Many patients have some degree of fear and anxiety before undergoing either total hip replacement or total knee replacement. One of the most common questions I get from patients is whether or not they will be able to go up and down stairs after surgery. The second most frequent question I get is about when they will be able to drive.
The answer is to driving after total hip or total knee replacement is both simple and complicated. Each patient and each situation is different. It is important to have a conversation with your surgeon about what you should or should not do. For my patients, the answer relates to function of the leg.
You can drive after total hip or knee replacement once you have confidence in your ability to slam on the brakes. For most patients this is between 2 and 4 weeks.
The answer depends on which leg you use to brake and which leg you have surgery on. Most of us use our right leg to brake. If you have surgery on your left leg, then you can drive relatively soon since your right leg is unaffected. For some patients this is between 1 and 2 weeks.
If you brake with your right leg and you had surgery on your right leg, it can take a little bit longer. For most of these patients it can be somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks. A study published in 2011 showed that all patients in the study group having surgery on their right knee were able to return back to normal braking activities by 4 weeks. Another study showed that 80% of patients had normal braking reactive time by 2 weeks and the remaining patients had normal braking reactive time by 4 weeks.
If you car is a manual transmission (a stick shift), then it could take longer regardless of which leg you had surgery on since the left leg is used to push the clutch while the right leg is used to brake and push the gas.
If there is any question or doubt about your ability to quickly react and brake in an emergency situation, then you should always wait until you have that confidence. You never know when someone run out in front of your car and you need to react quickly. It is better to wait a little too long to drive than to drive too soon and have an accident.
You should also never drive, regardless of how long it has been since surgery, if you are taking narcotic pain medication.
Ulimately it is your decision whether or not you should be operating a vehicle, and each patient should have a discussion with their surgeon that is specific to them.
