Walking After Hip Replacement: Will I Limp?

The biggest nightmare haunting the minds of our patients deciding on hip replacement surgery is not whether the pain will pass, but "Will I limp?" or "Will one leg be shorter than the other?"

This concern is natural. However, let us share a surprising fact: An arthritic and damaged hip has already anatomically shortened your leg due to cartilage loss. The surgery we perform is actually based on correcting this shortening and equalizing your leg length.

1. The Real Cause of Limping: Arthritis or Habit?

As hip osteoarthritis progresses, joint cartilage wears away, and bone rubs against bone. This shortens the leg's true (anatomical) length.

• Body's Compensation: To touch the short leg to the ground and avoid pain, the patient starts walking by tilting their pelvis. Over years, this tilted posture changes the spine's shape and becomes a "walking habit."
• Muscle Shortening: Muscles holding the hip (adductor and iliopsoas) shorten and stiffen to adapt to this crooked position.

2. Millimetric Calculation: How is Leg Length Equalized?

In modern surgery, leg length discrepancy is no longer managed by "eye estimation" but by millimetric digital measurements.

3. Critical Period: The "My Leg is Too Long" Feeling

Your surgery went perfectly, your leg lengths were equalized. However, in the first weeks after surgery, you may feel like "My operated leg feels too long." Do not fear; this is completely normal and temporary.

• Why? Your pelvis and spine, accustomed to living with a short leg for years, are still trying to stand in the old crooked position. In medicine, this is called "Functional (Apparent) Leg Length Discrepancy."
• What to do? Your brain and muscles need time to get used to this new (and actually correct) length. Studies show that this feeling usually resolves spontaneously within 3 to 6 months with exercises.

4. "Trendelenburg Gait": Implant Ready, Muscles Not?

Sometimes patients say, "My pain is gone, but I still waddle." The reason is usually not leg length, but muscle weakness./p>

The abductor muscles on the side of the hip keep the pelvis balanced while walking. If these muscles weakened before surgery, the patient leans to that side while walking (Duck walk). Strengthening this "engine" (muscles) is as vital as the surgery itself.

Frequently Asked Questions