Recovery · 9 min read · 1 November 2026

How long does it take to recover from a hip or knee replacement?

Most patients will usually be up and walking within a day of a hip or knee replacement, home within a day or two, and back to most everyday activities, driving and lighter work somewhere between 6 and 12 weeks. Full recovery takes several months, and a knee nearly always takes longer than a hip. Those are ranges rather than dates, and where you land within them depends on you, your joint and what you need to get back to.

Recovery time is the question I am asked about most in the clinic, so this is the fuller version of the conversation I have with patients.

The first few days: up early and home when safe

I encourage patients to get up early - this is part of the plan, not a test! Enhanced recovery programmes, which combine good pain control, early walking and careful preparation, changed joint replacement care in the UK. In one of the largest published UK series, introducing enhanced recovery for hip and knee replacement cut the median hospital stay from 6 days to 3, with fewer early complications rather than more (Malviya et al., 2011). The NICE guideline on joint replacement now expects rehabilitation to start on the day of surgery where possible.

In practice, most people go home after a night or two, although there is an increasing push towards day case surgery. The deciding question is whether you are safe at home: getting in and out of bed, managing the toilet and stairs, and walking with your aid. The number of nights matters much less. Before you leave you should have a home exercise plan and know who to call. If you do not, ask before you go.

Weeks one to six: the wound, swelling and a walking aid

The early weeks are about the wound, swelling, sleep and getting your confidence back. Swelling after a hip replacement usually settles over a few weeks. After a knee it is more stubborn and can come and go for months, especially after a busier day. Most people start on crutches or a frame, move to one crutch, then a stick. I describe a walking aid as the thing that keeps you up and about and independent while the muscles recover. Needing one for longer than your friend or family member did does not mean anything has gone wrong.

Pain changes shape rather than switching off. The sharp pain of the wound gives way to an ache after activity and at night. Poor sleep is one of the commonest complaints in the first weeks, and in my experience it usually improves as the acute inflammation around the joint and soft tissues settles.

The exercises matter more than almost anything else you can control. After a knee replacement, getting the knee fully straight matters as much as bending it. After a hip replacement you may be given movements to avoid for a time. Those precautions depend on the operation and on you, so follow the advice your own team gives you rather than a list from someone else's leaflet.The 'quiet knee' approach

One approach I think has merit is what has become known as the 'quiet knee' protocol. The idea is simple: for roughly the first 10 days after a knee replacement, the priority is calming the knee down rather than pushing it. That means controlling swelling with rest, icing and elevation, gentle movement within comfort, and holding back on hard, painful bending sessions until the early inflammation has settled.

The evidence so far is encouraging but early. The largest study, from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, compared 841 patients on a quiet knee programme with more than 14,000 having conventional physiotherapy. The quiet knee group went home sooner and needed fewer strong painkillers, with similar function at two years, although a slightly higher proportion needed a manipulation of the knee under anaesthetic for stiffness (Afzal et al., 2026). That was not a randomised trial, and a randomised trial has only recently begun, so it remains to be seen whether this approach will become more important in the coming years.

Six weeks to three months: driving, work and ordinary life

Driving is one of the first things people ask about. Studies that measure emergency braking speed in a simulator are helpful here. A meta-analysis of 19 such studies found that braking reaction time had returned to its pre-operative level by about 2 weeks after a right total hip replacement and about 4 weeks after a right total knee replacement (van der Velden et al., 2017). The authors were clear that advice should still be individualised. What I tell my patients is that you need to get in and out of the car, control it comfortably and make an emergency stop without hesitating, and you should not drive while strong painkillers are making you drowsy. I usually suggest planning around 6 weeks, sometimes a little sooner after a hip, and checking with your own team. Tell your insurer you have had surgery and check your policy.

Work depends on the job as much as the joint. A systematic review of return to work found that people went back on average between about 1 and 14 weeks after a hip replacement, and between 8 and 12 weeks after a knee replacement, with most of those working beforehand returning (Tilbury et al., 2014). Someone at a desk or working from home can often go back sooner than someone who stands all day, drives for a living, climbs ladders or lifts. A phased return, if your employer can offer one, is usually easier than going straight back to full days.

Around the house, I suggest leaving heavy jobs such as vacuuming or carrying the shopping to someone else for the first few months.

Beyond three months: why a knee usually takes longer

Many people feel a hip replacement gives them their life back fairly quickly. A knee is more often a slower climb. It has to regain movement through tissues that are swollen and stiff, and it is used for almost every step, stair and chair.

Some warmth around a knee replacement, stiffness when you first get up, and an ache after a longer walk can all be part of a normal recovery for several months. In my experience, people often find the knee is still improving well after the point at which they expected to be finished. Knowing that in advance stops a slow month from feeling like failure.

If you are having a partial knee replacement, the evidence suggests a slightly easier early course. In TOPKAT, a large UK randomised trial published in The Lancet, people having a partial knee replacement went home sooner on average than those having a total knee replacement, and both groups had similarly good results at five years (Beard et al., 2019). Whether a partial knee is suitable depends on the pattern of arthritis, and that is something I go through with each patient individually.

Honest expectations about the long term

I think patients deserve the realistic picture as well as the encouraging one. Most people do very well, but a systematic review of good quality studies found that around 1 in 5 people still had troublesome pain after a knee replacement, and fewer after a hip (Beswick et al., 2012). I mention this not to worry anyone, but because knowing it helps people make a well-informed decision and recognise when to come back to be checked.

People also ask how long the new joint will last, which is a different question from recovery. The most reliable answers come from national joint registries, which follow very large numbers of patients over many years. The National Joint Registry (NJR), which covers Northern Ireland as well as England, Wales and the Isle of Man, reports in its 2026 annual report that the most common type of total knee replacement has a revision rate of about 5% at 20 years. For hips, with older metal-on-metal designs excluded, the ten-year revision rate has fallen to around 2.5%. The Australian registry (AOANJRR, 2025) reports 20-year revision rates of between about 5% and 16% for hip combinations still in use, and 7% to 14% for knees.

The largest analysis to date, pooling almost two million hips from national joint registries around the world, found that about 94% had not needed further surgery at 20 years. It projected around 92% at 30 years. That longer figure is an estimate rather than something we have yet seen, and it describes how the implants perform overall rather than any one person's risk. My honest summary is that most of today's hip and knee replacements are likely to last for the rest of a patient's life, although younger and more active people are more likely to need a further operation at some point.

What helps recovery, and what slows it

Age and general health matter. How long you have been limping before surgery, how strong the muscles are, other painful joints or a stiff back, and whether there is someone at home for the first couple of weeks all influence the outcome of surgery and the recovery process. Preparation before the operation, covered in a separate article on this site, can make the early weeks noticeably easier.

Doing the exercises regularly, walking a little every day and keeping swelling down all help. If the home programme is not getting you where you need to be, supervised physiotherapy is reasonable to ask for.

I would gently discourage comparing yourself with a friend or with stories online. Two people having the same operation in the same week can recover at quite different speeds, and both can end up with a good result.

When recovery is not following the usual course

Most recoveries are slow and steady, with good weeks and frustrating ones. Some symptoms should not wait. After a recent replacement, please seek urgent advice from your surgical team or GP if you have:

throbbing or cramping pain in the calf or leg
a high temperature, or feeling hot, cold or shivery
oozing or pus from the wound
redness, tenderness, swelling or pain that is not getting better or is getting worse

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to recover from a hip replacement?

Most people go home within a day or two and are back to most daily activities, driving and lighter work by around 6 weeks. Full recovery takes several months.

How long does it take to recover from a knee replacement?

Most people go home within the first couple of days. Returning to work usually takes around 8 to 12 weeks, and full recovery takes several months or longer. Recovery after a partial knee replacement is often quicker.

When can I drive after a hip or knee replacement?

Braking studies suggest reaction times recover within a few weeks, but you should only drive when you can control the car safely, including an emergency stop, and are not drowsy from painkillers. Tell your insurer.

References

Written by Mr David Milligan, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, GMC 7406390
Published: 1 November 2026 · Last reviewed: 1 November 2026
General information only — not a substitute for individual clinical advice.

A note on this article

This is general information written for patients and does not replace an individual clinical assessment. Recommendations depend on your history, examination and imaging.

Arrange a consultation All insights