You have been active your whole life. Maybe that is part of the problem. Your joints are wearing out. You are looking at a joint replacement surgery in your future. When is a good time and how do you know if you are ready? Will you recover quickly or will it be a struggle, with your life to never be the same? Those are good questions. If you want the best possible outcome with a quick recovery and a speedy return to your life the way YOU want it, then you need to do more than trust your surgeon and leave it all to him/her. You need to prepare and be proactive by strengthening with pre-hab before your surgery.
According to Vonda Wright, MD, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Sports Medicine, “Fifty percent of outcome success is due to the surgeon, and the other 50 percent is due to the patient’s commitment to recovery – starting with the pre-hab”.
You all know what rehabilitation is – exercise and physical therapy performed for up to 3 months after surgery. But, Pre-habilitation – ‘pre-hab’ for short – is something new. It is an exercise program that you start six weeks, or preferably longer if possible, prior to your surgery. The Orthopedic surgeons at Rose Medical Center in Denver advocate that it makes a great difference in their patients’ outcomes. They find that they get up and recover faster.
So, how effective is pre-hab? You may have heard me say before, “the stronger you are before surgery, the stronger you will be after surgery”. Well, there has been some research done at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School that has proved this. They found that knee and hip-replacement surgery patients who took part in “water and land-based strength training and aerobic and flexibility exercises for just six weeks prior to their surgeries reduced their odds of needing inpatient rehabilitation by 73 percent.” I don’t know if many of you know what inpatient rehab is but you don’t want it if you don’t have to have it. It will take much more of your valuable time, money and energy. And 73%? That is huge odds – if you can do therapy before surgery and have those kind of chances of avoiding extended hospitalization and cost, that’s what I would do.
If you are considering major surgery or joint replacement surgery, please consider pre-hab to improve your outcome and speed up your recovery. We offer complimentary pre-surgical readiness consultations where we can help you know the benefits of pre-hab for you. We can also help coach you on how to best take advantage of the insurance benefits you have to accomplish what you need in the most affordable fashion. Our goal for you is to help you Stop Hurting and Start Living…We want you to get your life back!
