Is Formal Physical Therapy Necessary After Hip Replacement?

Physical therapy after total hip arthroplasty (THA) can be administered in inpatient settings, outpatient settings, or at home. But is formal physical therapy necessary for everyone? In this randomized trial, orthopedists randomized 120 patients undergoing THA either to formal physical therapy (2 weeks in the home, followed by as long as 8 weeks in an outpatient facility) or to unsupervised home exercises (taught to the patient before discharge from the hospital). Patients who were undergoing revision of prior THA or those requiring skilled nursing were excluded.

In intent-to-treat analysis, outcomes on several standardized scales of pain and function were virtually identical in the two groups at 1, 6, and 12 months. Ten patients in the unsu…