Getting your home ready before hip surgery: a calm plan for the weeks before

The short answer: the calmest hip surgeries start a few weeks early. Go to the pre-op class, set up one main floor where you can do everything, get the equipment in before surgery day and give every job one name: who drives, who stays the first nights, who handles meals, the dog and the follow-up appointments. Then you get to focus on one thing: getting back on your feet.

A date for a new hip is good news. It usually means less pain and more of the things you love. It also means a few weeks when the stairs, the bathtub and the car feel different. A little planning now makes those weeks much easier, for you and for everyone who wants to pitch in.

A quick note before you read: we're not doctors, nurses or physiotherapists, and this isn't medical advice. We've pulled it together from hospital patient guides and from families we've talked to. Every surgeon and every hospital does things a little differently, so your own team's instructions always come first.

A few weeks out: get your questions answered

Most hospitals in Canada run a pre-op class or visit for hip and knee replacements. Go, and bring the person who'll be with you the first few days. It's the best hour you'll spend. Ask:

• How long will I be in the hospital? Some people now go home the same day, while others stay 2 to 5 days.
• What time of day do people usually go home, so I can line up the ride?
• Which hip precautions will I have, and for how long? These depend on how the surgery is done.
• Which equipment do I need before I come home, and where do people usually get it?
• Who arranges physio after I leave, where is it and is there a fee?
• When is my first follow-up, and who removes the staples or stitches?
• When can I drive again?

Write the answers down, with the name of the person who gave them. Your family will ask you the same questions later.

Line up someone for the first nights

This is the big one. Hospitals generally don't want you home alone right after a hip replacement. One BC health authority's discharge sheet asks for a responsible adult to stay with you for the first 3 nights, and an Ontario hospital's guide says plainly that you shouldn't be home alone right after surgery.

If you live alone, you have options. You can stay with family or a friend, ideally whoever has the fewest stairs. Some communities also offer short paid respite stays that you book before surgery. Publicly funded visits at home are usually short and focused on therapy, so plan on family and friends for the everyday jobs.

Set up your main floor

For the first few weeks, think of your home as one floor: a bed, a bathroom, a comfortable chair and the kitchen. Then:

• Bring the bed down if the bedroom is up a flight of stairs. A few weeks on the main floor beats stairs twice a day.
• Pick your chair. A firm chair with arms, high enough that your knees sit a little lower than your hips. Deep, soft couches are hard to get out of.
• Clear a walker path. Take up scatter rugs, tuck away cords and make the route from bed to bathroom wide and clear.
• Move everyday things to counter height. Mugs, plates, your phone charger, the TV remote and your medications. Nothing on the floor, nothing above your head.
• Add light. Night lights from the bed to the bathroom help on the first few nights.
• Check the stairs. A sturdy handrail on at least one side, and no clutter on the steps.

Get the equipment in early

Your team will give you their own list. These are the items that show up on most hip lists:

• A walker (some hospitals ask for one without wheels), then a cane or crutches
• A raised toilet seat, ideally with arms
• A long-handled reacher, a sock aid, a long-handled shoehorn and a long-handled sponge
• A tub transfer bench and a hand-held shower, if you shower in a tub
• Grab bars installed into the wall studs. Never use a towel rack as a grab bar.
• Slip-on shoes with a closed back, and elastic laces

Practice with everything before surgery day. Ten minutes trying the sock aid now saves a frustrating morning later.

Who pays catches a lot of people off guard. Ontario's Assistive Devices Program doesn't cover raised toilet seats, bath seats or grab bars, and it only helps with walkers when the need lasts six months or more. Medical supply stores rent and sell all of it, and friends who've had a joint replaced often have a reacher and a raised seat in the basement. It's worth asking around before you buy.

Give every job one name

Most people say yes when you ask for something specific. "Can you drive me to my 2-week follow-up on the 14th?" gets a much faster yes than "let me know if you can help." Make a list and put one name beside each job:

• The rides: to the hospital, home again, to physio and to the follow-up. Many teams say no driving for at least 2 to 6 weeks, so plan for every appointment in that window.
• The first nights: who stays, and who's the backup.
• Meals: fill the freezer the week before, and let one person organize drop-offs for week two.
• Groceries and the pharmacy: a standing order or one person on a weekly run.
• The dog, the mail and the plants: for the days you're in the hospital and the weeks you can't bend down easily.
• Snow, lawn and the bins: anything that means bending, twisting or carrying.
• Laundry: especially if the machine is in the basement.
• Updates: one person who tells everyone else how it went, so you're not answering twenty texts from a recovery bed.

Keep the list where everyone can see it, and keep the say over it yourself. It's your recovery, so you decide who does what.

The week before

• Fill prescriptions and stock up on easy snacks and frozen meals.
• Do the laundry, change the sheets and tidy the main floor.
• Pack the hospital bag: loose, comfortable clothes, slip-on shoes with backs, your medication list, your list of questions, glasses, a phone charger with a long cord and the walker if the hospital asked you to bring it.
• Put the plan for the first two weeks in one place: who's coming when, the physio times and the follow-up date.
• Plan the car ride home. A car you can sit in without folding low is easiest, with the seat pushed back.

Turn this into your plan

Our Getting ready for surgery plan has an example timeline you can start from, and The first two weeks after a hip replacement picks up from the ride home. If a hospital stay is part of it, how discharge works in Ontario explains who you'll meet and what to ask.

In Hello Pearl, your list becomes a private Circle built around you: one calendar for rides and visits, and jobs your people have said yes to. You lead it, and it's free for you, always. Start your plan free.

Planning for Mom or Dad instead? Turn this into Mom's plan with our free 5-minute checklist, or ask a navigator a quick question.

We're not medical experts. This is general information to help you prepare, not advice for your situation. Hip precautions, equipment lists and timelines vary by surgeon and hospital, so always follow your own team's instructions. Last checked October 2026.

Sources

• Middlesex Hospital Alliance (Ontario): Total hip replacement patient guide
• Interior Health (BC): Hip and knee discharge information
• Hamilton Health Sciences: Hip replacement surgery and home in one day
• Ontario: Assistive Devices Program