20 Tips for Home Setup and Recovery After Back Surgery

If you are planning to have back surgery, you may be able to help yourself recover better at home by planning ahead. After recently undergoing lumbar spine back surgery, I discovered that many things I do in daily life and at home are simply impossible during the initial recovery phase.

In this article, I hope to share some home setup tips to help you recover as quickly and painlessly as possible. This is not a comprehensive list, but some ideas to help you get your home environment setup for surgery recovery.

1. Remove all area rugs, mats, or loose flooring. These items are tripping hazards. If you will be using a walker, you may not be able to navigate these obstacles.

2. Set out clean, loose fitting clothing on top of your dresser or other furniture that you can easily reach without bending. Set out entire outfits for the first week including underwear, socks, sweatpants, and easy fitting shirts.

3. Set up your shower by purchasing a 2-headed shower where 1 of the shower heads is hand held and flexible for hard to reach places. Be sure you can reach shampoo, conditioner, soap, and shaving cream without the need to bend, twist, or lift your hands too high. Consider purchasing a dispensing unit that you can mount on the wall of your shower.

4. Purchase a toilet seat riser with handrails. This device will be especially useful during the first few days and weeks as you may be unable to lower yourself to the standard toilet seat. This item may qualify for reimbursement through your insurance company.

5. Rent, borrow, or buy a small walker to help you get around the first few days. This item may also qualify for reimbursement through your insurance company.

6. If you have children, you will have a constant challenge with toys on the floor. These toys are serious tripping hazards. Work with your children well before the surgery so they expect to put toys away as soon as they are finished. Make a fun game out of toy roundup so that it becomes routine.

7. Put a fitted satin sheet on your bed. The satin is a bit slippery which will enable you to get in and out of bed. You can use the flat sheet as well, but it is not as important as the fitted sheet. I picked up an inexpensive set at Ross for under $20. You can find some satin sheet sets online at Overstock for under $30.

8. Do all laundry and housekeeping tasks before the surgery.

9. Pay bills due for the next few weeks the day before your surgery. In many cases, you can schedule future online payments with most companies.

10. Fill your prescriptions at the hospital before you go home to recover. You'll have the pain medication ready and will not have to wait on someone to go fill the prescriptions.

11. Cook meals ahead of time and freeze them. Be sure you can easily reach the items in the freezer, and can easily reach a microwave to heat them up.

12. Buy smaller containers of milk. Gallon sizes may be too heavy.

13. Take up offers from people who want to bring you food. However, you do not want to receive 5 casseroles on your first day home from recovery. Ask people to coordinate the meals several days apart.

14. Create a medication chart on a piece of paper. Keep it on the counter with a pen. Mark down the dates, times, and quantity of each medication as you take it.

15. Stock a small container or basket with comfort items that you can easily reach while healing at home. Comfort items may include lip balm, tissue, water bottle with straw, saltine crackers to take with medication, phone, phone numbers, small notebook, pen, reading material.

16. Consider using paper plates and plastic utensils if you do not have someone who can help you with dish washing. You may only need to go the disposable route for the first few weeks, but you definitely should not be loading or unloading a dishwasher.

17. Rearrange your furniture so that you have enough room to maneuver a walker.

18. Go to the library before your surgery to check out books and movies. If your DVD player is not easily reachable without bending, consider moving it temporarily so you do not have to bend to insert a movie.

19. Purchase a reaching tool, such as the Gopher. This tool is handy to pickup small items that you drop on the floor.

20. Have someone stay with you during the first week after surgery, if possible. The first week is the most difficult, and having another person to basic tasks for you will help tremendously.