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Patient information
Everything you need, wherever you are in the journey
Considering seeing someone. Preparing for surgery. Recovering from it. This hub is organised around where you actually are, not around how a clinic is structured.
Considering
Understand your condition and your options before anything is decided.
Video answers · FAQs · Hip / knee / sports knee guides
First visit
Referral, what to bring, appointment lengths, fees and parking.
Your first appointment
The referral you need, what to bring, how long it takes and what it costs.
Read the guide →Ask Dr Cooper videos
Short, plain-English video answers to the questions patients actually ask.
Browse the library →FAQs
Referrals, costs, driving, flying, timelines and more, answered directly.
Read the FAQs →Before surgery
Preparing for surgery
Good preparation is quiet insurance: it lowers risk and speeds recovery. If we book an operation, you will get a personal checklist; the essentials are below.
Your body
- Keep moving: the fitter the joint goes in, the faster it comes back.
- Tell me about every medication, including blood thinners and supplements.
- Dental work, skin problems and infections must be sorted before joint replacement.
- Smoking and vaping slow healing; even a temporary stop helps. Support is available.
Your home + calendar
- Arrange your lift home and some help for the first week.
- Clear trip hazards, set up a chair with arms, stock the freezer.
- Plan time off work realistically; the guides give honest ranges.
- Book the physio for the first post-operative week before surgery day.
- Preparing for surgery: the complete checklistPDF coming
After surgery
Recovery + rehabilitation protocols
Recovery timelines live inside each procedure guide, and the rehabilitation protocols below are shared freely with you and your physiotherapist. The library grows as protocols are finalised.
- Hip replacement rehabilitation protocolPDF coming
- Knee replacement rehabilitation protocolPDF coming
- ACL reconstruction rehabilitation protocol (phases 1 to 5)PDF coming
- Return-to-sport testing criteriaPDF coming
When to call the rooms after surgery: increasing pain not settling with your plan, a hot or discharging wound, fevers, calf pain or swelling, or breathlessness. For chest pain or severe breathlessness call 000. Otherwise, if you are unsure, call us; that is what we are here for.
Can't find your answer?
Call the rooms or send an appointment request and the team will point you in the right direction.