Hip Replacement Surgery

Hip replacement surgery (total hip arthroplasty) swaps out a worn‑out hip joint for smooth artificial parts so it moves without pain.

Think of your hip like a ball-and-socket hinge. When the cartilage wears out (arthritis), the bones grind and hurt. Surgery replaces:

• The socket with a smooth cup
• The ball at the top of your thigh bone with a metal/ceramic ball on a stem

Shorter wait times

The number one reason people consider private hip replacement is time. Hip replacements have some of the longest wait times in Canada—some will wait 2 years. Instead of waiting months or years for surgery, private clinics often offer surgery within weeks. For many, this means less pain and a quicker return to daily life.

Choice and control

Going private generally gives you a sense of control, which can be reassuring during a difficult time. When you go private, you can:

• Choose your hip replacement surgeon based on experience and credentials.
• Select the clinic location (often out-of-province).
• Plan surgery around your own schedule.

Peace of mind

Waiting in pain takes an emotional toll. With private care, patients often appreciate the clarity of knowing who will perform their surgery, when it’ll happen, and what the upfront costs will be. This certainty can ease anxiety and help families plan for recovery.

Preventing further decline

• Function and quality of life: Reduces months of severe pain, limited walking, dependence on aids, and opioid use.
• Joint and overall health: Prolonged immobility can worsen muscle loss, balance, weight, and cardiovascular health; earlier surgery can help avoid deconditioning.
• Surgical complexity: Advanced deformity, contractures, or bone loss from waiting can make later surgery longer and riskier, with tougher rehab.
• Mental load: Shortens time living with uncertainty, restricted activities, and sleep disturbance.

1. ‍Confirm your diagnosis. Most patients start with a family doctor or specialist who confirms that hip replacement surgery is needed.
   ‍
2. Research. Explore surgeons who specialize in private hip replacement.
   • You can find surgeons in Vancouver, British Columbia; Calgary, Alberta; Toronto, Ontario; and Montréal, Québec on our app, and review qualifications, as well as pricing.
     ‍‍
3. Schedule an initial consultation. Most surgeons offer in-clinic and online consults.
   
   • Consultations are usually booked within days or a few weeks.
   • Note: expect a consultation fee between $150 - $350.
     ‍‍
4. Consultation. The surgeon will review your condition, symptoms, and any previous treatments or diagnostics, such as x-rays or MRIs.
   ‍
5. ‍Post consultation. The surgeon will then review your case and provide surgical options based on your needs (i.e. total or partial replacement); review the risks and expected outcomes; and present pricing and scheduling options.
   
   • Because the procedure is not covered by your provincial health plan when done privately, you’ll need to review the quoted cost and consider payment options (out-of-pocket, private insurance, or financing).
     ‍‍
6. Schedule your surgery date. Once you confirm the procedure and payment, the clinic will schedule your surgery—generally within a few weeks.
   
   • Plan for travel and accommodation, since the surgery will likely take place outside your home province.
   • Expect pre-surgery preparation, and possibly some pre-surgery tests.

The surgery itself is no different from what’s performed in the public system. Surgeons use the same techniques, implants, and safety standards. The operation usually takes 2-3 hours.

• Anesthesia: You’re put to sleep.
• Incision: Cut over the hip; muscles gently moved aside.
• Remove damaged parts: Take out the arthritic ball and clean the socket.
• New socket: Press/secure a cup into the pelvis (often with a plastic liner).
• New ball and stem: Insert a metal stem into the thighbone with a metal/ceramic ball.
• Test movement and leg length.
• Close layers and skin; bandage on.

The clinic will provide you with an extensive hip replacement surgery recovery plan that includes physiotherapy, pain management, and further monitoring. The recovery process varies from patient to patient. Your recovery might look quite different, so please seek further guidance from your surgeon. 

Please take post-operative care seriously. The more diligently this process is followed, the better the outcome tends to be.

Some private clinics offer virtual follow-up appointments, while others coordinate with local providers in your home province.

In general, here is what you can expect:

Week 1:

• Pain, discomfort, emotion, more pain, stiffness, frustration. Week 1 is not fun.
• Goals: Pain management, swelling reduction, initial basic movement, preventing blood clots.

• Activities:
  
  • Clinic recovery for 1-3 days.
  • Assisted walking, ankle pumps, breathing exercises, and physical therapy within first day.
  • Practicing simple movements (in and out of bed, using bathroom) without assistance.
  • Pain medication management and wound care (it will be advantageous to have a friend, family member, or caretaker support you for both in the first few days).
  • Sitting: avoid sitting for long periods. And only use firm, straight backed chairs with armrests (avoid soft and reclined seats), keep hips higher than knees, avoid crossing legs and twisting motions.

Weeks 2-4:

• The next 3 weeks are still characterized by significant discomfort, swelling, frustration, and emotional highs and lows.
• Goals: Settling into your new routines, applying yourself to daily exercises, building up your walking, and resuming some normal daily activities.
  

• Activities:
  
  • Wound care, possibly removing stitches.
  • Walk regularly with assistive devices, ideally transitioning from a walker to a cane. Building up to normal walking patterns without a limp.
  • Daily exercises and physio focused on a developing range of motion and simple strength building exercises.
  • Sitting: you may sit for longer periods, but continue using firm, straight backed chairs with raised seats and armrests.

Weeks 5-12:

• These weeks are challenging, but rewarding. Focus and diligence on exercises will likely pay off, and you'll likely be able to walk again unassisted, be able to drive, and return to work if your job is not physically demanding.
• Goals: Achieve 90° hip flexion and 25° abduction, increasing physical therapy, walk longer distances unassisted, resume most normal activities.

• Activities:
  
  • More challenging physical therapy in order to improve range of motion and build strength.
    
  • Daily exercises. Possibly low impact activities like swimming (only if cleared by healthcare team).
  • Walking longer distances—transitioning from the use of walking aids around week 6-8.

Weeks 13-52:

• The worst of the pain and swelling usually subsides after 12 weeks, but you'll need to stay on top of physical therapy and listen carefully to your body in the year post operation (and beyond).
• Goals: Regain full or near-full range of motion, recover your lost strength and stamina, and slowly return to normal activity levels.

• Activities:
  
  • Physical therapy may continue the entire first year post operation, gradually bringing you back to your activity levels pre-surgery.
  • Daily exercises are no longer essential once you achieve normal range of motion and strength, but routine exercise is encouraged to keep muscles strong to protect the artificial joint.
  • You will be able to return to low impact sports like golf, tennis, swimming, or cycling. For anything high impact, please consult your surgeon and physio.

In Canada, private hip replacement surgery generally ranges from $20,000 to $34,000.

Comparatively, in the United States, you can expect to pay CAD$40,000 to $70,000.

This estimate includes surgeon fees, hospital or surgical centre charges, anaesthesia, the hip implant itself, and immediate post-surgical care.

Costs may vary if you require additional medical services, special implants, or extended hospital stays.

Learn more about how much a private hip replacement costs in Alberta.

What’s included

Most quotes for private hip replacement surgery cover:

• Surgeon and anaesthesiologist fees
• Hospital or clinic facility fees
• Hip implant hardware
• Nursing and immediate post-op care
• Initial physiotherapy/rehabilitation support (varies by clinic)

What’s usually not included:

• Travel and accommodation (if surgery is out-of-province)
• Long-term physiotherapy after returning home
• Medications for pain management once discharge

Insurance and financing options

• Private health insurance: Some plans may cover part of the costs, such as hospital fees or implants. It’s important to check your policy directly.‍
• Financing plans: Many clinics offer monthly payment options to help spread out the cost. Learn more about your financing options here.
• Medical Expense Tax Credit (METC): This is a non-refundable credit that reduces your taxes when you pay out-of-pocket for eligible medical expenses. Learn more about how to claim METC for private surgeries.

Choosing your surgeon is one of the benefits of going the private route. Here’s what to consider and the key questions to bring to your hip replacement consultation.

What to look for

• Experience and volume
  • Ask how many total hip replacements (THA) they perform each year, primary vs revision, and their approach mix (anterior/posterior/lateral). Higher volume often correlates with smoother care and lower complication rates.
• Credentials and training
  • Confirm licensure with the provincial college (e.g., CPSO in Ontario, CPSBC in BC, CPSA in Alberta).
  • Look for FRCSC-certified orthopaedic surgeons, ideally with adult reconstruction (hip/knee arthroplasty) fellowship training.
• Outcomes and safety
  • Ask for infection rates, dislocation rates, venous blood clot rates, leg length discrepancy revisions, and readmissions. Request outcomes specific to your approach and implant choice.
• Surgical approach and implants
  • Understand their preferred approach (direct anterior vs posterior vs lateral) and why for you.
  • Discuss bearing surfaces and fixation: cementless vs cemented, ceramic vs metal head, polyethylene liner, stem/cup choices, dual-mobility options for instability risk.
• Imaging and planning
  • Pre-op templating, assessment of leg length/offset, spinopelvic balance, and the plan to minimize length differences and impingement.‍
• Facility accreditation‍
  
  • Make sure the clinic is accredited by national bodies such as Accreditation Canada or the Canadian Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgical Facilities (CAAASF).‍
• Rehab integration‍
  
  • Access to hip‑savvy physiotherapy, clear phased protocol, and communication with your local therapist if you’re traveling.

Questions to ask during your hip replacement consultation

Surgeon and surgery plan

• How many primary THAs do you perform yearly? What are your infection, dislocation, clot, and revision rates in the last 12–24 months?
• Which approach do you recommend for me and why? What are the trade-offs (pain, precautions, dislocation risk)?
• What implants do you plan to use (stem/cup brand), fixation (cemented vs cementless), and bearing surface? Expected longevity and data supporting them?
• How do you plan leg length and offset? What is your rate of clinically significant length difference requiring correction?
• What anesthesia do you recommend (spinal vs general) and your pain-control plan (nerve blocks, multimodal meds)?
• Is this same-day discharge or overnight? In a hospital or ambulatory surgery center?

Recovery and aftercare

• What’s my timeline to: walk unaided, drive, return to desk vs manual work, low-impact sports?
• Hip precautions: Will I have movement restrictions? For how long?
• Physiotherapy: Home exercises vs formal PT—how often and for how long? Do you provide a written protocol?
• DVT prevention: What blood thinner do you use, and for how long?
• What red flags should prompt me to call or go to the ER (fever, calf pain, worsening shortness of breath, wound drainage)?
• Who is my post-op contact (direct phone/email) and typical response time? How many follow-ups are included and when?

Costs and logistics

• What exactly is included in my quote (surgeon, anesthesiologist, facility fees, implants, imaging, walker/canes, meds given on-site, follow-ups)?
• What could add cost (extra nights, advanced implants like dual mobility, custom components, unexpected imaging, blood transfusion, complications/re-operations)?
• If complications occur, how are they managed and billed? Do you have a revision/transfer policy with a hospital partner?
• If I’m traveling from another province, which follow-ups can be virtual? Will I receive the operative note, implant stickers, and rehab plan for my local care team/insurer?