Pre-op or what is also known as “prehab”, can be seen a couple of different ways. This can be before surgery is even scheduled to see if the help of physical therapy and exercise can reduce your risk of needing surgery or it can be a few weeks or days before your scheduled surgery to provide exercises to do leading up to the big day.
No matter what kind of prehab you have, going to these appointments is more important than you think! You may be thinking, “if I need surgery either way, why am I going to go to physical therapy before?” There is research showing that prehab decreases time spent in the hospital after surgery, decreases complications after surgery and can help speed your recovery up!
The big goals of pre-op physical therapy are:
- Education:
- Explaining more about your injury
- What to expect during surgery
- What to expect after surgery
- How to properly use your assistive device
- How long recovery may last
- Improving ROM if you are lacking mobility
- Improving balance
- Increasing your strength and activation of key muscle groups for after surgery
- Reducing pain and inflammation
- Normalizing gait (if a lower body injury)
- Taking measurements prior to surgery to get a better idea of where you should be afterwards and to track your progress better
If you have a surgery coming up, ask your doctor about going to physical therapy prior surgery to help improve your recovery time afterwards! ~703-450-4300
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