Most people need about six things ready by surgery day: a walker, a reacher, a raised toilet seat, something to sit on in the shower, ice, and a pillow to keep your leg up. Here’s exactly which ones to get, plus what depends on your home and what you can skip.
Everybody having a knee replaced needs these six things in the house before surgery day.
~$27.69
For your first steady steps — no lifting needed, unlike a pickup walker.
Medicare can cover this — ask about a prescription firstMost people borrow one — it only takes 2 minutes to check it against the recall list first. See the 2-minute check →
Buying new instead? See it on Amazon →
~$39.99
Your knee won't bend enough to reach your feet for a while — this one kit covers socks, shoes, and dressing.
See it on Amazon →
~$39.99
Sitting down and standing up from a low toilet is one of the hardest early moves on a healing knee.
See it on Amazon →Check your bowl shape first — 30 seconds with a tape measure →
~$39.98
Standing on wet feet with an unsteady leg is the fall risk in the first weeks home.
See it on Amazon →Have a tub you’d step over instead? Get the transfer bench instead →
~$38.69
Icing the knee is the most consistently mentioned recovery habit. Buy two so one's always in the freezer.
See it on Amazon →Wondering about the $200 cold-therapy machine? Usually you don’t need it →
~$31.49
Pillow under your calf, not your knee — raising the leg above your heart helps with swelling.
See it on Amazon →Why the calf and not the knee? See the cited instruction →
These four depend on your bathroom, your stairs, and your bed — not everybody needs all four.
~$51.61
Have a tub with a wall to step over? Sit down outside it, then slide across instead of lifting your leg over.
See it on Amazon →
~$34.30
If a raised seat won't fit your toilet, this straddles it instead — push-up support with no elevation.
See it on Amazon →
~$30.59
Bathroom far away or up a flight of stairs? This shortens the trip when your knee isn't steady yet.
Medicare can cover this — ask about a prescription first See it on Amazon →
~$21.99
A cheap extra layer of grip under your shower chair or bench, on top of whatever's already there.
See it on Amazon →People swear by these, but nobody needs all four — pick what sounds useful.
~$124.99
Holds a steadier cold than gel packs, at a real cost premium. Most people say the gel packs above are enough.
See it on Amazon →Want the full honest comparison? Gel packs vs. machine →
~$29.99
Both hands are on the walker — a clip-on tray is where a drink or your phone actually rides.
See it on Amazon →
~$9.99
Turns any lace-up shoe into a slip-on, so you're not bending down to tie laces.
See it on Amazon →
~$29.95
One upstairs, one down, so you're never carrying a grabber between floors on a bad leg.
See it on Amazon →The honesty section — what to borrow, and what not to buy at all.
Eight follow-up pages cover the questions that come up most — sequencing, coverage detail, and the borrow-vs-buy calls worth thinking through further.
Every fee, every claim count, the prescription gate, and the 5-year rule — no affiliate links on this page.
Shower chairs, raised seats, and grab bars — fitment pointers for the zero-Medicare-claims bath cluster.
How the three sequence week by week, and what Medicare pays for each.
The break-even math for the three items people are most likely to overspend on.
The rent-vs-buy math on cold-therapy units versus a bag of gel packs.
Leg positioning, elevation, and the cited pillow-placement instruction.
Where the hospital/SNF hand-off leaves a gap once you’re home.
What’s fine to borrow, what to check first, and what to never borrow unchecked.
The complete before-surgery / week-1 / weeks-2–6 timeline, with every item's coverage flag. This is what prints when you use the button up top.
You'll need steady support for your first steps, and a wheeled walker doesn't require lifting like a standard pickup walker does.
Sitting down to and standing up from a low toilet is one of the harder early motions on a healing knee.
Standing on wet feet with an unsteady leg is a fall risk in the first weeks home.
If your only bathing option is a tub with a wall to step over, a bench that spans in and out of the tub is safer than stepping over the wall.
A fixed handhold to push off from lowers fall risk at the two spots most transfers happen.
Keeping the leg elevated while resting helps with the swelling that follows this surgery.
If your usual bedroom is up a flight of stairs you can't manage the first week, a temporary bed on the main floor solves that -- most people don't need this.
A rail to push against makes rolling over and getting up from bed easier -- but this is one of the few items worth checking before you accept a hand-me-down.
Icing the knee in the early weeks is one of the most consistently mentioned recovery habits, and plain gel packs work for most people.
Bending far enough to pull on a sock is one of the first things a stiff, swollen knee makes hard.
Getting a shoe on without bending down is the same problem as socks, for the same reason.
Turns any lace-up shoe into a slip-on, so you're not bending to tie laces while your knee can't fold that far.
Picking a dropped item off the floor means bending or twisting a knee that isn't ready for either yet.
Both hands are on the walker, so carrying a drink or a phone across the house needs somewhere hands-free to put it.
Having meals, water, and a phone within arm's reach of the couch or bed cuts down on unnecessary trips in the first week.
Some people use crutches instead of or alongside a walker in the first days, especially for stairs.
Pushing up from a low or soft chair strains a knee that can't yet bend or bear weight the way it used to.
Getting to the bathroom at night before your knee is steady is a fall risk -- a bedside commode shortens that trip.
Something to brace against helps with turning over in bed and finding a comfortable side position without twisting the operated leg.
A pump-and-pad unit holds a steadier cold temperature than a gel pack, at a real cost premium; several recovery forum posts say plain gel packs were enough.
A stick with a hook and a pusher tip helps pull on pants or a robe without reaching or bending toward the leg.
As balance and strength come back, most people step down from a walker to a cane before walking unaided.
Some people prefer wheeled mobility to a walker for covering longer distances indoors; it isn't part of a standard equipment list for this surgery.
Medicare covers 6 of this checklist's 23 items with a doctor's prescription — a walker, a bedside commode, and a hospital bed among them.
Every bathroom-safety item (shower chairs, tub benches, raised toilet seats) pays zero Medicare dollars, by law, regardless of prescription — see the fee table, every HCPCS code, and the coinsurance math on the Medicare page.
Source: CMS DMEPOS Fee Schedule, July 2026 (DME26-C) + CMS DMEPOS utilization by Geography/Service, DY2024