Can I drive after a joint replacement?

  Recently, I received a special gift, a WeChat photo of a driver’s license. It turned out that Ms. Wu, for whom I did bilateral hip replacements, had successfully obtained a driver’s license through her own efforts and sent me a photo to share her joy, and I was touched by this spirit of self-improvement.  Ms. Wu unfortunately suffered from SLE many years ago, and after active treatment, she was cured stably. However, since hormones had to be applied during the treatment process, after she was cured of SLE, hormonal necrosis occurred in her femoral head bilaterally, causing her difficulty in walking, pain in her hips and waking up at night with pain, and her quality of life was greatly affected by relying on painkillers all day long. When she came to my specialist clinic, she was limping and emaciated. After examination, it was found that her femoral head necrosis had reached an advanced stage, not only necrosis but also collapse of the femoral head had occurred, causing her serious difficulty in walking. After careful evaluation, I decided to give her a joint replacement, but she was faced with the following questions: What kind of prosthesis would allow her to use the artificial joint for a longer period of time, given that she is only in her forties? She is still taking oral hormones and her autoimmune function is somewhat compromised, how can she avoid the catastrophic complication of joint replacement – infection? Also her autologous hormone production is partially suppressed, how can the perioperative procedure prevent corticosteroid deficiency syndrome? And so on a series of questions.  Through comprehensive communication with Ms. Wu, I found that she is a person who loves life, has a positive, optimistic and upward attitude towards life, and has a scientific understanding of the disease she suffers from. Therefore, we felt that the bilateral hip joint should be replaced in stages, and the relatively severe side of the hip joint should be operated first. Due to her young age, we chose the fourth generation nano-ceramic friction interface prosthesis, and during the perioperative period, by applying intravenous partial During the perioperative period, her oral hormones were partially replaced by intravenous hormones to prevent a series of complications, and some minimally invasive techniques and bleeding reduction techniques were properly applied during the surgery to facilitate her rapid recovery. The joint replacement surgery was very successful, and she was able to move on her own for functional exercise on the second day after the surgery, and walk on the ground on the third day.  She told me, “Dr. Guo, my operated joint is not painful at all now, and I can move freely. She told me, “Dr. Guo, my operated joint is not painful at all, and I can move it freely. After another period of time, I gave her another hip replacement surgery on the opposite side. After six months, she was completely free from pain, walking freely and regaining her confidence in life. At this time, she raised another question: Dr. Guo, I want to learn to drive, is it okay?  Since the seat of a normal car is relatively low, according to the traditional requirement of avoiding excessive hip flexion after hip replacement surgery, but the current prosthesis design and surgical techniques have largely improved the range of motion after joint replacement, and young patients also have the requirement of higher quality of life, carefully by reviewing her surgery and prosthesis situation, the angle of placement of our prosthesis is still very precise, I definitely I replied to her that she could learn to drive and that it would be best to purchase a vehicle with a slightly higher seat, and now she has successfully obtained her C license, so I truly applaud her.