Recovery after a hip or knee replacement can take weeks. The time it takes to recover and return to work after surgery can vary. It will depend on what activities your job requires you to undertake.
The exercises in the OPAL exercise and rehabilitation workbook and within the OPAL website will support your recovery during the first 12 weeks after your surgery. These exercises will help you to return to the activities you need to do more quickly. This will help you to be in the best possible condition when you return to work.
Each exercise is linked to the different activities and tasks you need to do as part of your work. It is important to think about what tasks and activities you need to do at work and the impact your hip or knee has on your ability to work. The first step (Step 1) in the OPAL programme will help you to think about this in more detail. Doing this will help you to understand which exercises will best support your recovery after surgery.
Once you have created a list of exercises you should try and do all of them at least 3 times a day.
We recommend that you continue doing your exercises for as long as you feel they are helping you to recover. As a minimum, this should be for at least the first 12 weeks after your operation. The only change to that is if your physiotherapist or surgeon tell you to do something different.