Exercise Machines to Avoid for Hip Replacements
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Which Exercise Machines Should You Avoid After Hip Replacement Surgery?

Which Exercise Machines Should You Avoid After Hip Replacement Surgery?
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Updated on July 31, 2025
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For individuals with chronic hip pain, a hip replacement can offer a new lease of life. While you might be tempted to jump right back into an active lifestyle, it's best to take it slow. It's also wise to know which physical activities and exercise machines to avoid after a hip replacement.

Some exercises are good for helping you regain strength and mobility after hip replacement, and your doctor or physical therapist can help guide you through staying active during recovery. However, with this replaced joint, you will need to avoid positioning your body at certain angles or subjecting yourself to excessive impact.

Here are some general guidelines on what exercises are and aren't safe after you've had your hip replaced.

Why Exercise Is Important After a Hip Replacement

Hip replacement surgery is a procedure in which individuals experiencing pain from daily activities, often related to arthritis damage, receive artificial joints in their hips. A surgeon removes the damaged parts of the hip joint and replaces them with artificial parts made from metal, ceramic, or hard plastic. This surgery aims to reduce pain and improve hip function.

After undergoing this procedure, a person's mobility will be limited. However, physical therapy will help restore strength and plays a vital role in recovery. A surgeon will likely recommend about 20 to 30 minutes of exercise two or three times a day once a patient is strong enough.

You don't want to push yourself to do too much right after surgery. Initially, you may need to use a crutch, cane, or walker for support while walking during everyday activities.

Low-risk activities, such as upright stationary cycling, may be safe within days of the procedure, but higher-impact exercises require a recovery period of around six to eight weeks before you can return to action.

After that initial period, and depending on your recovery progress, you should spend another six weeks pursuing the final phase. This aims to return you to full function by helping you regain your full strength, improve your endurance, gain independence at home, and navigate stairs. Approximately three to six months after surgery, patients can usually return to their athletic activities.

Exercise Machines to Avoid After Hip Replacement

Your doctor or physical therapist can advise you on the best gym workout after hip replacement. However, there are some exercises that you will not be able to do or will need to adjust to carry out safely.

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommends incorporating an exercise bike or treadmill, but you won’t be able to approach it like a typical spin class or indoor run.

With upright stationary cycling, you’ll need to adjust the seat height so that your leg is almost straight when touching the pedal. You’ll also need to pedal backward to check whether the motion is comfortable before pedaling forward. Then, you can gently build the resistance on the bike and the length of the workouts.

Treadmills can help you reacquaint yourself with walking after a hip replacement without risking the uneven ground outside.

With your new hip joint, you will need to avoid bending your body in certain positions and avoid activities that involve heavy impact. Therefore, you need to be aware of workouts you cannot do and exercise machines to avoid after a hip replacement.

Different types of hip replacement procedures require different postsurgical approaches to limiting movement during recovery. After anterior hip replacement surgery, or a cut in the front of the hip, you’ll need to take specific precautions, such as avoiding excessive hip extension (moving the thigh backward) or back bends.

If you receive a hip replacement from the posterior approach, or a cut in the back of the hip, different exercise precautions apply. After a posterior hip replacement, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons advises against bringing your knee up higher than your hips, leaning forward while sitting (or as you sit down), and bending your waist or hips beyond 90 degrees.

This means that a hip replacement rules out a couple of exercise machines at the gym.

Leg presses. Completing leg presses forces your knees up toward your chest, requiring you to bend your hips to control the resistance. Even in individuals who have not undergone hip replacement surgery, improper technique when performing seated leg presses can lead to injury.

Inner thigh adductor. Another exercise machine to avoid after a hip replacement is the inner thigh adductor, which can strain your hips as you push inward against the resistance with your thighs. The inner thigh adductor machine isn't engaging your adductor muscles in the same way they’d activate during your natural gait.

 However, hip abductor machines, which instead involve pushing outward against the resistance, are a common feature of hip strengthening programs during hip replacement recovery, according to a review of 16 studies.

However, even after your doctor gives you the go-ahead for full activity following a hip replacement, it's best to stick to the activities you were able to do just before the surgery, rather than trying new or long-abandoned exercises. This can help the replacement last for a long time.

Exercises You Should Do Instead

As you regain strength, certain exercises will be especially beneficial. Here are two options you can try soon after surgery:

Move 1: Ankle Pump

  1. Lie on your back for the duration of the exercise.
  2. Slowly push your foot up and down, moving your foot at the ankle.
  3. Do this exercise every five to 10 minutes, or as often as your comfort allows. For example, you could try this during every commercial break during a TV show you’re watching.

Move 2: Quad and glute sets

These approaches involve using isometrics, in which you tense up a single muscle group at a time. You can perform each movement separately or combine them:

Quad sets involve the following steps:

  1. Lie on your back with your knees straight.
  2. Tighten your thigh muscles.
  3. Hold for 5-10 seconds.
  4. Rest for a few seconds and repeat.

Try these steps for glute sets:

  1. Lie on your back with your knees straight.
  2. Tighten your buttock muscles.
  3. Hold for 5-10 seconds.
  4. Rest for a few seconds and repeat.

Move 2: Straight-Leg Raises

If you’ve had a posterior hip replacement, this is safe to try. However, it’s best to avoid this for at least eight weeks after an anterior hip replacement. The movements are as follows:

  1. Lie on your back with your feet straight out in front of you.
  2. Tighten your thigh muscle and lift your affected leg several inches.
  3. Hold for five to 10 seconds before slowly lowering it to the starting position.
  4. Repeat until your thigh feels tired.

Ankle pumps and quad sets will help you regain strength and keep your blood flowing right after your surgery. Once you are able to stand, you can take on other exercises to help yourself back toward mobility.

Move 1: Standing Knee Raises

  1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Keep a chair in front of you and hold the back for support.
  2. Lift your affected leg toward your chest, making sure you don't lift your knee higher than your waist.
  3. Hold for two to three counts; then lower your leg.
  4. Repeat 10 times per set and complete three to four sets per day.

Move 2: Standing Hip Extensions

  1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Keep a chair in front of you and hold the back for support.
  2. Raise your affected leg backward, keeping your back straight as you do so.
  3. Hold for two to three counts before returning your foot to the floor.
  4. Repeat 10 times per session and do three or four sessions per day.
Once you have clearance to get a little more active after a hip replacement, prioritize low-impact cardio exercises, including:

  • Elliptical trainers
  • Pilates
  • Yoga
  • Weight machines
  • Golf

  • Doubles tennis

Fans of exercise classes can let an instructor know they’ve recently had a hip replacement. They can regress potentially challenging or high-impact movements as necessary. Higher-intensity activities, such as running, racquetball, basketball, or skiing, may have to wait until you have specific clearance from your doctor after a full recovery.

You can apply ice to reduce any pain or swelling you experience. If your muscles start to ache, try cutting back on exercise but not stopping completely.

EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Hip replacement. Mayo Clinic. March 4, 2025.
  2. Total Hip Replacement Exercise Guide. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. February 2022.
  3. A Patient’s Guide to Total Hip Replacement Recovery. Hospital for Special Surgery. November 17, 2022.
  4. Sara LK et al. Rehabilitation Phases, Precautions, and Mobility Goals Following Total Hip Arthroplasty. HSS Journal. August 15, 2023.
  5. Activities After Total Hip Replacement. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. February 2022.
  6. Total Hip Arthroplasty Post-Op: Clinical Practice Guideline. Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
  7. Seated Leg Press Exercise. American Council on Exercise.
  8. Functional Anatomy Series: The Adductors. American Council on Exercise.
  9. Bull T et al. Hypertrophy Training Following A Total Hip Replacement: A Literature Reviews. International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. 2024.
  10. A Guide to Exercise after Total Hip Replacement. Hospital for Special Surgery. March 4, 2025.
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Scott Haak, PT, DPT, MTC, CSCS

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Scott Haak, PT, DPT, has been a member of the Mayo Clinic staff since 2000. Dr. Haak serves as faculty for the Sports Medicine Fellowship program at Mayo Clinic Florida. He is certified by the NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association) as a CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist), is a Certified USA Weightlifting Coach and Certified USA Football Coach, and possesses a MTC (Manual Therapy Certification) from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences.

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