What Comes After Physical Therapy: Exercise Following Joint Replacement

Physical therapy after a hip or knee replacement is designed to restore safe, basic function: range of motion, a normal gait pattern, independence with daily tasks. Once those boxes are ticked, insurance coverage ends — often long before the surrounding musculature has been rebuilt.

That gap is where most people stall. Strength deficits of 20 to 30 percent in the operated limb are common at discharge and can persist for years without deliberate training.

Closing it takes progressive resistance work: loaded hinges and squats scaled to your range, unilateral work to address side-to-side asymmetry, and gradual reintroduction of the activities you actually care about.

Progress should be measured, not guessed. Objective checkpoints — sit-to-stand counts, step-down control, walking tolerance — tell you whether the program is working and when it is time to progress.