How do physical therapists help you prepare for surgery naturally?

How to Prepare for Surgery Naturally

The answer to this question lies in a specific type of therapy: pre-surgical rehab. In many cases, patients are encouraged to take medication before surgery. But this option can lead to unintended side effects. Pre-surgical rehab plans are designed to help you prepare for surgery in a more natural way.

What is pre-surgical rehab? 

Working with a physical therapist can help you learn how to prepare for surgery naturally. Pre-surgical rehab (PRESR) is a type of therapy focused on getting your body ready for the rigors of surgery. Therapists will typically personalized PRESR programs to a patient’s specific needs. Many of these plans include therapy techniques such as: 

How can preparing for surgery naturally with pre-surgical rehab benefit you?

Surgery can lead to an extensive recovery process. One surgeon reveals that abdominal incisions can take as long as two months to heal. Other procedures can take even longer to recover from, but using PRESR can offer many benefits for surgery patients. Some of the benefits PRESR can offer include: 

  1. Reducing need for post-surgical rehab (POSR) — Medical studies show that PRESR can help decrease the need for POSR. One study reveals that knee and hip replacement patients who did at least six weeks of PRESR were up to 73% less likely to need POSR after surgery. 
  1. Lowering health care costs — Surgery can be very expensive. A total hip replacement can cost more than $40,000 on average. Need a spinal fusion? You could end up spending $110,000 on average. PRESR can help reduce health care costs for surgery patients. One study shows that PRESR before a total hip or knee replacement could save individuals more than $1,000 per patient. 
  1. Improving return to work times — Being out of work for an extended time after surgery can be a problem; it can place a huge financial burden on a family. PRESR has been shown to reduce the time it takes for surgery patients to get back to work. One medical survey reports that six medical studies confirmed this to be the case. 

Find pre-surgical rehab to help you prepare for surgery naturally at Whatcom Physical Therapy

You don’t have to look far to find out how to prepare for surgery naturally. Our Whatcom Physical Therapy team has pre-surgical rehab that can help. We’ll start by running you through a free screening. This is intended to help us learn what issues you need help with before surgery. Then our team will create a personalized PRESR plan for you. 

Are things keeping you at home? Don’t worry. You can get the therapy you need through virtual care sessions with our therapists as well. 

Contact our team today for more information about pre-surgical rehab or to schedule an initial appointment.