Improve Healing After Surgery with Physical Therapy
Sometimes, surgery is unavoidable. But thankfully, physical therapy can help you recover your strength, mobility, and confidence after surgery. I’m Lauren Masi, Doctor of Physical Therapy and board-certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist. I’m also the owner and Clinical Services Director of Bay Area Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy. Today, we’re going to talk about how to improve healing after surgery with physical therapy.
Why Physical Therapy Is Important After Surgery
If you or a loved one have had surgery or have an upcoming surgery, we want you to remember physical therapy as a way to get you back to your prior level of function as quickly and safely as possible.
Surgery is not just about the physical effects. Of course, they’ve cut you open and they’ve fixed what they needed to fix; but it can have a lot of emotional ramifications as well. What I mean by that is, people are sometimes afraid and fearful of what’s going to happen, how long it’s going to take, or if they’ll re-injure themselves.
Physical therapists can help you think through this as well. They’re trained in appropriate tissue healing times, they also are trained in all the different surgeries that you might be having to make sure that they put you on a stepwise path to recovery safely. Physical therapists can help you figure out what is safe and when it is appropriate to move to the next stage in your recovery.
When Should You Schedule Your Post-Surgery Physical Therapy?
As soon as your doctor has cleared you for physical therapy, you should be reaching out to set up your appointments. If you know during your pre-op appointment that you should have physical therapy post-operatively, get an estimate of when you will be cleared for care and book your physical therapy even before you have your surgery. That way we can make sure there’s no delay in care.
We want to make sure that we can prevent things like scar tissue, lost range of motion or unnecessary weakness that could delay you getting back to the things that you love. Please reference one of our prior blogs on scar tissue to see the importance of early physical therapy intervention.
You Can Get Physical Therapy Before and After Your Surgery
Physical therapy before surgery can be helpful in accelerating your post-operative care. The stronger you are going into a surgery, typically, patients are feeling much better and getting back to their prior level of function faster afterward. We always want you to be an advocate for your own care, so please discuss the benefit of prehab or pre-operative physical therapy before your surgery, as well as the post-operative care you’ll need to get you back on track as soon as possible.
Please reach out to our front desk at (925) 284-3840 to schedule a complimentary consultation or an evaluation so we can help you recover after your surgery as quickly and efficiently as possible.