Hip resurfacing arthroplasty (RS) is said to be an operation that is suitable for the younger osteoarthritic population, allowing them to rehabilitate more rapidly. We wished to establish whether this was true and compared 35 consecutive RS (33 patients) with 41 consecutive total hip replacements (THR) (40 patients) and looked specifically at post-operative pain, speed of rehabilitation and length of hospital stay. A rehabilitation score was used. RS patients were significantly younger than THR patients (mean 53.0 years for RS, 64.7 years for THR; p< 0.0001). However, no significant difference was found in the mean rehabilitation score at any stage after surgery or in the speed of rehabilitation between the two groups. The mean pain score for group RS was 1.98 and 2.18 for group THR. The mean length of hospital stay was 5.18 days for resurfacing arthroplasties and 5.45 days for total hip replacements. Neither of these differences was significant. The male-female ratio in the two groups was significantly different. However, when the subgroups of the same gender were compared, the results were essentially the same: no statistical difference was found for the post-operative pain, speed of rehabilitation or length of hospital stay. We conclude that resurfacing arthroplasty has no evidence of an advantage over total hip replacement in the speed of post-operative rehabilitation.