Home › Blog › Hip Replacement Jogging: Will You be Able to Run After Your Hip Replacement?

One of the more common questions I get asked by patients is about hip replacement jogging or whether they can run again after a hip replacement. The answer is tough, as there’s not that much research. However, some new research out of Japan may help answer this question. The authors looked at 804 hips in 608 patients (85 men, 523 women) who underwent hip replacement between 2005 and 2011 with follow-up longer than 1 year. The mean patient age was 62 years (range, 26-98 years), and mean follow-up duration was 4.8 years (range, 2.3-7.8 years). Hip resurfacing was performed in 81 patients and conventional total hip replacement in 527 patients. During routine postsurgical visits, patients were given a questionnaire concerning preoperative and postoperative jogging routines. Patients who did not jog postoperatively were asked to provide reasons for not jogging.

A total of 33 patients (5.4%) jogged preoperatively, and 23 patients (3.8%) jogged postoperatively. Of the 23 who jogged postoperatively, conventional hip replacement was performed in 13 patients and hip resurfacing in 10 patients. There were also 74 postoperative non-joggers with an interest in jogging, but who didn’t jog. The reasons given for avoiding jogging included anxiety (45 patients; 61%); impossible because of pain, decreased range of motion, and muscle weakness (18 patients; 24%); and low back or knee pain (11 patients; 15%).

If you look at the numbers, 70% of the patients that jogged before hip replacement jogged after hip replacement. However, as a percentage of the total hip replacement patients, only a few percent jogged. In addition, only 31% of those who wanted to jog after hip replacement were able to do so.

The upshot? If you were jogging before your hip replacement or resurfacing you’re likely to keep jogging after. However, only a low percentage of patients who wanted to jog are able to do so after their hip replacement or resurfacing.

Chris Centeno, MD is a specialist in regenerative medicine and the new field of Interventional Orthopedics. Centeno pioneered orthopedic stem cell procedures in 2005 and is responsible for a large amount of the published research on stem cell use for orthopedic applications. View Profile