Getting Your House Ready for Total Joint Replacement Recovery

As you get ready for the big day, per­haps you’re feel­ing a lit­tle ner­vous. Maybe you’re hope­ful about the pos­i­tive changes it will bring to your life. You imag­ine a future where you’re not in pain any­more, where you can move eas­i­ly and do the activ­i­ties you love. 

You’ve got it cir­cled on your cal­en­dar and you’re count­ing down the days. It’s almost here: the day of your joint replace­ment surgery.

Source: Amer­i­can Acad­e­my of Orthopaedic Surgeons

As your total or par­tial joint replace­ment surgery is approach­ing, there are some impor­tant steps you need to take to help you recov­er — espe­cial­ly when it comes to home safety.

This help­ful check­list walks you through each room in your home to be sure it’s prepped for your joint replace­ment recovery.

Through­out Entry­ways,​Stairs, and Hallways

Install stur­dy hand rail­ings: The first place to think about is the entrance to your home. Do you have to walk up any steps to get there? Be sure that you have secure hand rail­ings on both sides of any steps out­side for stairs inside of your home. These rail­ings will pro­vide the addi­tion­al sup­port you’ll need dur­ing your recov­ery period.

Cre­ate clear path­ways: Talk to your doc­tor about any assis­tive devices you may need to use to get around dur­ing your joint replace­ment recov­ery, like a cane or a walk­er. While clear space in your hall­ways and rooms allows for easy move­ment, you’ll want to keep in mind the addi­tion­al space a device might take up. Remove any clut­ter or shift any fur­ni­ture that may get in your way or keep you from mov­ing around freely.

Remove trip­ping haz­ards: Check out your floors for pos­si­ble trip­ping haz­ards. Some items that you don’t think much about, like a throw rug, pet toys, or cords and cables, might be a much big­ger dan­ger when you’re less steady on your feet. Move any of these items out of the main path­ways in your home.

If you are expe­ri­enc­ing joint pain, have ques­tions, or are ready to sched­ule your total or par­tial joint replace­ment surgery, call 630−790−1872 to speak with a mem­ber of our Orthopaedics team today.

In the Bathroom

Pre­vent slip­ping haz­ards: Pay spe­cial atten­tion to your bath­room before your joint replace­ment surgery. Take extra pre­cau­tions in the bath­room, as wet floors, tow­els, and rugs can pose a slip­ping haz­ard. Con­sid­er plac­ing non-slip strips or a rub­ber mat inside the bath or show­er to enhance traction.

Make show­er items easy to access: Move the items in the show­er so that they are eas­i­ly with­in reach, because you may have less range of motion than usu­al. You may also want to think about oth­er ways to make tak­ing a show­er eas­i­er, like using a hand­held show­er head or sit­ting in a show­er chair.

In the Bedroom

Move your sleep space to the first floor: Mov­ing up and down stairs can be tricky after joint replace­ment surgery — and this can make it espe­cial­ly annoy­ing (and even painful) if your bed­room is on the sec­ond floor of your home. Before your surgery, set up a sleep­ing space for your­self on the first floor of your home that is eas­i­er to access dur­ing your first month or so. This might be a pull-out couch, reclin­ing chair, or a tem­po­rary mat­tress downstairs.

In the Kitchen

Rearrange for con­ve­nience: After your joint replace­ment surgery, you may not be able to reach the bowl on the high­est shelf — or the pan on the shelf below the stove. Before your surgery, spend some time in your kitchen to move your most often used items to waist height, like on the counter or table. 

Pre­pare meals in advance: Make eat­ing after your surgery eas­i­er by meal prep­ping ahead of time. You can make a large batch of overnight oats for break­fast or a big, healthy one-pot meal for din­ner — both of which you can indi­vid­u­al­ly por­tion out and freeze. This will ensure that you have healthy options ready when you’re hungry.

In the Liv­ing Room

Choose the best fur­ni­ture and seat­ing: After joint replace­ment surgery, you’ll want to sit in a tall, firm chair that has arms to help you when get­ting in and out of it. This doesn’t mean you have to buy some­thing new. If your exist­ing chairs are low or hard, you can put a cush­ion, pil­low, or fold­ed blan­ket on the seat to make it more com­fort­able and eas­i­er to get out of.

Put fre­quent­ly used items in reach: Set up your liv­ing room and recov­ery space to make your life eas­i­er, not hard­er. Move fre­quent­ly used items, such as your med­ica­tions, phone, lap­top, or remote con­trol, some­where you can eas­i­ly reach them. A small side table next to the chair you might be sit­ting in is a great option.

Joint Replace­ment Recov­ery With Duly Health and Care

The Duly Health and Care team is here to sup­port you every step of the way through­out your joint replace­ment process — includ­ing your recovery. 

From the moment you walk through our doors, our expert team is here to guide you through the sched­ul­ing process, pro­vide you with edu­ca­tion about your upcom­ing pro­ce­dure, and answer your questions. 

Dur­ing your recov­ery, our phys­i­cal ther­a­pists, nurs­es, and sur­geons will be by your side, guid­ing you through exer­cis­es and ther­a­pies tai­lored to your needs. Our team will be there for you from begin­ning to end, ensur­ing that your jour­ney toward a health­i­er, pain-free life is com­fort­able and safe.