Dealing with knee pain can significantly decrease a person’s quality of life. When you can only walk for a limited distance before needing to sit down a take a break, it can make you feel like all you want to do is stay home and lay on the couch. At a certain point, you may be thinking about knee replacement surgery. It’s a common procedure that usually has positive outcomes, so it’s well worth pursuing for most people. However, it’s important to know you’ll need to relax as much as possible for several weeks following the surgery, so get your temporary wheelchair ramp and other accessibility solutions taken care of now. Here’s a quick guide on how to help you have a successful knee replacement recovery.
Prepare Your Home Before The Surgery
The first few weeks following your surgery may be difficult, so prepare your home accordingly to make moving around easier. This can include installing a temporary wheelchair ramp so you don’t have to use stairs to get in your home. Many people also say grab bars are essential to help with balance and stability. And if you don’t believe you’ll be able to stay inside all the time, consider looking into scooter rental so you can ride around the block to get some fresh air.
Move Slowly And Carefully For The First Few Weeks
Following your surgery, the goals for the first few weeks are to slowly increase your activity and movements, reduce your pain and avoid falling. Your doctor will give you some exercises to achieve the first two goals, but you may need some help with the third goal of avoiding falls at first. The placement of grab bars in common areas where you move around can be critical to help you out. And remember to ask a family member, friend or neighbor to help you out if you need it. The last thing you want to happen is to fall and experience a significant setback in your recovery efforts.
Build Strength And Maintain A Healthy Diet
After about six weeks you should be feeling a little stronger and have more stability when standing and walking. When you feel like you can increase the intensity of your exercises, your doctor will give you specific exercises for strength-building. This is a vital step in your recovery to feeling back to normal. Just be sure to not overexert yourself to the point where you suffer an injury and set back your recovery as a result. Combining strength exercises with a healthy diet can help you feel better quickly and safely.
Next Day Access is here to help patients have a smooth and successful recovery. One of our most popular products is grab bars since they provide a reliable aid for people with limited mobility following knee replacement surgery. We can also quickly install a temporary wheelchair ramp while you recover and remove it when you’re back to normal. If you’re getting prepared for knee replacement surgery, contact us today to schedule a consultation and see how we can help make your recovery experience as simple as possible.