Patients undergoing surgery will usually listen to the rehabilitation advice from their surgical team, so it is important to get it right.

In 2007, Occupational Medicine published a small but memorable study on return-to-work (RTW) times following two surgical procedures, one of which was hip resurfacing¹. It was noteworthy that the greatest influence on RTW time was the advice given by the healthcare professional, with patients tending to adhere to it ‘irrespective of its duration’. Actual and advised RTW times were also longer than contemporary evidence-based guidelines would indicate, the study found.

At the time of writing, I am seven weeks into my recovery from hip resurfacing and, thanks to some wonderful NHS care, it’s going well. I had detailed conversations both with the surgeon and the physiotherapist about my goals for recovery. As well as an early RTW, I said I wanted to get back to playing team tennis…

John Ballard, editor