Whenever a caregiver is helping an elderly loved one through their daily living activities, it’s often the caregiver who first brings up a need for the next step to keep their loved one living their best life. The person suffering from something sometimes becomes so used to it that they don’t even think there is any option other than living with it, no matter how painful or restricting it is.
This is often true with knee pain, and occupational therapy can help.
Living with Knee Pain
While it’s always important to include your loved one’s doctors in the discussion, sometimes, as a caregiver, you have to do a little convincing to help your loved one understand why she should talk to her doctor about knee pain. Many elderly individuals simply deal with the pain and don’t seek help to eliminate it, when there are support options like occupational therapy.
Here are three common reasons why your loved one might be a little hesitant at first:
- Knee pain doesn’t seem serious enough. Your loved one might understand diseases like cancer need a doctor’s help, but may not think painful joints do.
- They’re afraid of having to have surgery. Surgery can seem scary and invasive, so many people live with the pain instead of having surgery.
- They don’t want to be a burden. Your loved one may understand she’ll be out of commission for a while and doesn’t want to burden anyone with taking care of her.
Six Indicators that Knee Surgery Could Improve Your Loved One’s Quality of Life
- Their pain doesn’t get relieved with everyday pain relievers. If your loved one is consistently in pain and not able to find the relief she needs, surgery could be a good option for her.
- Every day activities have become too difficult to do. Painful knees can make it difficult to do routine home chores, run errands, and even take the dog for its daily walk.
- The knee(s) are regularly swollen and have become difficult to bend, making using stairs, stepping off of curbs, and getting in and out of the shower difficult.
- Your elderly loved one cannot sleep at night because the pain and discomfort keep her awake. Not getting quality sleep can affect many other areas of her life as well.
- Your loved one seems depressed or anxious about their inability to attend certain functions or do certain activities.
- When asked, your loved one says her quality of life has been reduced because of her bad knee(s).
Planning for Surgery
Your loved one’s doctor will work with you and your loved one to prepare before and after the surgery. But as a caregiver, you should also plan on getting the help your loved one needs during recovery. A home care agency can help with chores around the home. Friends can help with meals. And family can help with pet care.
Another area that many recovering patients appreciate is being able to have their required occupational therapy done at home. When occupational therapy is performed in your loved one’s home, she doesn’t need to worry about transportation or being exposed to possible germs and contagions from other people. Home occupational therapy also lets the occupational therapist customize your loved one’s care based on their living environment.
There might be some preplanning involved and convincing of your loved one to consider knee surgery, but the relief she’ll have afterward will be worth it.
If you or someone you know needs Occupational Therapy in Hutchinson, MN, contact Adara Home Health. We provide quality and affordable home care services for many fragile or senior members in the communities we serve. Call us at (888) 525-7742 for more information.