Hip replacement risks…
- The formation of blood clots. This is especially true as a post-surgical issue since the individuals mobility will be understandably limited. After three or four days, however, the patient will be moving more and this danger lessens.
- Respiratory issues. Sometimes during surgery, pieces of fat from the bone marrow get into the bloodstream and move to the lungs where they cause serious breathing problems. If this happens and physical therapy cannot begin on schedule, the course of the overall recovery is compromised.
- Infection and bleeding. (Many surgical infections are the result of the hospital environment itself, generally from instruments that have not been properly sterilized.)
- Numbness due to nerve damage. (This often goes away as the post-surgical swelling resolves.)