- Do you suffer from pain in your hips and maybe other joints?
- Do you have difficulty bending over or getting in/out of your car?
- Does your hip hurt when you move – and when you don’t?
Your hips are important weight-bearing joints, so if they start to hurt, you notice it remarkably quickly.
Hip replacements timings
If you suffer with a stiff or sore hip, especially if it’s due to arthritis, you may think the immediate solution is a hip replacement. However, only around 30% of our hip pain patients need surgery straight away. For the other 70%, our consultants can provide effective treatments and pain management plans to help keep you moving better and pain-free.
As a result, you may not need hip replacement surgery for many months or years and maybe not at all. If you do need surgery, you’ll join almost 117,000 people who had primary total and resurfacing replacement procedures in the UK in 2024 (6).
Hip replacements have a great success rate and when coupled with a comprehensive rehabilitation plan, are highly effective in restoring almost a full range of movement and eliminating pain.
Looking for rapid diagnosis and treatment options for your hip pain?
Contact us here at Joint Reaction to discover how our experienced consultants can help you reduce pain and get back to your active life again.
What are the signs that I might need a hip replaced?
The three key signs to look out for are pain, lack of movement and stiffness.
Persistent Pain
Persistent hip pain is a debilitating, constant pain that interferes with your daily life and affects your ability to sleep. You may also experience radiating pain that spreads to your thigh and knees, but no lower.
Pain when moving or resting
People with hip pain who come to us often say it’s painful to move about and that their pain doesn’t abate after exercise. Resting doesn’t help either and over the counter pain medications may become ineffective over time.
Difficulty walking
A sore hip can severely affect your ability to get about. You may not be able to walk nearly as far as you used to, and you may develop a limp or unusual gait (way of walking) to try and make walking less painful. (Experienced hip surgeons such as our Joint Reaction team can spot a patient with hip pain in the street just by the way they walk!)
Problems with everyday movements
There are so many movements we do automatically every day that become more difficult due to stiffness and a resulting loss of movement in the joints. These include:
- Putting on shoes and socks
- Bending down to feed the dog
- Getting in and out of a car
- Climbing steps or stairs
- Standing up from your sofa
You can check your own hip joint health by trying to stand on one leg for one minute, when holding onto a door frame or table for stability. If this is difficult and of course if it’s also painful, it’s time to make an appointment with a specialist hip consultant to diagnose the cause.
Noisy joints
Your hip joint may also become noisy, as the bone moves against bone. You may hear a grating or grinding sound, (known as crepitus) or experience a popping sensation when you move your hip.
Relying on walking aids and pain medications
As your pain increases and your mobility decreases, you may find yourself using a mobility aid such as a stick or a walker. You may be taking more and more pain medication with less relief. Other treatments such as injections may not be effective anymore.
The good news about hip pain
The good news is that you can see one of our Joint Reaction orthopaedic consultants within a matter of a couple of weeks to discuss your hip pain. Your Joint Reaction consultant will usually get new scans taken and tests done to assess your current state of hip health. They may also suggest a course of treatments including physiotherapy to alleviate the pain and extend the lifespan of your natural hip joint.
Surgery only becomes an option once other treatments and less invasive procedures have been tried or ruled out.
- Contact us to discover how Joint Reaction can help you with your hip pain with no long waiting lists for appointments.
Hip replacement and hip pain FAQs
In a total hip replacement operation, the whole hip joint is removed and replaced with a prosthetic (artificial) joint made from plastic, metal, ceramic, or all three.
Not at all! Our consultants offer four main treatment options and tailor each to your individual needs. For more information, see our Hip page:
There can be various causes of hip pain, including the most common cause, arthritis.
Osteoarthritis happens when the cartilage in your joints that normally pads the ends of your bones starts to wear away. That loss of cartilage causes your bones to rub together, which is what causes your pain, stiffness and loss of movement in the affected joints.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease where your own body’s immune system attacks your joint linings, causing pain and stiffness.
Your hips, like most joints, need to be used! So, activities that exercise your hip joints are great ways to be proactive about your joint care, from salsa dancing to cycling.
Regular classes in yoga, tai chi and Pilates can help maintain muscle strength to support your hips and benefits both flexibility and balance.
Lifestyle is also important, especially reducing your weight. Being overweight increases your risk of rheumatoid arthritis or gout, as can smoking and drinking excessively. As the NHS website explains (1):
“Losing weight can really help you cope with arthritis. Too much weight places excess pressure on the joints in your hips, knees, ankles and feet, leading to increased pain and mobility problems.”
A healthy diet will keep your weight in check and provide your body with essential nutrients to help keep your joints healthier. For more information, see this excellent article on nutrition and arthritis at Arthritis UK. (5)
Not yet, but there is considerable research into the causes of arthritis, which may well prove effective in the future. For more information, see Arthritis UK’s website: https://www.arthritis-uk.org/ .
You can also take part in new studies involving the condition yourself. For more details, see the NIHR Be Part of Research website. (2)
IMPORTANT: This article on hip replacements is for your information only. It is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or diagnosis. When you first meet your Joint Reaction consultant, they will talk through your hip pain, and discuss any previous diagnosis or scans you may have.
For more details, or to book an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon near you, contact us at Joint Reaction.
SOURCES:
(1) NHS. (2025, September 8). Living with arthritis. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/arthritis/living-with/
(2) National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). (n.d.). NIHR arthritis studies. Retrieved October 20, 2025, from https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/results/search-results?query=arthritis&location
(3) Spire Healthcare. (2025, June 2). Are you considering hip replacement surgery? Cahoot Care Marketing. https://www.spirehealthcare.com/health-hub/specialties/bones-and-joints/are-you-considering-hip-replacement-surgery/
(4) Wagner, W. (2024, July 8). 4 signs you may need a hip replacement. Nuffield Health. https://www.nuffieldhealth.com/article/4-signs-you-may-need-a-hip-replacement
(5) Arthritis UK. (n.d.). Eating well with arthritis. Retrieved October 20, 2025, from https://www.arthritis-uk.org/information-and-support/living-with-arthritis/health-and-wellbeing/eating-well-with-arthritis/
(6) Porteous, A., & Wilton, T. (2025). National Joint Registry 22nd annual report 2025. National Joint Registry. https://reports.njrcentre.org.uk/Portals/0/PDFdownloads/NJR%2022nd%20Annual%20Report%202025.pdf