0:00
Hey guys, Tony Maritato here, licensed physical therapist, and we had a question come in from
0:04
the Facebook group. Somebody's scheduled for a total knee replacement coming up in the next two weeks, and they
0:10
want to know what kind of clothing they should wear to the hospital
0:14
So I'm going to break this down a little bit, because there's going to be clothing you should wear to the hospital, there's going to be clothing that you're going to wear after surgery
0:22
for the ride home, and potentially there's going to be clothing that you should be wearing
0:26
for your first physical therapy session. So first, what kind of clothing you should wear to the hospital
0:32
You're going to, of course, be transitioned into a surgical gown for surgery
0:36
But on your way to the hospital, getting admitted to the hospital, whether it's a surgical center or an actual hospital
0:44
you know as well as I do, those places are always freezing. So I recommend my patients wear loose, comfortable, layered clothing
0:51
so that when you get into the reception area, the waiting room, if you find out that you too hot you can take a layer off If you find out that you chilly you can add a layer on Loose fitting clothing makes it easy for you to get in and out of the clothing if you need to transition into your surgical gown or whatever else they going to need to do
1:11
So on the way to the hospital, loose, comfortable, layered clothing. After surgery, you want to be able to transition back into either the same loose, comfortable
1:23
layered clothing or you want to have something maybe a fresh pair of shorts if you're in a
1:29
reasonable climate because people are going to want to be able to see the knee depending on your
1:34
surgeon and your surgical approach there might be some surgeons will put drains into the knee
1:42
so they'll need to have access some of them will wrap the knee some will use a passive range of
1:49
motion, some will use a cryo cuff so you're going to have a circulating cold
1:53
water therapy. There's lots of different things but you pretty much can't go wrong
1:58
if you wear loose comfortable clothing elastic bands so that it can slide on and off really wide through the legs I have had patients that cut the pant leg If they in a colder climate they want pants
2:11
but they want to easily access the knee. They'll cut the sides of the pant leg
2:17
so that they can just flip it up and flip it down. And then of course, when you're ready for your first therapy session
2:22
whether it's going to be therapy at the house or it's going to be therapy at an outpatient clinic
2:27
Again, you're going to want to wear something that's comfortable. loose fitting allows you to access the knee allows the therapist to see either the post-surgical
2:36
dressing the staples the incision whatever kind of closure you have on the wound your therapist is
2:44
going to want to see that they're also going to want to be able to see the ankle the thigh
2:48
if there's any visual bruising or coloration changes we want to monitor for that so i usually
2:56
a pair of shorts, elastic through the waist, or a pair of pants with very loose legs is the best option For footwear you can decide if you wear shoes you know normal sneakers or comfortable shoes to the hospital or surgical center Some people will wear clogs or loose fitting kind of
3:15
easy on and off footwear. I love these aqua socks and I'll post a link to the aqua socks down below
3:22
They're a great replacement for the hospital socks with the grips. They're loose, they're easy to
3:28
clean, they're water resistant. You can wear them in the shower or the bathtub. Once you're ready to
3:34
start bathing, they've just been a great resource and they're like under $15 usually on Amazon
3:41
So the main thing we want to know with the footwear is we want room for the foot to swell
3:47
to expand, and we want a good grip so that you don't feel like you're sliding or slipping
3:52
when you're trying to move around, either getting in and out of bed or getting out of a chair
3:57
So guys, I hope that was helpful. If you have specific recommendations, if you've been through
4:01
a total knee replacement and want to let other people know what worked for you, go ahead and
4:06
let us know in the comments. Otherwise, I'll catch you on the next video
