Objective To investigate and explore the clinical effect of preoperative exercise intervention on total hip arthroplasty. Methods Seventy-three patients who underwent primary unilateral total hip replacement (THR) in the Orthopedics Department, the Second Hospital of Jilin University between March 2017 and January 2018 were divided into 2 groups: treatment group (n=37) and control group (n=36). Patients in treatment group received exercise intervention and routine education since 4 weeks before surgery; the control group just received routine education before surgery and both groups underwent the same routine rehabilitation training. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was evaluated and compared separately between the two groups at 4 weeks before surgery (T0), 1 day before surgery (T1), before discharge (T2), 1 month after discharge (T3), and 3 months after discharge (T4). The results of Hip Harris score and Time Up and Go test (TUG) were evaluated and compared separately between the two groups at T0, T1, T3 and T4. Results Time of TUG of the treatment group and the control group at T1, T3 and T4 were (14.59±3.15) vs. (16.31±3.31) s, (13.61±2.76)vs. (15.25±3.08) s, (12.49±2.37)vs. (14.22±2.65) s, respectively, and the differences between the two groups at T1, T3 and T4 were all statistically significant (P<0.05). In terms of VAS and Harris scores, both groups showed significant improvement after surgery at different time nodes (P<0.05), but the differences between the two groups was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Conclusion Preoperative exercise intervention can effectively improve the walking ability of THR patients and reduce the risk of falls after discharge, but it did not reduce postoperative pain or improve postoperative hip Harris score after discharge.