Recover From Surgery Faster With Physical Therapy

Every year, our licensed physical therapists work with people recovering from surgical procedures. Whether you’re undergoing a joint replacement, back surgery, or another type of procedure, working with a licensed physical therapist can help you heal and get back to your active lifestyle as efficiently and safely as possible.

What should I know about post-surgical rehabilitation?

According to the American Physical Therapy Association, physical therapy can help not only with overall wellness but also with prevention. Once the operation is done, physical therapy can help ensure a speedy and full recovery.

Your work with a physical therapist can begin soon after your surgery, perhaps the same day. Depending on the type of operation you’ve had, your therapist can teach you the proper ways to get in and out of bed, use mobility assistance devices, get dressed, and use the restroom.

From there, physical therapy involves helping you with recovery and getting back to a normal life. Your exercise plan will be tailored toward gradually rebuilding your strength, without risking your sutures or reinjuring yourself.

Here are three of the main reasons physical therapy is ideal for post-surgical rehabilitation.

1. Physical therapy helps speed up recovery time. Our bodies are capable of healing themselves, and the non-invasive, drug-free techniques a physical therapist offers can enhance that self-healing power and work with the body instead of just covering up symptoms. By minimizing pain and reducing the risk of complications, your physical therapy team can help you regain and maximize your strength, balance, range of motion, endurance, and overall function as quickly as possible.
2. Physical therapy can help you avoid complications from the procedure. Any surgery carries some level of risk for complications, including postoperative bleeding, infections, range of motion limitations, and hardware issues. Working with a physical therapist may help reduce the likelihood of a complication, which reduces stress, saves money, and protects your short- and long-term health. Physical therapists are skilled at teaching you safe ways to move and function in daily life, and can teach you to follow and appropriately progress any precautions or activity restrictions your surgeon requests. They can also prescribe and fit adaptive equipment such as walkers and braces, and act as a liaison between you and your surgeon to keep your medical team updated on your progress.
3. Physical therapy helps in both managing and relieving pain. A physical therapist can teach you exercises, provide manual interventions like massage, and use non-invasive modalities that work together to alleviate pain and reduce your reliance on pain-relieving medications, including opioids. Many of the interventions used in physical therapy work directly on the central nervous system to help modulate pain signals, while others help reduce inflammation, swelling, and stiffness.

Of course, pain is normal and expected following certain procedures, including hip and knee replacements, and taking pain medication as prescribed can help you participate more fully in physical therapy. It’s important to talk to your doctor about your pain medication options and not to stop or start anything without their input. That said, research shows physical therapy is a safe alternative or beneficial component to effective pain management in the post-surgical window, so it’s worth talking to your doctor about a referral.

If you’re planning to undergo surgery, or are recovering from one now, our physical therapists can help make your recovery as easy as possible. Contact Zone Physical Therapy at (864) 263-7390 to schedule an appointment for your post-operative rehabilitation needs.