When Is It Safe for Patients to Drive after Right Total Hip Arthroplasty?

Old studies recommend 6 weeks post-operative before patients can return to driving safely. This is a prospective study assessing brake reaction time (BRT) after THA. 38 patients underwent a pre-operative, 2, 4 and 6 weeks post-operative BRT test. General linear repeated measurement was used. The mean pre-operative reaction time was 0.635 ± 0.160 seconds SD and 2-week was 0.576 ± 0.137 seconds SD (P = 0.029); 33 patients (87%) were able to reach their baseline time by 2 weeks. The remaining five patients (13%) reached their baseline at the 4-week post-operative. No differences were found with respect to age, gender, and the use of assistive devices. With new techniques in THA, most of patients return to normal times within the 2-week.