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. After my hip replacements, I was given bending precautions that meant I couldn’t simply pull my foot up towards me to reach a shoe. 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.
- Follow the bending precautions you were given after surgery. After my hip replacements, I was told not to bend my hip beyond 90 degrees, which ruled out simply leaning forward to reach my shoes. Your own precautions may be different, so follow the instructions given by your surgical team or physiotherapist.
- This is exactly why the long-handled shoehorn mattered so much to me. It let me reach the shoe while staying upright, without having to bend beyond the limits I’d been given after surgery.
What I’d Actually Look For
Don’t settle for a short, standard shoehorn if it still means you have to bend further than you’re comfortable with. I was given a 43cm long-handled shoehorn when I had my first operation, and there were occasions when an even longer one would have been better. The Blue Badge Company Long Handled Shoe Horn is available in different lengths, including a 52cm version if you need extra reach.
Check the Blue Badge Long Handled Shoe Horn on Amazon
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.
Can I pull my foot towards me to put my shoes on after hip replacement?
That depends on the movement precautions you’ve been given. After my hip replacements, I was advised to avoid certain bending movements, so pulling my foot towards me wasn’t an option. I found that sitting down and using a long-handled shoehorn made things much easier. Always follow your own surgical team’s advice rather than assuming that a movement that’s safe for someone else is safe for you.
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.
And if you’ve ever wondered why new shoes never seem to “break in” the way they’re supposed to, I’ve written about that too — why the usual advice doesn’t work for arthritic feet.
If this resonated with you, I’ve written a much fuller account of what I’ve learned from years of trying to find shoes that work for my feet — including the mistakes I’ve made, the practical things that help me, and the brands I trust — in The Wide Fit Shoe Survival Guide.
Medical disclaimer: This article is based on my personal experience of putting on and choosing footwear after hip and ankle replacement surgery. It is not medical advice. Always follow the movement and recovery instructions given to you by your own surgical team or physiotherapist.
About Sue Holland
Sue writes WiderFittingShoes.com from first-hand experience of finding footwear for wide and difficult-to-fit feet. After two hip replacements, two ankle replacements and years of dealing with arthritis, swelling and feet that don’t always behave the same from one day to the next, she shares the practical things she’s learned about shoe fit, width and comfort.