The short version: Set the home up before hip or knee surgery, because afterward you cannot bend, lift, or reach normally. Remove throw rugs and clear paths for a walker. Add a raised toilet seat, grab bars, and a shower chair. Put a firm, high chair and a recovery center on one floor. Get a reach kit, learn your surgeon’s hip precautions, and line up help and meals in advance.

Prepare before you go in, not after

The single most useful thing to understand about joint replacement recovery is the timing. The work of setting up your home has to happen in the weeks before surgery, because for weeks afterward you will not be able to bend deeply, lift much, or reach the floor.1

Get your equipment list at the pre-op appointment, and have everything in place before the surgery date. Walking into a prepared home on the day you return is the difference between a smooth recovery and a stressful, risky scramble.

The rest of this guide is that preparation, room by room, plus the precautions that shape all of it.

Clear the paths and trip hazards

You will come home on a walker or crutches, so the floor is your first project. A fall in the first weeks can undo the surgery.

  • Remove throw rugs and area rugs. They are the top trip hazard, and a walker catches them easily.1
  • Secure loose cords along walls and baseboards, out of walking paths.
  • Clear wide, level routes between the bed, bathroom, and your recovery chair, with room for a walker to turn.
  • Add night lights on the path to the bathroom for the trips you will make at night.

Set up the bathroom

The bathroom is where the hip precautions bite hardest, because a standard toilet and tub demand exactly the deep bending you must avoid.

  • A raised toilet seat or comfort-height toilet, so you do not bend the hip past a safe angle to sit and rise. See our guides to comfort-height toilets and raised toilet seats.
  • Grab bars by the toilet and in the shower, anchored into the studs. Our grab bar placement guide shows where.
  • A shower chair and a handheld shower, so you can wash seated without stepping over a high tub wall or standing on a wet floor. See the best shower chairs.
  • A non-slip mat inside and outside the tub or shower.

Build a recovery center on one floor

Plan to live on one level for the first weeks. Stairs are tiring and risky early on.

Set up a firm chair with armrests and a higher-than-average seat, which is far easier to rise from than a low, soft couch.1 Around it, build a recovery center: phone, water, medicines, tissues, remotes, and a charger all within arm’s reach, so you never stretch or get up unnecessarily.

If your bedroom is upstairs: set up a temporary bed on the main floor near a bathroom before surgery. If you must use the stairs, your therapist will teach the safe method, usually leading with the stronger leg going up and the weaker leg coming down, and you will need a firm handrail. Plan this ahead, not on the day you get home.

The reach kit and the precautions

This is the safety heart of the recovery. After hip surgery in particular, your surgeon will give you movement precautions to protect the new joint while it heals.

For a common surgical approach, the main rules are: do not bend the hip more than 90 degrees, do not cross your legs, and do not twist the operated leg.2 These are usually followed for at least the first 6 weeks.2

Follow your own surgeon’s precautions. The exact rules depend on the surgical approach used, and some approaches have different or fewer restrictions. The list above is common but not universal, so do what your surgeon and therapist tell you, and use this guide to set the home up to make those rules easy to keep.

To follow the no-deep-bending rule, assemble a reach kit before surgery:

  • A grabber or reacher for anything on the floor or a high shelf.
  • A long-handled shoehorn and a long-handled sponge for dressing and washing without bending.
  • A sock aid for hip surgery, so you can put on socks without reaching your feet.1

Many of these are the same tools that help with arthritis; see our kitchen and home tools for arthritis guide.

Equipment, and what Medicare covers

Most people go home with a walker, and often add a bedside commode, a raised toilet seat, a shower chair, and grab bars.

Here is the coverage split, which surprises families. Medicare Part B covers prescribed durable medical equipment such as a walker, crutches, and a bedside commode, when your doctor orders them and you use a Medicare-enrolled supplier.3 It generally does not cover a raised toilet seat, a shower chair, or a reacher, which you buy yourself, though these are inexpensive.

Do this at your pre-op visit: ask for the prescription for the Medicare-covered items, so a walker and commode are arranged before you come home. Buy the smaller items yourself ahead of time. A Medicare Advantage plan may include an over-the-counter benefit that helps with those, so check your plan.

Line up help, food, and a ride

The last piece is people and logistics, and it is the one most often left too late.

  • Arrange help for at least the first several days, ideally someone staying over or checking in daily.
  • Prepare and freeze meals ahead, since standing to cook is hard early on.
  • Plan for no driving for a few weeks, so line up rides to follow-up and therapy.
  • Expect home physical therapy visits as part of the plan, and keep the space clear for them.

This mirrors the wider hospital-to-home discharge checklist, applied to a planned surgery you can prepare for calmly in advance.

Key takeaways

  • Prepare before surgery. You cannot bend, lift, or reach normally afterward, so set the home up first.
  • Clear the floor and the bathroom. Remove rugs, and add a raised toilet seat, grab bars, and a shower chair.
  • One-floor recovery center with a firm high chair and everything in reach, plus a reach kit for the no-bending rule.
  • Know the coverage. Medicare covers a walker and commode with a prescription, but usually not the raised seat or shower chair.

What’s next

Reviewed by John Smith, CAPS, Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist. This guide is general information, not medical advice. Follow the specific precautions and equipment list your surgeon and physical therapist give you.

  1. Preparing for Joint Replacement Surgery. OrthoInfo, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, retrieved September 11, 2026. .
  1. Activities After Total Hip Replacement. OrthoInfo, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, retrieved September 11, 2026. .
  1. Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Coverage. Medicare.gov, U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, retrieved September 11, 2026. .
  1. Joint Replacement Surgery. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, U.S. National Institutes of Health, retrieved September 11, 2026. .