How to Fall-Proof Your Home After Hip Surgery

Are you preparing for hip surgery?  Are you wondering what your recovery options are? Recovering at home tends to be the choice of many surgery patients, setting up the home before heading to the hospital for surgery is important and will make the road to recovery run more smoothly and easier. Has the thought of possible falls crossed your mind? Make sure to take the time before the surgery to make life easy and reduce the risk of falls and injuries. Getting everything together that you need or use on a regular basis and putting it within an arm’s reach and is raised off the ground will reduce the risk of falls.  

Fall-Proof Tips for Your Home

If your house has stairs, try limiting the use of stairs to once a day. Having and using railings is recommended and having a family member or friend assist you is something to think about.

Is your bed raised up and do you have space between your feet and the floor? Try setting up a bed that is low and close enough to the floor to make sure that your feet touch the floor when you sit on the edge of the bed.

Having bars for stability in the showers and bathrooms is important, so is adding slip-resistant mats to the shower. Try to keep soap and shampoo as close to waist level or higher if possible, install shower shelves to reduce the chance of reaching down for items and falling. Here are 10 other safety tips for the bathroom.

Items That Help Keep Your Home Safe After Hip Surgery

Having access to a phone is important, keep cell phones in easy to reach places or pockets. Using chairs with firm backs is a helpful tool in areas you use a lot, like in the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and other rooms. Sitting while performing the daily tasks of living will help reduce the chance of falling and injuries after surgeries. Something to think about if a walker will be used is attaching a small basket or sturdy bag to the walker. Necessary items like phones, notepad, and pens or maybe a tablet can be placed in the basket.

Other items that may help:

To avoid extra bending or extra reaching shoehorns to put on shoes will be helpful, use one with a long handle

For extra support and balance, use a walker, cane, or crutches

A reacher, or other tools used for grabbing objects will be helpful for putting on or taking off socks, picking up objects from the floor, and putting on your pants.

For help with putting on your socks, use a sock aid.  

Handle bars designed for support, not towel racks, in the bathroom will be useful in allowing you to be balanced and steady.  

Clear the Your Floors of Clutter

Removing tripping hazards is an important task to take care of before the surgery. Remove loose rugs, keep all loose cords and wires out all your walking paths to make it easier to go from one room to another.  

Good lighting to avoid tripping over objects or walking into things is important, so is having night lights in rooms and hallways at night.  If there is any uneven flooring in doorways, fixing it is important.

Do you have small pets? Some small pets like to walk under the feet and can be easy to trip over. Something to consider is to have pets stay with a friend or family member while you recovery.

Here are some other useful fall prevention tips!

Keep Your Hands Free

Free hands are important to balance and you might need to grab something in the event you trip or lose your balance. Try to keep the hands free by not carrying anything when you’re up and moving around. Practicing the use of a walker, cane, crutches or wheelchair is a good step to take ahead of time as well.

The last but still important step to a safe recovery is to have a support system and friend or family member stay with you if you live alone. Relying on your family and friends will make life after a hip replacement a lot easier.

You can also consider home care services, where a caregiver can provide post-hospital care in the comfort of your own home. Having someone help you around the house with mobility or decluttering can have an optimal effect on your recovery process.

Do you know a loved one that might need some post-hospital assistance at home?

Nurse Next Door home care services can help.

Call us toll-free at +1(877) 588-8609, we’re available 24/7.

Blog contributor: Dr. Nakul V Karkare is a Hip Replacement Surgeon based in New York City specialized in limb reconstruction and joint replacement surgery.