Patient guides
Rehabilitation guides
A week-by-week recovery plan for each operation: weight bearing, exercises with diagrams, timelines, and the warning signs that need a call. Written for patients, and equally useful to the GPs and physiotherapists sharing their care. Read online, or download the one-document PDF.
Which guide do I need?
- Your discharge summary and operation record name your procedure: match it to the guide title.
- Hip replacement: check whether your operation record says anterior or posterior approach: the precautions are different. If you are unsure, call the rooms on (02) 9052 1883.
- Knee arthroscopy: what was done inside matters: a meniscal repair follows a much more protected pathway than a partial meniscectomy.
- Your surgeon’s instructions always override the general guide.
Hip replacement
- Hip replacement (anterior)23 min · PDF availableAnterior hip replacement recovery: no routine hip precautions, crutches often 3–10 days, driving typically 2–4 weeks.
- Hip replacement (posterior)23 min · PDF availablePosterior hip replacement recovery: full weight bearing day one, hip precautions for 6 weeks, driving typically 4–6 weeks.
Knee replacement
Sports knee
- ACL reconstruction26 min · PDF availableACL reconstruction recovery: crutches 1–2 weeks, running from about 3 months if criteria are met, sport not before 9 months.
- ACL reconstruction + meniscal repair26 min · PDF availableACL reconstruction with meniscal repair: hinged brace and 0–90° bend for 4–6 weeks, running from about 4 months, sport 9–12 months.
- Knee arthroscopy: partial meniscectomy15 min · PDF availablePartial meniscectomy recovery: walking immediately, driving about a week, sport in 4–6 weeks, and honest advice on degenerative tears.
- Knee arthroscopy: meniscal repair19 min · PDF availableMeniscal repair recovery: a hinged brace and crutches protect the stitches early, running from about 3–4 months: the full rehab plan.
Tumour & limb salvage
- Soft tissue sarcoma excision24 min · PDF availableSoft tissue sarcoma surgery recovery: wound healing first, walking usually early, and how radiotherapy changes the plan.
- Bone tumour curettage and grafting18 min · PDF availableCurettage and bone graft recovery: protected weight bearing on crutches for roughly 6–12 weeks while the bone fills in.
- Hip megaprosthesis (proximal femur)24 min · PDF availableRecovery after proximal femoral replacement for bone tumour: weight bearing, hip precautions, the abductor programme and honest goals.
- Knee megaprosthesis (distal femur)24 min · PDF availableRecovery after distal femoral replacement for bone tumour: early weight bearing, quadriceps programme, extension lag and honest goals.
- Knee megaprosthesis (proximal tibia)25 min · PDF availableRecovery after proximal tibial replacement for bone tumour: six weeks braced straight to protect the tendon repair, then staged bending.
More guides are being prepared and will appear here as they pass clinical review. Every guide is general information reviewed by Dr Broadhead; the operating team’s written instructions for a specific patient always take precedence.