Equipment for Total Knee Replacement (TKA) Recovery

Your incision

• First 48 hours. The skin seals over. That's what lets most surgeons clear you to shower once the dressing comes off. The seal keeps water out. It isn't holding the wound together yet.
• Day 10 to 14. Sutures or staples come out and the incision starts to look like a scar. Most people read that as healed. It isn't.
• Three to six weeks. At three weeks your incision has about 20 percent of normal skin strength. At six weeks, roughly half. Almost nobody gets told this, and it explains why your restrictions outlast how good you feel.
• Three months to a year. Strength climbs to around 70 or 80 percent by three months and stops there. Scar tissue never gets all the way back. Color and thickness keep changing for a year or more, and a raised pink scar will flatten and fade on its own.

Your bone, your implant, and one deadline that matters

• Your knee is almost certainly cemented. Cement cures in about 15 minutes during surgery, so the joint is mechanically solid before you leave the operating room. No bone healing to wait on. Uncemented knees exist but they're uncommon, so ask which you have if nobody said.
• The repair being protected runs alongside your kneecap. To get into the knee, the surgeon cuts through tissue beside the patella and stitches it back at the end. Give that about 6 weeks. It's the reason lifting a straight leg feels impossible early on, and the reason resisted extension work gets added slowly.
• Motion has a deadline, and this one runs against you. Scar tissue inside the joint firms up over the first 6 to 12 weeks. Whatever bend you haven't won back by then gets much harder to get. This is the one piece of knee recovery where waiting until you feel ready costs you something real, so push the flexion work even on days you don't want to.
• Bone keeps remodeling around the implant for a year or more.

These are typical ranges, not promises. Diabetes, smoking, steroids, poor nutrition, and age all slow healing measurably. Your surgeon knows your case and your hardware. Follow their restrictions over anything you read here.

• A physician's order is required. Medicare only covers durable medical equipment (DME) — items that are reusable, primarily and customarily used for a medical purpose, and appropriate for use in the home — when a physician or treating practitioner documents it as medically necessary, and it's supplied by a Medicare-enrolled DME supplier that accepts assignment.
• Cost share: Once the annual Part B deductible ($283 in 2026) is met, Medicare pays 80% of the Medicare-approved amount; the patient (or a supplemental/Medigap plan) is responsible for the remaining 20% coinsurance.
• Rental vs. purchase: Standard wheelchairs and similar "capped rental" items are typically rented rather than purchased outright — Medicare pays the monthly rental for up to 13 continuous months, after which ownership automatically transfers to the patient. Simpler items, like canes and walkers, are usually purchased outright from the start.
• Replacement — the 5-year rule: Most DME has a Medicare-defined "reasonable useful lifetime" of 5 years from the delivery date. Medicare will cover a replacement once that period has passed, if the item is still medically necessary. Within the 5 years, Medicare generally covers repairs for normal wear rather than a full replacement.
• Early replacement exceptions: equipment that's lost, stolen, or damaged beyond repair (a fall, fire, accident) can usually be replaced before the 5 years are up with documentation, such as a police or insurance report — as can equipment that no longer meets a patient's needs because of a genuine change in their medical condition.

Not everything on this page is DME. Many items below — adaptive daily-living aids, over-the-counter comfort products, and similar convenience items — fall outside Medicare's DME definition and are typically not covered, regardless of the rules above. This is general education, not a coverage determination for any specific item; confirm coverage for a specific piece of equipment with a physician, a DME supplier, or Medicare directly.