A standard hip replacement takes one to two hours of actual operating time. With anesthesia setup and preparation in the operating room, you’ll be in the surgical suite for closer to two hours total. But if you’re asking this question, you probably also want to know about the full timeline: how long you’ll be in the hospital, when you can walk, and when life feels normal again. The short answer there is two to three months for most people.
Time in the Operating Room
The surgery itself is faster than most people expect. A primary (first-time) hip replacement runs one to one and a half hours of hands-on surgical time. Add in the time it takes for the anesthesia team to get you set up and positioned, and you’re looking at roughly two hours from the moment you roll into the operating room to the moment you leave it.
Revision hip replacement, where a surgeon removes and replaces an existing implant, is a different story. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons describes it as a longer, more complex procedure that typically takes several hours. Removing old cement from the bone is time-consuming on its own. If there’s significant bone loss, the surgeon may need to add metal reinforcements or bone grafts. In some cases, the surgeon has to intentionally fracture the thighbone to extract a well-fixed implant stem. All of this adds up.
Your Day at the Hospital
Plan to be at the hospital for most of the day. You’ll arrive hours before your scheduled surgery for check-in, pre-operative bloodwork, IV placement, and a final conversation with your anesthesiologist and surgeon. After the two-hour procedure, you’ll spend time in a recovery room while the anesthesia wears off. Many hospitals now discharge hip replacement patients the same day or after one night. Your surgical team will want to see you stand and take a few steps with a walker before they send you home.
Walking After Surgery
Recovery happens faster than most people imagine at first, then slows down as you work toward full strength. Here’s what the typical week-by-week progression looks like:
- Day of surgery: You’ll stand and walk short distances with a walker or crutches, usually within hours of waking up.
- Week 1: You’ll walk more each day, still relying on a walker or crutches for stability.
- Week 2: Many people transition from a walker to a cane.
- Weeks 4 to 6: You may be walking without any assistive device at all.
These milestones assume you’re keeping up with physical therapy and don’t have complications. Age, overall fitness, and the condition of your other joints all influence the pace.
Physical Therapy Timeline
Physical therapy starts immediately and is the single biggest factor in how quickly you recover. For the first two to three weeks, a therapist typically visits your home a few times per week. After that, you’ll transition to outpatient sessions at a clinic, usually once a week, for up to two to three months after surgery. Full recovery and completion of physical therapy takes most people two to three months total.
Early exercises focus on restoring range of motion and preventing blood clots. Over time, the work shifts to rebuilding the muscles around your hip, particularly the glutes and thigh muscles that stabilize the joint. How diligently you do your home exercises between sessions matters as much as the sessions themselves.
Driving, Work, and Normal Activities
Driving is one of the first “normal life” milestones people ask about. If your left hip was replaced and you drive an automatic, you could be back behind the wheel in as little as one week, since your right leg handles the pedals. If your right hip was replaced, expect to wait four to six weeks. The key requirement is that you can brake quickly and firmly without pain or hesitation.
Returning to a desk job is realistic for many people within four to six weeks, depending on how you feel and whether your commute involves a lot of sitting. Jobs that require standing, lifting, or physical labor take longer, often three months or more. Your surgeon will clear you based on your specific progress rather than a fixed calendar date.
What Makes Recovery Longer
Several factors can push your timeline further out. Revision surgery involves more tissue disruption and often requires a longer period of restricted weight-bearing, which delays every milestone by weeks. Obesity increases strain on the new joint and can slow wound healing. Poorly managed diabetes raises infection risk and slows tissue repair. People who were relatively inactive before surgery tend to have weaker surrounding muscles, which means more ground to cover in physical therapy.
On the other hand, people who are physically fit going into surgery, who start prehabilitation exercises before the procedure, and who stay consistent with their rehab program often hit their milestones ahead of schedule. The surgery itself is remarkably standardized at this point. The variable is almost always the recovery.