If you’re a keen gardener, will you still be able to garden once you’ve had a knee or hip replacement? And if so, what’s the best way to garden in comfort? Alex Dodds, orthopaedic surgeon for The Cotswolds, Cheltenham and Gloucester, explains.
*photo courtesy of Patrick Breig via shutterstock
I get asked this a lot, but we do need to place the question in context. By the time I see most patients, they’re at a point where they can’t garden, and they certainly can’t do it without significant discomfort.
Whatever operation you undergo—hip replacement or total or partial knee replacement— you should find gardening a considerably easier prospect in the months after operation than in the months leading up to it.
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Every patient is different, of course, and so is every garden. If your garden is full of raised planters, with limited need to crawl around on your hands and knees, you should find it’s very easy to get back into gardening with little difficulty.
If you have a partial knee replacement, even prolonged kneeling shouldn’t present an issue providing you use a soft pad to take pressure off your knees.
Hip replacement patients can sometimes find that their forward flexion (that is, bending forward) is limited, but often it’s possible to find alternative postures that still allow you to garden in comfort.
Gardening after total knee replacement
The only real challenge to gardening comfort comes from total knee replacement. Studies vary but in around 50% of cases kneeling can cause discomfort. It’s important to note that doesn’t mean you can’t kneel—you can—but you might feel uncomfortable when doing it.
If you’re one of the above 50%, wearing knee protectors or kneeling on a pad can help, and that may be all you need to carry on gardening. For the other 50%, kneeling doesn’t seem to present any issues at all.
So, broadly speaking, yes, hip or knee replacement shouldn’t prevent you gardening. On the contrary, it should give you a whole new lease of life in the garden compared to the position with advanced osteoarthritis. In some cases, however, you may need to discover the postures that enable you to garden in comfort, and that may mean adapting the way you garden.
To explore options for your knee or hip replacement in Cheltenham, Gloucester & the Cotswolds, please book an appointment or call 01242 246549
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