Post-surgical Rehab Holland, MI

Post-Surgical Rehab

Speed Up Your Recovery Time with Post-Surgical Rehab

Do you have an upcoming surgery? Are you concerned about the recovery? Are you wondering if you’ll bounce back stronger than you were before? If so, post-surgical rehab can help.

Post-surgical rehab at Full Potential Physical Therapy

While pain-management drugs simply mask the pain, physical therapy helps resolve it at the source. This is done through specialized methods, techniques, and modalities, such as joint mobilizations, home exercise programs, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, and cold laser therapy.

Whatever surgery you may be undergoing, physical therapy can help you regain your function once again. Our physical therapist will design you a personalized treatment plan that may include targeted exercises and stretches that will maximize your post-surgical recovery.

Depending on the limitations your surgical operation brings, our physical therapists can provide you with tips on how to safely move around while you are recovering, such as how to get in and out of a car, go up and down the stairs, or put on your clothes. We can give you adaptive tools to compensate for reduced movement, while simultaneously working to restore your body’s normal range of movement as quickly as possible.

Part of your rehabilitation process will also include education on lifestyle and ergonomic techniques that will help in optimizing your long-term health. This will help you avoid re-injury, recurrent surgeries, and prolonged downtime.

Post-surgical-rehab-Full-Potential-Physical-Therapy-Holland-MI

Rehab after necessary surgeries

When conservative treatment options for an injury or health condition fail to provide effective relief, many physicians will recommend surgical correction. Some common conditions that may lead to surgery include, but are not limited to:

  • Total hip replacements
  • Full or partial knee replacements
  • Rotator cuff tears
  • ACL, MCL, and/or meniscus repairs
  • Spinal rehabilitation after fusion and disk compression surgery
  • Ankle and foot reconstruction with tendon transfers

The impact of these surgeries on your body should not be understated. Most surgeries incur at least some degree of pain, inflammation, mobility limitations, and swelling. To complicate matters, you likely were already experiencing pain and dysfunction prior to your operation!

To accommodate healing tissues and/or to avoid recurring dysfunction, you will likely have to learn how to do certain things all over again, like walking and getting dressed. Our Holland, MI physical therapists can teach you how to perform tasks safely while following critical post-operative guidelines. These guidelines are often outlined by your surgeon and could include hip precautions, sternal precautions, spine precautions, non-weight bearing, etc.

Both pre- and post-surgical rehab are essential elements to successful outcomes. Any type of surgery can be considered a form of trauma and can affect the body differently. Even minor and uncomplicated surgical procedures can have a major impact on your health. Because of this, post-surgical rehab with a Holland, MI physical therapist is especially important, in order to make sure everything goes smoothly after your operation is done.

Individualized post-surgical rehab with a physical therapist not only minimizes your pain and accelerates your rate of healing, but it can also reduce the chances of postoperative complications, including infections, bleeding, blood clots, muscle weakness, scar tissue, decreased function, and other factors that can negatively impact your long-term health.

Another critical reason for electing post-surgical physical therapy is its ability to help you reduce or completely avoid prescription painkillers, including opioids. An opioid epidemic is currently gripping the country and impacting every socioeconomic class. According to the CDC, an estimated 115 people every day die from opioid overdose, and upwards of 29% of people prescribed opioids will end up misusing these dangerous drugs.

For this reason, the CDC advises people to choose physical therapy over prescription painkillers whenever possible.

Get started on your post-surgical rehab plan today

If you have an upcoming surgery, contact our Holland, MI physical therapy office today to see how we can help make your recovery process as smooth as possible. At Full Potential Physical Therapy, we are here to set you up for post-operative success so you can get back on your feet faster!

A Better Life is Only Four Steps Away

Physical therapy can be an unfamiliar experience for many. To orient new patients to the process, we have divided their rehab journey into four segments called “The Four Phases of Getting Better.” It is important to note that while there are four phases utilized over the course of your care, they are not totally separate. They move gradually toward greater strengthening and function, which is the end goal to return confidently to the life you desire to live.

1

Pain Relief

The first focus in getting better is pain relief. After your evaluation, your physical therapist will use hands-on techniques or manual therapy, light therapeutic exercise, and education on how to modify your activity and posture in order to give you more control over your pain. In this stage, modalities like ice, heat, myofascial release, electric stimulation and kinesiotape may be used.

2

Improve Mobility/Flexibility

The second step in this method is to improve mobility and flexibility. Your therapist will design a progressive program of range of motion and light stretching to restore mobility and reduce pain.

3

Improve Strength/Control

In the third step of this method, muscle weakness will be addressed to help you maintain the gains and momentum you achieve through phases one and two. A thorough strengthening process is the step that gives results that last, and this will prepare you for more functional training – the final step.

4

Functional Training

Now that your pain is resolved and you have the necessary mobility and strength, your program can be advanced into functional training. Whether you are returning to work, returning to life after post-op rehabilitation, getting back into recreation or sports, or simply returning to the activities of daily life, this step helps ensure your success after graduation and empowers you to be confident in your abilities again.

Full-Potential-Holland-MI-homepage-banner-3 – 4