How to Put on Pants After Back or Hip Surgery

Recovering from back or hip surgery is difficult. The recovery can make even basic activities of daily living arduous tasks. One of these overlooked activities is…

How do you put on pants after back or hip surgery?

It can be a struggle to put on pants after surgery while trying to maintain your back and hip precautions.

I’ll show you an ingenious technique I learned from a patient that will make putting on pants after surgery a little easier.

If you like videos, you watch the video tutorial below I put together on this technique over at my YouTube Channel.

Putting on Pants After Back or Hip Surgery – Supplies Needed

Hand Clamps x 4
- Prefer “racheting” style like these for easier grabbing
- Regular “spring” style like these will work too
Rope
- You can use any variety of rope but I found plastic clothesline from the local hardware store worked great
Cylindrical Foam
- We will cut one in half and use them as handles
Scissors

This technique will involve use a set of hand clamps. You can find inexpensive “spring” style hand clamps at just about any hardware store.

However, I recommend the “racheting” style hand clamps because their design makes them easier to open and close for those who have issues with dexterity.

To try both, I made a pair of this DIY tools, one with racheting hand-clamps and one with the spring-style hand-clamps, but you only need to make one.

Putting on Pants After Back or Hip Surgery – Steps

Measure and cut rope length
Cut foam cylinder to length
Slide rope through foam cylinder
Tie rope to the hand-clamps
Attach to pants
Find comfortable sitting position
Lower pants to the floor
Slide feet into each pant leg
Use rope to pull pants on
Detach clamps & stand to pull pants over hips

Step 1: Measure and Cut Rope Length

The first step to using this unique approach is to measure and a cut piece of rope.

Using a tape measure, measure from your waist to your foot. The length of the rope should be twice the length of your hip to your foot. In this case, we had already measured the proper length of rope to use.

Put on pants after surgery - measure plastic clothesline length — Measure a piece of rope, like a plastic clothesline, to be twice the length of your waist to your foot

Cut the rope was you have measured out the proper length.

put on pants after surgery - cut rope to length — Cut the rope to the proper length

Step 2: Cut Foam Cylinder to Length

Earlier, I said you would need a foam cylinder in order to make handles. Now is the time to create those handles.

This step is not strictly necessary as you will see later. You can put on pants just by grabbing the rope, but the foam cylinder will provide a better surface to grip than the rope.

First, set the cylinder length-wise….

Put on Pants After Surgery - Set Foam Cylinder Length-Wiser — Set foam cylinder lying on its side (length-wise)

…and cut to a length that will be comfortable enough to grab with both hands. In this case, with the length of the foam cylinder I had, I simply cut the foam cylinder in half using a pair of scissors.

Put on Pants After Surgery - Cut Foam in Half — Cut the foam cylinder in half using a pair of scissors

Step 3: Slip Rope Through Foam Cylinder

Before you attach the rope to the hand clamps, you’ll need to slip-on the now foam cylinder you have. The reason for this is once you attach the rope to the hand clamps, you won’t be able to slip the foam over the hand clamps.

Put on pants after surgery - slip rope through foam — Slide the rope through the foam cylinder

Step 4: Tie Rope to Hand-Clamps

Now that the foam cylinder grips are on the rope, we can tie the rope to the hand-clamps.

Both styles of hand-clamps, spring and rachet, should have holes at the end of the handles. Tie the rope through these holes in the handles and your tool is done!

put on pants after surgery - slide rope through hole in clamp — The hand clamps should have a holes at the end that you can slip the rope through

put on pants after surgery - tie rope to the clamp — Tie the rope through the holes on the end of the clamps

Put on Pants After Surgery - DIY Tool Complete — Here is what the complete tool should look like. In this case, we did one with spring-style hand-clamps and one with rachet-style hand-clamps

Step 5: Attach to Pants

Before you attempt to put on your pants, you need to attach the clamps at either end of your rope to your pants. Typically, you attach the clamps to the waist of your pants.

Hold the pants you want to put on in front of you, with the front of the pants facing away from you.

Put on pants after surgery - hold facing out in front of you — Hold your pants out in front of you with the front of the pants facing away from you

With the pants facing away from you, attach one clamp to the waist band on the left-side and one clamp to the waist on the right-side.

Put on pants after surgery - attach clamps to pants waist band — Attach one clamp to the left and right end of the waist band of the pants

Step 6: Find Comfortable Sitting Position

To use this technique, you are going to need a comfortable sitting position. This could be the edge of a bed, or in our example, the edge of a couch or sofa.

Put on pants after surgery - find comfortable sitting position — Make sure you are sitting in a comfortable position with plenty of space for your arms and feet.

Step 7: Lower Pants to the Floor

The next step is to lower the pants on the floor while holding onto the rope that is attached with the clamps.

Put pants on after surgery - lower pants on floor while holding rope — Lower pants onto the floor. Remember to hold onto the rope attached to the clamps.

Step 8: Slide Feet into Each Pant Leg

Pulling on your pants will be much easier if you ensure that your feet inside the pant legs before you attempt to pull them on.

Put on pants after surgery - slide feet into pant legs

Step 9: Use Rope to Pull On Pants

Using the rope or foam handle, pull on the pants to about your thigh-level. Important: ensure the pants are all the way above your feet to prevent tripping or falling when standing up to pull the pants all the way on.