49 patients scheduled for total hip arthroplasty were randomized to have the procedure performed through either a direct anterior or posterior approach. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the direct anterior approach (DAA) provided benefits over the posterior approach (PA) when considering short-term (6-week) rehabilitation outcomes, including: time to discontinuation of walking aids, patient-reported outcome measures, instrumented performance tests, and hospital stay. Results demonstrated shorter use of walking aids and shorter length of hospital stay in the DAA group. However, there were no differences between groups in instrumented or patient-reported outcome after 6 weeks, with the exception of pain relief, which favoured DAA.