Surgery solves most injuries and illnesses. Most patients often report feeling better as soon as they awake from surgery.
However, in most cases, they’re usually not fit to resume their old routine. They might need help to heal and regain their strength. This is where post-surgery rehabilitation comes in.
By participating in a comprehensive post-surgery rehabilitation program, a patient can reap the maximum benefits of surgery.
With the help of a physical therapist and other specialists, patients can learn how to exercise and make their muscles stronger. As a result, they can move the part of the body where they had the surgery.
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Why You Need a Post-Surgery Rehabilitation?
Post-Surgery rehabilitation programs can speed up your recovery rate, irrespective of the type of operation you had.
Most patients start their physical therapy while still in the hospital. After the surgery, a physical therapist will help the patient get out of bed and walk. The patient might also get to do other exercises to get ready to go home.
But all this depends on the type of surgery. If you had knee surgery, hip surgery, or spine surgery, the rehabilitation process might take time. You might have to stay in a rehab center for weeks or months.
A doctor might also recommend you visit an “outpatient” center. If that is the case, you will live at home but get physical therapy during your regular appointments, which might be once or several times a week. At other times, a therapist can visit you at home.
What are the Benefits of a Post-Surgery Rehabilitation?
Many medical practitioners recommend post-surgery rehabilitation because of its many benefits. The benefits include:
Improve Mobility, Balance, and Strength
Surgery can affect the mobility of the operated body part. During surgery, the body tries to protect the area of trauma. As such, it causes swelling, tightening of the muscle and tissues, spasms, and limited range of motion.
Physical therapy after surgery helps patients to regain their mobility. Therapists achieve this through myofascial release, movement strengthening exercises, and other manual practices.
Muscle-strengthening exercises for the core, back, and pelvis can improve stability and balance. All these can significantly help patients recovering from knee and hip replacement surgeries.
Improved Blood Circulation
Physical therapy after surgery helps to improve your blood circulation. Thus, giving you a healing boost. Improved blood circulation means that oxygen and nutrients will get delivered throughout the body. Therefore, helping to ease inflammation and fast-track the healing process.
Alleviate Pain and Swelling
Pain and swelling after surgery are normal and part of the healing process. However, they vary from one patient to another. During surgery, the chemicals that stimulate nerve endings get released. Also, excess inflammation results in compression of nerves, leading to the development of pain.
Movements and exercises employed by physical therapists can help prevent chronic surgical pain and reduce swelling.
Better Muscle Formation
Regular exercises will help fix tense and stiff muscles. Therapists often recommend a variety of stretching routines that can improve muscle formation, restore muscle strength, and increase endurance and stamina. A therapist usually tailors these routines for a patient’s condition.
Proper Healing and Faster Recovery Time
Proper physical therapy after surgery can help your body heal properly. For example, your joint motion and function can get re-established and muscles re-trained.
Apart from that, rehabilitation promotes faster healing time. For instance, a total knee replacement can take a huge toll on a body. But research shows that if a patient starts a post-surgery rehabilitation program immediately, the patient can recover faster.
Reduces Scar Formation
When healing from an injury or surgery, your soft tissue will contract, and scar tissue will form. However, excess scar tissue after surgery can reduce your movement and function for months.
A therapist can conduct various tissue mobilization procedures such as ultrasound therapy and massage to soften the scar tissue and promote movement.
Participation of Patient
Research says patients who take part in their own recovery process are likely to experience better results than those who don’t. So, it’s wise for anyone who’s undergone surgery to spend enough time with physical therapists and learn the best recovery methods. The information provided by these therapists will help you stay healthy even after recovering from your surgery.
Strengthened Core
Your “core” or midsection is a vital foundation of your body. The muscles in this section keep you stabilized and shields you from injuries. Physical therapy exercises can strengthen the core to promote easy recovery and better overall health.
Reduces the development of secondary issues
Sometimes after surgery, you might end up developing blood clots, infection, and other serious complications. Physical therapy can reduce these costly and devastating secondary conditions.
A physical therapist can tailor exercises for a patient to reduce the risk of blood clots, infection, and contractures.
Regain Lost Strength
The faster you regain strength and stamina, the quicker you will get back to your daily activities. A therapist can design a program that targets the specific areas in your body, which require strengthening after surgery.
Improves Flexibility
Last but not least. A post-surgery rehabilitation program helps to improve your flexibility. Surgery can leave your muscles weakened, stiff, and susceptible to injury. This means you will have difficulty doing even the simplest tasks. Gentle movement and stretching techniques can help keep vulnerable muscles limber.
In summary, post-surgery rehabilitation programs can go a long way in returning patients to their normal lifestyle and activity levels after surgery.
Who Will Benefits from Post-Surgery Rehabilitation?
Individuals who have undergone the following procedures might benefit from a post-surgery rehabilitation program.
Heart Attack/ Bypass Surgery
Post-surgical rehabilitation helps to prevent cardiopulmonary complications. It achieves this through physical therapy, which gives patients a safe opportunity to move. Performing low-impact gradual exercises can help improve health and reduce the length a patient stays in a hospital.
ACL and Meniscus Repair
Physical therapy comes in handy following a repair to the ACL knee ligament and meniscus cartilage. According to studies, patients can recover quickly and avoid re-injury by building hamstring and quadriceps strength.
Joint Replacement Surgery
Knee, shoulder, and hip replacement surgery need intense physical therapy designed to meet a patient’s needs is necessary. Trained therapists will help patients regain their mobility faster so they can resume their daily life routine.
Back Surgery
The subtle nature of disk surgery calls for the need for supervised physical therapy. A therapist will help a patient stretch and exercise gently to improve blood circulation throughout the body.
Most individuals who undergo the listed surgery might experience the following symptoms afterward:
- Stiffens
- Pain
- Reduced balance and coordination
- Muscle weakness
- Low exercise tolerance
- Reduced independence
Post-surgery rehabilitation will help to alleviate and these symptoms and promote full recovery.
Surgery comes with physical and psychological effects, which may affect how you recover and even cause anxiety and frustration. A physical therapist will assess your condition. Then work with you to design short and long-term goals, which will help you take full advantage of your recovery potential.
Post–Surgery Rehabilitation After Spine Surgery
Spine surgery is a major undertaking that can leave you weak and susceptible to other complications. Therefore, rehabilitation is vital after the surgery to restore a patient’s strength, prevent secondary complications, and promote quick recovery.
Physical therapists use several methods to help you get back into good physical condition and heal faster after spine surgery.
Controlling Pain After Surgery
Physiotherapists work to manage the pain a patient experiences after back surgery. By controlling the pain, patients can regain their strength. It’s difficult to complete a post-surgery rehabilitation program if you’re in pain.
Although pain is a common part of the healing process, physical therapists use various procedures to minimize the pain, including:
- Electrical devices
- Ice application
- Certain types of movements
- Certain spine positions
Most of the techniques utilized to manage back pain are simple. You can easily learn them and perform them at home or work–you don’t have to get admitted to a rehabilitation center.
Furthermore, most physical therapists will provide you with information and education on diet and lifestyle changes so you can improve your overall health and recover after a spine operation.
Creating Training Program after surgery
Your therapist will design a training program tailored to meet your needs by taking into account your surgery, tissue conditions, and body type.
After spine surgery, some of your muscles might require retraining so they can gain strength and provide you with stability. To achieve this, a therapist may focus on muscle facilitation. This exercise might fix:
- Muscles that were weakened by nerve problems before your surgery
- Muscles in the incision area
- Tiny muscles around each vertebra that work to stabilize the spine. If trained properly, these muscles can shield the spine and protect the newly operated area from future complications.
Personalized physical therapy can also help to improve a patient’s mobility and flexibility that might have gotten limited by the spine surgery.
Some patients may experience limited movements of their hip, shoulder, or other areas of the spine after spine surgery. If this is the case, a trained physiotherapist can help the muscles and joints involved regain their mobility.
Exercise for Recovery After Spine Surgery
Exercises are crucial for recovery after spine surgery. Gentle exercises eliminate fatigue and get patients back on their feet.
Besides helping patients to heal after surgery, exercises help in minimizing and preventing future episodes of back pain or re-injury.
Physical therapists often develop a personalized exercise program based on the type of spine injury and the forces that have more benefit to the patient’s spine under different conditions. During the first few weeks, you will do the exercises with the therapist. But after some time you can do them at home alone.
There are many types of exercises patients can do to improve their spine. Physiotherapists can help them determine which exercises have significant benefits. This way, they can help patients resume their daily activities within a short time.
Bottom Line
Recovering from surgery is easy. But keep in mind that it takes time, energy, and the willingness to take part in post-surgery rehabilitation.
A post-surgery rehabilitation program will put you on the right recovery path so you can resume your daily life activities with ease.
But before undergoing any surgery, consult your doctor and physical therapist to know how long it will take to recover. The time of recovery from surgery varies depending on the procedure and the person. Some individuals can recover in few weeks, while others can take even a year.
Knowing what to expect before the surgery can help you prepare physically and mentally for what’s ahead.
Remember, post-surgery rehabilitation is crucial for maintaining and improving a patient’s overall health after the surgery and in the future.
References
Why CMRC?
CMRC Hospital is the specialized provider for Long-term Care and rehabilitation services in Saudi Arabia. With one main facilities in Saudi Arabia, which are designed in a rehabilitation and long-term care hospital with a capacity of 66 beds.
CMRC provides an interdisciplinary clinical approach for Vent Rehabilitation Services which is customized for adults, adolescents, and children. The best rehabilitation services are not only our goal but our ultimate objective is to customize the care plan for each patient and make sure that the patient’s family and their members are integrated into the treatment plan.
When you joined Saudi Arabia hospital for any kind of our rehabilitation services or even for long-term care you will feel as if you are at #Your Second Home.
