How to Design Your Home for Personal Injury Recovery

After you’ve suffered a personal injury, most aspects of your life will change as you are forced to adapt to the way your body now operates. This makes having a home design that aligns with your personal injury essential for allowing you to still operate as normally as possible from day to day. Your home should be a place where you feel at your most comfortable, so you should take the time to get the right adjustments to support your rehabilitation.

In this guide, we will give you inspiration for home design tweaks that you can make to support your personal injury recovery, so you can still live a comfortable life. Continue reading to find out more.

Designing a Home for Recovery

Accessible Entrances

Making sure you can get from room to room easily after your injury is crucial, so you aren’t struggling to do everyday activities. Installing ramps to get in and out of your home, from the front and back, will make your life much easier. You can get permanent ramps for long-term injuries or modular ramps for a more temporary fix that can be constructed to better fit your home’s layout. If you’re wheelchair bound, you’ll need to install handrails for the ramps to help you get up them. You’ll also need to widen doorways if your wheelchair doesn’t fit, but you need to make sure that this is completed by a professional contractor. Automatic doors will also help you, as it means you won’t have to strain yourself by pushing doors yourself.

Safety Lighting

If you’ve become visually impaired from your injuries, optimal lighting is essential for helping you to navigate your home. Make sure to add nightlights in hallways and bathrooms, and ensure all stairs have adequate lighting to avoid trip hazards. Automatic lighting will be the best for this, so you don’t have to route around for light switches or strain yourself from reaching them.

Embracing natural light in your home following a personal injury will be very beneficial, as it means that you won’t have to worry about switching on any lights. This will also be good for regulating the circadian rhythm and boosting mood, which can help with your recovery.

Smart Technology

Smart technology can significantly aid recovery and maintain independence after a personal injury by enabling voice-controlled automation of lighting, heating, and security, as well as providing fall detection and monitoring systems. Smart thermostats and automated blinds/curtains are also beneficial, as they can be adjusted via smartphone or voice to maintain comfort.

Smart doorbells and Wi-Fi-enabled door locks also allow you to see and allow access for caregivers or visitors remotely.

Bathroom Renovation

Renovating a bathroom after a personal injury involves focusing on accessibility and safety. You need to change from standard fixtures to mobility-friendly solutions like wet rooms, grab bars, and walk-in showers. This ensures that you won’t have to get in and out of a bath, which can further affect your injury and prolong your recovery.

Install raised toilet seats or wall-hung toilets with support frames, if you’re not able to move that much. This will prevent you from aggravating your injuries.

Kitchen Accessibility

Homeowners spend so much time in the kitchen, preparing meals on average 3 times a day. After a personal injury, you need to ensure that everything in your kitchen is easily accessible so that you can still cook the meals you love. Ensure there is enough space to move around, ideally with a minimum width of 1200mm between units. Wheelchair users require a 1500mm turning circle to allow them to reach all parts of the kitchen safely. Install height-adjustable countertops to allow for both sitting and standing tasks, so you don’t have to move around too much.

How to Afford Your Home Renovation
Getting your home renovated to help you with your personal injury recovery can be expensive, especially if you need a huge overhaul for a long-term injury. This makes starting a claim for your personal injury crucial if your injury was a result of an accident or someone else’s negligence. Each type of injury will give you different financial results from a claim, with loss of a limb compensation being one of the most extreme, which can get you the most financially.

Final Thoughts
Making your home comfortable is essential after suffering from a personal injury, so you can rest and recuperate to give yourself the best chance of a successful recovery. Purchasing the right types of furniture to aid your recovery will also be important, with adjustable chairs, tables, and doorways making your life much easier. Get help from professionals who know what they’re doing, as getting unprofessional services can lead to a poor job that can impact how fast you recover.

This article is part of the HOGDigest editorial series.
Originally written by [Darcy Fowler] and republished with permission.

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