Questions to Ask Orthopedic Surgeon After Surgery
Questions for the period after a joint replacement, fracture repair, or other orthopedic operation. Written for the discharge conversation and the first follow-up visits, when instructions arrive quickly and are easy to lose.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What did you find once you were operating, and did the plan change?
Why ask it
Findings often differ from what the imaging suggested, and the actual procedure may not be the one you consented to in detail. This affects the recovery timeline and what you tell any other clinician later, so ask before you leave.
What was implanted or repaired, and do I have a record of it?
Why ask it
Implant make, model, and size are needed for future imaging, airport screening questions, and any revision years later. Ask for the implant card or an operative note rather than relying on the hospital finding it in a decade.
How much weight can I put through the limb, and what does that mean in practice?
Why ask it
Terms like partial weight bearing or toe touch are precise to clinicians and unclear to everyone else. Ask for it in plain terms: whether the foot touches the floor at all, roughly what proportion of body weight, and whether a therapist will show you before discharge.
How long does that restriction last, and what tells us it can change?
Why ask it
The answer is usually tied to a specific date or an X-ray showing healing, not to how good you feel. Knowing the trigger stops you from either advancing too early on a good day or staying restricted longer than necessary.
What movements must I avoid completely, and for how long?
Why ask it
Some restrictions protect a repair and cannot be judged by comfort. Bending past a certain angle, crossing the legs, twisting, or raising the arm overhead may be off limits for weeks. Ask which of yours are absolute and which are guided by pain.
What is the medication schedule for the first week, including the ones I take anyway?
Why ask it
Ask about pain medication, anything for blood clot prevention, whether to restart your usual medicines, and which combinations to avoid. Blood thinners and anti-inflammatories are the usual points of confusion after discharge.
What is the plan for coming off the pain medication?
Why ask it
It is easier to agree a taper now than to negotiate it later. Ask which medicine to reduce first, over how many days, and what to use once the prescription ends, so you are not choosing between untreated pain and an unplanned refill.
How do I care for the wound, and when can it get wet?
Why ask it
Dressing changes, showering, and bathing each have separate timelines, and immersion is usually restricted for longer than showering. Ask who removes sutures or staples, and when.
How much swelling and bruising is expected, and how do I manage it?
Why ask it
Swelling often continues for weeks and can extend well below the surgical site, which alarms people who were not warned. Ask what is expected, what ice and elevation schedule helps, and what amount would be a reason to call.
Which symptoms mean I should call you, and which mean I should go straight to an emergency department?
Why ask it
Ask for the list with thresholds. Calf pain and swelling, chest pain or breathlessness, fever above a stated number, spreading redness, drainage, and a sudden change in the limb's appearance belong in different columns, and the difference matters.
How do I reach the surgical team out of hours, and who covers the weekend?
Why ask it
Get the actual number and the name of the covering service. Most post-operative worries occur at night or on a Sunday, and without this you default to an emergency department that has no record of your operation.
When does physical therapy start, how often, and what is the goal of the first phase?
Why ask it
Timing varies from the same day to several weeks depending on what was done, and delays in starting can cost range of motion permanently. Ask who arranges the referral and what happens if there is a waiting list.
What should I be able to do at two weeks, six weeks, and three months?
Why ask it
Concrete markers let you tell progress from stagnation. Without them, every slow week feels like failure. Ask what falling behind at each point would prompt: more therapy, imaging, or a change in the plan.
How do I sleep, and how do I get in and out of bed?
Why ask it
This is the practical problem of the first fortnight and is often skipped at discharge. Ask about position, whether a pillow or wedge is needed, and the physical method of moving without loading the repair.
What equipment will I need at home, and what needs to change before I get there?
Why ask it
Crutches, a walker, a raised toilet seat, a shower chair, or a bed on the ground floor are easier to arrange before discharge than after. Ask directly whether stairs are manageable in your first week.
How much help will I need, and for how many days?
Why ask it
You need a number to give the person taking time off work. Ask specifically about cooking, washing, dressing, and getting to appointments, since those are the tasks that quietly require another pair of hands.
When can I drive again, and what has to be true before that?
Why ask it
It usually depends on being off sedating medication, being able to perform an emergency stop, and not being in a brace or cast that limits control. Insurance may also have its own condition, so ask what to document.
When can I return to work, and what would need to be adjusted?
Why ask it
Describe your actual day rather than your job title: hours standing, weight lifted, driving, ladders. Ask for the restrictions in writing, since occupational health and your employer will want them stated rather than described.
When is it safe to travel, particularly by air?
Why ask it
Long periods of immobility raise clot risk after lower limb surgery, and some procedures have a stated waiting period. Ask about timing, what to do during a flight, and whether you need documentation for security screening.
What is the realistic long term result, and what may not come back?
Why ask it
Some stiffness, numbness near the scar, weather sensitivity, or a limit on kneeling or high impact activity can be permanent. Ask this before you set a personal goal, so you are measuring against the likely outcome rather than the pre-injury version of yourself.
Using these questions during recovery
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
At discharge
Have someone else in the room
Discharge conversations happen while you are tired and medicated, and most of it will not be retained. A second person who takes notes, or a recording made with permission, saves several phone calls later.
Get the restrictions in writing before you leave
Weight bearing limits, forbidden movements, and the medication schedule are the three things people most often remember incorrectly. Ask for them on paper and check the paper matches what you were told out loud.
Confirm the appointments already exist
Ask whether the follow-up visit and the physical therapy referral are booked or merely recommended. Gaps here are common and cost weeks of progress.
In the first weeks at home
Keep a short daily log
Note pain level, medication taken, swelling, temperature, and what you managed to do. It takes a minute and turns a vague report at your follow-up into something the surgeon can act on.
Photograph the wound every few days
Change is easier to see in a series than in memory. If you need to describe redness or drainage over the phone, having images from three days earlier makes the conversation much shorter.
Ask before stopping anything
This applies particularly to clot prevention medication, which people stop early because they feel well. Call and ask rather than deciding at home.
Common problems
Using pain as the measure of what is safe
Nerve blocks and pain medication remove the natural warning signal, so feeling fine is not evidence that a movement or a load is permitted. Follow the stated restriction until it is formally changed.
Treating physical therapy as optional once it hurts
After some procedures, particularly knees and shoulders, the range of motion lost in the early weeks is difficult to recover. If the exercises are unmanageable, say so rather than quietly doing fewer.
Waiting until the next appointment to raise something worrying
Infection, clots, and hardware problems are treated far more easily early. The team would rather take an unnecessary call than see you two weeks late.
To bring to each follow-up
- Your daily log, with the worst day marked.
- A current list of what you are taking and at what dose.
- The specific activity you want cleared next, and why.
- Any wound photographs showing change.
- Any forms your employer or insurer needs signed.