If you’ve undergone surgery, you’re more than likely experiencing pain, swelling, a loss of motion and bruising. The exercises a PT will have you do will help you to move the limb as far as possible and improve your healing time while increasing your ability to move. Exercises that help restore movement to the joint can also help prevent re-injury. Moving after surgery is one of the most important things you can do to regain a good level of activity by improving the blood circulation to your injury. With assistance from the circulatory system, you’ll find decreased swelling following an operation by removing the fluid that builds up in your body as well as faster healing.
The physical therapy your physician prescribes after surgery will be a key part of your recuperation. Here are some of the reasons you may need physical therapy after your operation:
Healing Properly after Surgery
Physical therapy allows proper healing after surgery. Various ways a PT can assist you are to minimize scar tissue or to retrain your muscles. Your surgeon’s specialty is repairing an injury — we are here to help improve the way you feel and function.
Regain Mobility after Surgery
You will get back to your daily activities much more quickly and with more function if physical therapy is performed after a surgery. Remove these sentences- especially if the surgery is performed on the more flexible and weight-bearing areas of the body. These areas have the tendency to tighten and lose strength, affecting mobility.
Recover Faster after Surgery
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Doing the necessary rehabilitation will help your body recover much more quickly than if left to its own devices. In the case of total joint replacements, it’s been shown that starting physical therapy as soon as in the recovery room (i.e., when you wake up from the anesthesia) can lead to shorter hospital stays and quicker recoveries.
Patient Involvement in Rehabilitation
Working with the physical therapist allows the patient to be actively engaged in her recovery, and research has shown that patients who are actively engaged in their healthcare have better experiences than those who are not. A patient can work directly with his PT to determine not only how to best recover from surgery, but also how to live a healthier life.
Many doctors will also send you for a few sessions of physical therapy before your operation. This will help to strengthen your body as much as possible. In addition, talking to your PT about what lies ahead, including length of rehabilitation and what levels of pain to expect during your recovery, can be a huge help when approaching your post-operation period. In fact, a recent study showed that patients undergoing total knee or total hip surgeries whom received preoperative physical therapy showed a 29% reduction in postoperative care use. So take advantage of their experience to prepare for your own.
If we can be of assistance in your surgery recovery, please contact us via email or by calling (303) 536-1949.