Are you planning on having a hip or a knee replaced? Be ready to have your surgery as an outpatient procedure and go home the same day. In the next 5 years, this will be the common way it is done. Some surgeons are requiring you to take some training prior to surgery. The training includes what equipment you need at home, how to manage getting home, and recovery at home after surgery. This is a new way of getting you out of the hospital faster. Also, as surgery procedures improve, usually recovery time is shorter too.
Are you one of the many people about to have one of these surgeries and you have not been asked to take some sort of training on what to expect or how to manage things at home? First, ask your surgeon or the surgeon’s nurse what kind of equipment you should have at home before you have your procedure. Sometimes you can borrow or purchase what you will need. Sometimes your medical insurance will cover part or all of the cost. It is far easier to have everything you might need ahead of time rather than need it and not have it available.
You may need to rearrange narrow, tight spaces in your home to allow for the possibility of needing to use a walker, cane, or having someone help you. The first couple of days at home after a hip surgery or knee surgery are usually the toughest of all. You will want to have someone available to help you especially for the first few days and maybe even for a week or two depending on your condition after the procedure. You may have to get on an airplane to fly home after a surgery so be prepared depending on where you live. Be as prepared as possible for whatever you may encounter.
The common practice of having Physical Therapy from a Home Health Agency come to your house for the first 4 weeks you are home is also changing. It is becoming more common to be expected to go to a Physical Therapy Clinic without home services first. In some cases, you may receive 2 weeks of home based therapy and then will be expected to get to an out patient facility. There are many advantages of having a Physical Therapist work with you in your home. You might find it is too difficult to get out of the house and into a vehicle. You may be able to get to Physical Therapy, but then be too exhausted to do anything once you are there. There are a lot of advantages to having Physical Therapy work with you in your home and in the environment you have to manage every day. They can assess what you may need to rearrange or what other medical equipment may make your recovery more manageable. Home based Physical Therapy can also help you figure out how to get in and out of your own bed, favorite chair, or shower stall safely and with the least amount of pain.
If you are going to have a knee replacement or a hip replacement surgery, you will need to find out what is expected of you prior to and following the surgery procedure. The better prepared you are, the better your experience will be.
