Everyone talks about which shoes to wear during recovery. Almost nobody talks about how you actually get them on in the first place, when bending, reaching and gripping are all things your body suddenly can’t quite manage the way it used to.
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I learned this the practical way, through both ankle and hip replacements, which turned out to be a genuinely tricky combination. Most recovery advice assumes you can simply pull your foot up towards you to reach a shoe. After hip replacement, that particular movement is often exactly the one you’re told to avoid. So I had to find a different way, and it’s one nobody had actually walked me through beforehand.
My Actual Routine
Here’s exactly what worked for me, step by step:
- Sit on the edge of the bed, or a stable chair — never try to do this standing, and never balance on one foot.
- Place the shoes on the floor directly in front of you, before you do anything else.
- Undo the laces and zips fully before the shoes go on the floor, not after. This sounds small, but fumbling with a zip once the shoe’s already down at floor level is far harder than sorting it while the shoe’s still in your hands.
- Use a long-handled shoehorn, every time, without exception. This genuinely isn’t optional for me — it’s the one tool that makes the whole thing possible.
- Never bend forward past a right angle at the hip. After hip replacement, the angle between your body and thigh must not go below 90 degrees — going further risks dislocation. This rules out the usual “bend down towards your foot” approach most people take for granted.
- This is exactly why the long-handled shoehorn matters so much. It lets you reach the shoe while staying upright, without needing to bend past that safe 90-degree limit at all.
What I’d Actually Look For
Don’t settle for a short, standard shoehorn — you want a proper long-handled one, ideally at least 40cm, so you can reach the shoe without bending forward at all. I was given one when I had my first operation but it measures 43cm, there were occasions when a longer one would have been better. The Blue Badge Company Long Handled Shoe Horn is a genuinely well-reviewed, straightforward option, available in both a standard long length and an even longer 52cm version if you need extra reach.
Check the Blue Badge Long Handled Shoe Horn on Amazon
Why This Combination Is Trickier Than It Sounds
After hip replacement, there’s a genuinely strict rule: the angle between your body and thigh must never go below 90 degrees, since bending further risks dislocating the new joint. That single restriction rules out the instinctive way most people put shoes on — leaning forward towards the foot. A long-handled shoehorn becomes essential here, not just convenient, because it lets you reach the shoe while staying upright and safely within that 90-degree limit.
Why Laces and a Zip Together Work Best
A combination of laces and a zip, or a good set of hook-and-loop straps, genuinely made the biggest practical difference for me — more than any single feature of the shoe itself. Here’s the trick, though: you don’t need to touch the laces every single day.
Once you’ve set the lacing to the right width for your foot, on a day when swelling is fairly settled, you can leave the laces alone entirely from that point on. Day to day, you just use the zip to get the shoe on and off — no bending, fiddling, or fastening required each time. I only went back to adjusting the laces themselves on days when swelling was particularly bad and I genuinely needed more room. The rest of the time, the zip alone did the job.
This is exactly the kind of shoe I’ve written about elsewhere — my guide to the transition after coming out of a medical boot covers more on choosing the right supportive shoe for this stage, and the Waldläufer H-Lana is a good real-world example of a shoe with exactly this laces-plus-zip combination.
A Few Other Things That Helped
- Keep the shoehorn somewhere you’ll actually remember it’s there — by the bed, or wherever you get dressed, not tucked away in a drawer
- Don’t rush. Take your time and find your own safe range rather than pushing to match how you used to move
- If you’ve had hip surgery specifically, check with your surgeon or physiotherapist about which bending movements are genuinely safe for you before settling into a routine, since this varies by procedure
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I put shoes on without bending after hip or ankle surgery?
A long-handled shoehorn reduces how much bending you need considerably, but you’ll usually still need some forward movement. Always follow your surgeon or physiotherapist’s specific guidance on safe movement for your own recovery.
Why can’t I just pull my foot up to fasten my shoe after hip replacement?
Many hip replacement patients are advised to avoid certain hip flexion movements, particularly combined with rotation, in the weeks or months after surgery. Bending forward from the hip towards the shoe, rather than pulling the foot up towards the body, can be a safer alternative — but always check your own specific movement precautions with your surgical team.
Do I need to re-lace my shoes every day during recovery?
Not necessarily. If your shoe has both laces and a zip, you can often set the lacing once to the right width and rely on the zip alone day to day, only adjusting the laces again if swelling changes significantly.
Are Velcro fastenings better than laces after surgery?
Velcro or hook-and-loop fastenings can be a genuinely good option, especially if lacing feels fiddly during recovery. A combination of laces set once for width, plus a zip for daily use, works well too — the right choice often comes down to what you personally find easiest to manage.