A 2026 survey after hip replacement reported less high-impact activity. Read the findings and limits before drawing personal conclusions.
On October 5, 2026, the Journal of Hip Preservation Surgery published a conference abstract about returning to activity after total hip arthroplasty (THA), or total hip replacement. Among respondents, 74% reported a full return to their prior activities. Yet high-impact sport participation fell from 24% before surgery to 10% afterward.
The report was by Jacob Mikula and colleagues at Mayo Clinic. It examined activity after hip replacement through the direct anterior surgical approach. Its findings draw an important distinction: returning to activity and returning to high-impact exercise are different outcomes.
For adults thinking about life beyond rehabilitation, that distinction makes the study worth reading closely.
To understand the findings, start with what respondents were doing before surgery. In the year before their operations, they reported these activities:
These figures come from the Journal of Hip Preservation Surgery abstract. They describe the starting point against which the researchers assessed later participation.
Walking was the most commonly reported activity among those listed. Running was less common even before surgery. The study therefore began with a group whose exercise habits already included a mix of activities.
That context matters when reading a broad phrase such as “return to sport and exercise.” Resuming walks and resuming running answer different recovery questions. A combined return figure does not separate those goals unless the report also breaks down the activities.
The study’s historical context is also useful. It looked back at operations performed from 2010 to 2020. The 2026 report describes later experiences after those procedures rather than announcing a new activity recommendation.
Mikula and colleagues reported that 74% of respondents returned fully to their prior activities. Another 16% returned with modifications.
These are distinct outcomes. Full return describes respondents’ reports of resuming their prior activities. Modified return means that getting back to activity did not always involve doing it in the same way.
The activity-specific results add another layer. High-impact sport participation declined from 24% before surgery to 10% afterward. Running participation fell from 11% to 5%.
Taken together, these findings support a more precise reading than “most people returned to sport.” Many respondents reported getting back to activity. The overall pattern also shifted away from higher-impact participation.
Among respondents who stopped running, the most commonly reported contributing factors were:
These were the reasons people reported in the survey. They show that the change in participation involved advice and concerns as well as symptoms.
A participation figure alone would leave those differences hidden. For a reader trying to understand their own questions about running, the reasons provide useful topics for discussion with the treating team.
The researchers’ overall conclusion was that most respondents returned to sport and mostly took part in low-impact activities. That conclusion fits the shift shown in the activity-specific results.
The abstract reports results from 886 respondents. Their mean age was 62.8 years. All had undergone primary THA through the direct anterior approach.
The researchers used a retrospective registry review. In plain language, they looked back at records of earlier operations. Eligible patients had at least five years of follow-up and completed a survey about their activity before and after surgery.
The survey covered participation in sport, return timing and barriers. Its findings therefore reflect what respondents reported about their experiences over time.
The average age makes the report relevant to questions many adults have in midlife and later life. The follow-up period also places it within the longer-term activity picture after joint replacement.
For related context, ReboundBody’s guide to everyday life and activity after joint replacement looks at the broader recovery journey. The useful connection is the question of what normal activity may look like after the initial recovery period.
The practical value of this study is the language it gives readers for discussing their goals with a treating surgeon and rehabilitation team. The findings support a more specific conversation than asking whether “sport” is allowed.
A useful question is: “When we discuss returning to activity, are we talking about my usual daily movement or the particular sport I want to resume?”
The study separated overall return from high-impact participation. A personal recovery discussion can make the same distinction without assuming that every activity belongs in one category of readiness.
Another question is: “What would a modified return mean for the activity I care about?”
That question reflects an outcome the researchers actually measured. It also makes room for a discussion about goals without treating modified participation as the same thing as full return.
The survey identified surgeon advice and fear of joint damage among the reported reasons for stopping running. Those findings make the reasoning behind an activity discussion worth understanding.
Questions for the treating team might include:
These questions seek clarity. They do not ask readers to dismiss professional advice or treat a survey result as permission to resume a sport.
The abstract’s authors described return to sport as occurring typically within six months. That is a description of the respondent group, not a personal deadline or clearance point.
The more useful conversation is about how a reader’s progress relates to the activity they hope to resume. A group’s reported return time does not establish an individual schedule.
For readers approaching the transition out of formal rehabilitation, background on return-to-activity assessments may help frame questions. This abstract did not test or establish a readiness assessment. It reported what people said they returned to doing.
The study’s revision comparison needs careful interpretation. The abstract reported revision rates of 4.5% in the running cohort and 3.2% in the non-running cohort. The difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.651).
That finding establishes neither that running is harmless nor that it raises revision risk. A result that is not statistically significant does not prove that two groups have the same risk.
The observational design also matters. The study described reported experiences rather than testing a prescribed return-to-running plan. Its results therefore do not establish a universal high-impact exercise recommendation.
The survey findings apply to respondents who had the direct anterior approach. They should not be extended automatically to every hip replacement patient or surgical approach. They also do not settle the long-term implications of each sport or level of activity.
The authors themselves called for prospective research to clarify long-term outcomes and better guide recommendations. Such research would track activity and outcomes forward over time rather than relying on a review of past experience.
For now, the open question is more specific than whether people exercise after hip replacement. It is how different forms of participation relate to long-term outcomes and which recommendations fit different patients.
Clear evidence is a starting point for that conversation, not a substitute for it.
Treating a return-to-sport result as permission for high-impact exercise skips the recovery context that ReboundBody keeps in view through evidence-aware editorial content. For adults moving beyond formal rehabilitation, its coverage of strength rebuilding and return to activity helps clarify questions about resuming normal movement without offering an individual treatment plan.
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