Preparing Your Home for Your Return After Knee Replacement

If you are planning to have a knee replacement, you’ll want to prepare your home before you go in for surgery so it will be comfortable and safe when you get home from the hospital. A little time spent now will make your return home much easier.

Removing the Barriers

Making a home "recovery friendly" is easy. A good rule of thumb is to think safety first, and then comfort. Remove throw or area rugs that may cause you to slip or that could get caught on the tip of a cane, crutch or walker. Also, phone and electric cords should be securely fastened around the outside walls of the room.

Other suggestions for home preparation include:

• Rearrange furniture to clear traffic paths in the house.
• Secure floor mats with non-skid backing. Use non-skid mats or adhesive strips in the bathtub.
• Repair loose carpeting. Mark changes in floor levels in some obvious way (bright, non-skid tape).
• Check stairways. Are there handrails? Are the rails secure?
  
• Add a couple of nightlights, at least in your bedroom.
• Eliminate clutter. Clear countertops and organize items you use daily within arm's reach to reduce the need to reach up or bend down. Install slide-out shelving, adjustable rods, baskets and other closet organizers.
• Convert a first-floor room into a temporary bedroom.

Give the bathrooms a close look. Whether you have joint replacement of the hip, knee, ankle, shoulder or elbow, you will, for a time, have limited flexibility or mobility.

• Installing grab bars in the shower or by the tub, in addition to the toilet for safety and support
• An elevated toilet seat
  
• Adding a bath/shower seat or transfer bench
• Replacing fixed shower heads with hand-held shower heads

Getting Comfortable

Set up a recovery center. Choose a space where you will spend most of your time during the day – a favorite easy chair, or perhaps the sofa. If necessary, move an end table or TV tray table next to the chair or sofa. Gather items that you might like to have within reach: a phone, TV/VCR/DVD/stereo remote controls, a box of tissues, a wastebasket, and reading material. When you begin home recovery, add such things as reading glasses and/or a contact lens case, medications, instructions from the doctor, and an address book or list of often-called phone numbers. Set up other recovery centers in the bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and any other room where you spend time.

Shop before surgery for those things that will make your life easier. Some examples may include:

• A long-handled sponge
• A grabbing or reaching tool
• A footstool
• A big-pocket shirt or a soft shoulder bag for carrying things

The Arthritis Foundation (www.arthritis.org) also provides a helpful list of assistive devices and suppliers.

Completing these home safety tasks before your surgery will help safeguard you from accidents and hazards. In addition, your different recovery centers will make you more comfortable as your body recovers from surgery.

Last Updated: 12/18/2006