Importance of Pre-Hab before Surgery
Does getting a surgery mean that there is no need to do pre-hab before surgery and rehab post surgery?
Our book The Pain Handbook explains about the ‘non surgical way’ of treating pain. But we can't deny the fact, that we often come across cases, where conservative management alone can’t deal with the condition and surgery becomes unavoidable.
But that surgery does not mean you don't need to rehabilitate. A surgery can only repair the injured or damaged part, it is never going to change the compensatory faults you have developed overtime while living with this injury and / or pain.
“You are more than just an injured body part. Respect yourself and folks like doctors and the rest will follow.”
A surgery needs a proper pre-hab before the surgery. If you are already aware of how you are going to rehabilitate post surgery, the prognoses gets better.
A 45 year old male visited us with severe ankle instability. He has got some serious episodes of ankle sprain in the past, which had put him on a permanent ankle brace.
Now he has been advised to undergo a surgery to repair his torn ankle ligaments.
On assessment, we found out, his quads (front thigh) muscle is super weak. Glute (butt) is non- existent. And calf has lost both the tone and girth. And this imbalance is not limited to just the involved side. Even the uninvolved side has very stiff hip joint, tight calves and again weak butt and thigh muscles. All this while, he was using his good (uninjured) leg more, and was compensating for the injured side.
“You aren’t a piece of furniture. Think of the whole you. Not just the injured part.”
Now, do you think, repairing the torn ligament is going to solve all these current issues?
So correcting the muscular imbalance before the surgery is essential to have better results.
Exercise is an integral part of even surgery both before and after to get a successful outcome.
