Undergoing a traumatic experience like a motor vehicle collision or a steep fall may necessitate a surgery to ensure complete rehabilitation. Surgical procedures can have long-term consequences on a patient’s quality of life, affecting the mobility in their limbs and impeding their overall activities. Physiotherapy is a vital part of this postoperative patient care. It is not only speed up the patient's recovery process but also provides pain relief, improve mobility etc. A qualified physical therapy expert can help a patient restore strength in his muscles and return to his regular lifestyle sooner.
Here’s a closer look at the importance of physical therapy after surgery:
Speeds Recovery
This is a key reason why surgeons recommend physical therapy post a surgery. Physiotherapy is a primary care specialty which is crucial to recovery from any musculoskeletal surgery.
A skilled Physical Therapist (PT) uses various techniques to improve pain, mobility and restore strength etc. She provides you with a list of activities that you need to avoid your pain from worsening and also prepares a routine ideally suited to your ailment to ensure pain-free movement. This intern helps to speed up your recovery.
Relieves Pain
Enduring a surgical procedure puts your muscles through a lot of strain, weakening them and leading to the loss of muscle mass. This may result in chronic pain around the injured area. Trying to deal this discomfort with the help of using pain killers or anti-inflammatory drugs may provide temporary relief but may lead to its reemergence at a later stage.
Physiotherapy uses various modalities (eg: moist heat, ice, TENS and IFC etc.) and manual therapy (eg: gentle mobilization, Passive Range of movements and gentle stretches etc.) to help relieve ache from your muscles gradually and carefully. This intern helps your tissues heal themselves and provides long term pain-relief, avoiding the recurrence of similar ailments.
Helps with Mobility
Patients who undergo surgery in their lower limbs encounter problems with mobility in their affected joint and in the spinal region. For eg: Total Hip replacement surgery usually leads to loss of mobility in the affected joint and also limits mobility in the spine.
A physiotherapist's exercise prescription will help improve the mobility in your joints. Also, she carefully monitors your progress and gradually increases the intensity of these exercises, depending on your pain threshold, to help restore maximum mobility to your joints.
Post operative rehab allows you to take active participation in your recovery.
Consult our experienced physiotherapists if you are undergoing a surgical procedure or are experiencing chronic pain post-surgery to help with the recovery.