Rides to Physical Therapy After a Knee or Hip Replacement

Outpatient physical therapy after a knee or hip replacement usually runs two or three sessions a week for six weeks or longer, and for the early part of that you are probably not cleared to drive. That is the problem nobody schedules for. A wheelchair accessible round trip is $230 within five miles. If the person can transfer into a regular car, you do not need a van at all, and the cheaper options below are worth working through first.

How many rides am I actually going to need?

Count sessions, not weeks. Practices differ quite a bit. Some surgeons schedule about three visits a week for roughly six weeks. Others run a longer outpatient course closer to twelve weeks at two or three visits a week, with discharge around the three month mark. Many patients also start with a therapist coming to the house for the first two or three weeks and switch to an outpatient clinic after that, while some surgeons send patients straight to the clinic from the start.

So the realistic range is somewhere between twelve and thirty round trips. Ask the clinic to book the whole course at once, on the same days and the same times, before you arrange any transportation. A standing schedule is far easier to cover than twenty separate phone calls.

When can I drive myself again?

Not while you are taking narcotic pain medicine, and not until you can bend the joint enough to sit properly and work the pedals. Beyond that, surgeons differ. Some give roughly three weeks as a general estimate after a knee replacement, and a right knee often takes longer than a left one because the right foot works the pedals. Your surgeon makes that call, not a website. Riding as a passenger is fine from day one.

The practical takeaway is that the first two to four weeks of therapy are the weeks you need a plan for, and those are also the weeks the therapy matters most.

What should I try before paying for a van?

Work down this list in order. Several of these are free.

• A family member and your own car, if the person can get into a sedan with a cane or a walker. Put the walker in the trunk and skip everything else on this page.
• Your town Council on Aging. Many run low cost or free medical rides for residents. Call the town hall and ask for them by name.
• If the person has MassHealth and the therapy is a MassHealth covered appointment, ask the clinic about the PT-1 transportation request. It goes through the provider, not through you.
• If the person is on a Medicare Advantage plan, call the number on the back of the card and ask whether the plan includes a set number of rides a year. Some do.
• Ask the surgeon whether home based therapy can continue a little longer. If the obstacle is purely the ride, that is a reasonable thing to raise.
• Ask the clinic whether it operates its own van. Hospital affiliated rehab departments sometimes do.

We would rather tell you this plainly than sell you a van you do not need. A wheelchair accessible vehicle is for someone who stays in the wheelchair for the trip. If the person walks in with a walker, that is the wrong tool and the wrong price. More on the no cost options here: free rides to medical appointments for Massachusetts seniors.

What does a standing ride schedule cost?

Wheelchair accessible transportation is $115 each way, or $230 for the round trip, within five miles of pickup. Past five miles it is $2 a mile beyond that. There is no minimum contract, so a six week course does not lock you into anything.

Three round trips a week comes to about $690 a week. Two round trips a week comes to about $460 a week. A six week course at three sessions a week is roughly eighteen round trips, so plan the budget around the session count your clinic gives you rather than a monthly figure.

If there are steps at the door and no ramp, stair assistance is $200 a visit and brings two trained staff and an electric stair chair. We will give you the rated weight capacity of the chair on the phone. We run recurring appointment schedules the same way we run them for daily radiation treatment in Massachusetts, which is the same problem with a different clinic at the other end.

Do I need someone to stay with me during the session?

Usually not. Therapy staff take over once you are in the gym, and most clinics have a waiting area. The real trouble after a joint replacement is at home, not at the clinic: getting out of bed, dressing, the walk to the bathroom, ice, meals, laundry.

Home health aide care is $45 an hour, one to eight hours a day, with no minimum contract, no assessment fee and no four hour minimum per visit. Our aides are trained, background checked and insured. They are not nurses. They do not administer medication, they do not change dressings and they do not make clinical judgments. If you need injections, wound checks or a dressing changed, that is skilled nursing and it is a separate service. For what the first weeks at home actually look like, see home care after a knee or hip replacement.

What happens if I miss sessions?

Therapists generally treat the first six weeks as the window that matters most, because scar tissue forms in that stretch and motion you do not win early is harder to win back later. That is the honest reason to lock the rides in before the course starts, rather than after you have already missed two appointments and the knee has gotten tight.

It is also the reason to build in one spare option. Know who your backup driver is before you need one.

Can you do the same days and times every week?

Yes. Standing schedules are the normal way we handle a course of appointments. Give us the clinic address, the days, the appointment times and the week the course ends, and we build it once. Offices in Woburn, Springfield and Brockton. Call 781 957 8076 or email info@careremedyinc.com.

Therapy frequency, driving clearance and pain medicine are decisions for your own surgeon and physical therapist. The timelines above are general and vary by practice. Confirm your own restrictions with them before you drive or change a therapy schedule.