Medical disclaimer

I have written the pages on this site to answer the questions patients actually ask me: what is going on in the joint, what the options are, what an operation involves, and how long it takes to get back to normal life. I have tried to be specific rather than vague, because vague is no use to anyone deciding what to do.

It is general information, not advice about you

None of it is advice about your hip or your knee. I have not examined you, I have not seen your scans, and I do not know your history. Two people with the same words on a radiology report can need completely different things, and the right answer for one of them can be the wrong answer for the other.

Reading this site is not a consultation, and nothing here creates a doctor–patient relationship between us. That starts when we meet.

Please do not use it to delay seeing someone

If something is wrong, the thing that helps is being examined. If you recognise your symptoms on one of these pages, treat that as a reason to make an appointment rather than a reason to wait and see. Equally, if a page does not describe your problem, that does not mean your problem is not real.

When not to wait for me

Lucie reads enquiries during working hours, so this website is not the place for an urgent problem. If your pain is severe, you cannot put weight on the leg, or something has changed suddenly, please speak to your GP or call NHS 111. If you think it is an emergency, call 999.

Recovery figures

Where I give timescales — weeks on crutches, when people drive again, when they get back to work — those are what I see in practice, for most people, most of the time. They are there to help you plan, not to promise you an outcome. Yours may be quicker or slower, and I will tell you honestly which I expect when we have met.

Other websites

Where I link to a hospital, a professional body or my Doctify reviews, I am pointing you at something useful. I do not control those sites and I am not responsible for what they say.

Keeping this up to date

These pages are maintained, not published and forgotten. If practice changes, the page changes. If you spot something that reads as wrong or out of date, please tell Lucie and it will get looked at.

Talk to Lucie

The quickest way to turn a question into an answer is to ask a person. Lucie Connock is my private secretary and she answers every enquiry herself, on 07761 897874.