It's Hip To Be Safe And Healthy: In Home Senior Care Following Joint Replacement Surgery

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Approximately 330,000 hip replacement surgeries are performed annually in the United States and while each patient heals on their own terms, recovery can be onerous, especially if you're a senior. Fortunately, though, home health care can help in the process of, literally, getting back on your feet, while avoiding some of the more common hazards and pitfalls of recuperating after surgery.

Talk To A Home Health Care Provider About Your Needs And Eligibility

Before you schedule any type of major surgery, make sure you'll be able to get the after-care help you need in your home. A home health care provider can assist you in determining your eligibility, based on your type of insurance, the procedure you're having and other important factors. Following hip replacement surgery, you may need a little help around the house and elsewhere, to make sure you heal properly and with as low a risk as possible:

  • Getting meals ready
  • Changing bandages, applying ointment and other surgery-related duties
  • Driving to physical therapy and/or other crucial places
  • Bathing (when your sutures are ready) and different personal tasks
  • Tidying up around the home

In home senior care services will also keep you company, which is an important part of your recovery. Particularly for the first few days (after the surgery), you may be unsteady on your feet, or, at the very least, nervous about being alone and navigating your normal activities. 

Accept Help From Family, Friends And Neighbors

If you're lucky enough to have friends, family members and/or neighbors offering to lend you a hand, gladly accept the offers. A homemade meal personally delivered, getting your mail or walking your dog could all be very helpful to you, along with keeping you safer during your recovery. Even if you prefer to rough it on your own or work strictly with a home care service, let the people who care about you call often just to make sure you're fairing well.

Do What Your Doctor Tells You, To Heal Quickly And With Fewer Complications

For a lot of people, recovering from joint replacement surgery doesn't take long, nor is it too complicated; however, it's important to follow all of your doctor's orders. You should probably avoid walking up and downs stairs and your favorite recliner, to keep the specific joint from being strained, and ensure you have nothing hazardous underfoot, such as a hyper cat or dog or throw rugs that bunch up dangerously.

Don't neglect physical therapy, either, no matter if you're asked to do tedious and perhaps uncomfortable exercises at home on your own. Everything you're told to do is for your own good and will get you on the road to normalcy quicker.

Make Your Home A Safe Place To Be

As you get older, you're simply not as nimble and agile as you once were, and as such, should make changes around the house, to keep you safer and make life more convenient. Add sensor lights to dark places, handrails if necessary and ramps to make ascending heights, even small ones, less hazardous. Depending on your age and condition, these modifications can be made gradually or may take on a more urgent tone, but either way, because you want to remain at home and be safe, they should be considered priorities.

When you face any type of surgery, injury or other health scare, you want people you can depend on to get you through. Get to know the caring people at your local in home senior care service, most especially if you're a senior, so you know you'll always be looked after and have the help you need.

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31 August 2019

home care aids for more than just the elderly

In the past, when I thought about home health care, I pictured an elderly man or woman stuck in bed just waiting to take his or her final breath. What I have recently learned is that there are people of all ages that can benefit from home health care specialists. When my niece was diagnosed with a rare liver disorder, our family rallied and did everything possible to make the new way of life as easy for my sister as possible. We spent hours over at her house helping with the baby, but then, my sister said she didn't need us as much --She had hired a home care aid. I hope this helps you in the future.