Recovering In The Comfort Of Your Own Home

Make Recovering From Knee Surgery At Home Easier With A Home Care Service

You're going into the hospital for surgical repair of torn cartilage in your knee. After a day in the hospital, you'll go home to finish your recovery. You could try to have a friend or family member stop by to help you now and then. Another option is to work with a home care assistance service to have staff available at your home regularly for the first few days or weeks. Here are some of the advantages of working with a service while recovering from surgery at home.

1. Help is there when you need it.

Relying on friends and family means working around their busy schedules. For the first few days at home after the surgery, you'll feel most like resting, and that's when you need someone available most of the day. You can start by having the service provide staff to be at your home during the day and taper off as you feel like you can take on more responsibility at home.

2. Encouragement is always available.

A large portion of your recovery will be doing physical therapy and exercises to regain flexibility and strength in your knee. Some days you'll be tired or sore and not feel like doing your exercises. The home care staff will keep you motivated and nudge you to keep up with your exercise schedule. They know that your recovery depends on how well, and often, you exercise your knee.

3. You'll have someone at home to keep you in check.

As you begin feeling better, you'll be tempted to push yourself beyond your limits. Your doctor and physical therapist will set limits on your activity to keep you from overworking your knee. Should you push yourself too far, you risk re-injuring your knee, even to the point of requiring more surgery. The home care staff will help you stay within your limits and caution you should you get too aggressive with your knee.

4. You'll have better medication management.

Your knee will ache for several weeks after surgery. The doctor will send you home with prescriptions for pain medication. The proper way to take this medication is on a regular schedule, even when your pain is currently light. Waiting until the pain is intense to take a pill won't relieve the pain. The home care staff will help you stay on a regular medication schedule so you'll have the relief when you need it most, such as prior to a physical therapy session.