they actually need regular use to work well. Strong, coordinated muscles around the joint provide the stability that makes it feel normal day to day (this matters especially after a knee replacement), so a good routine blends weight-bearing exercise with cardiovascular activity.

Weight-bearing exercise strengthens the muscles around your new joint, helps maintain or even build bone density, and improves your new joint’s stability and balance. Good options include:

• Walking
• Bicycling
• Swimming
• Golf
• Moderate hiking
• Yoga
• Ballroom dancing

These are also, often, exactly the activities that brought you in for surgery in the first place — getting back to them is the whole point.

With good care, your new joint should function well for the rest of your life — though some implants do eventually wear or loosen. How long yours lasts depends on your overall health, weight, and activity level. The best approach: stay active, manage your weight, and steer clear of contact sports or activities that put unusually high stress on the joint.

For most patients, pain relief alone makes joint replacement worthwhile. Combined with a sensible, active lifestyle afterward, it does even more — for your joint, and for your overall health.

You’ve gotten through the hard part. Now it’s time to enjoy what comes next: a future with less pain, and a lot more possibility.

Questions about your recovery, at any stage? Contact us — we’re here well past your last follow-up appointment.

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