Does Physical Therapy help me prepare for surgery?

If you have a surgery coming up, it can be easy to work yourself up about the potential ramifications after you’re done. This is especially true if you’re facing a particularly complicated one, like a knee replacement. The good news is that there’s more that you can do to prepare than arrange a ride for after the main event. Here, we’ll look at how physical therapy, sometimes called ‘prehab’ can help you prep for what’s ahead (and why that matters).

Physical Therapy Strengthens Your Body

It would be easy to dismiss physical therapy as little more than an aggravator of a bodily condition. After all, if you could use exercises to fix the problem, you wouldn’t need to schedule a surgery. However, with the right physical therapist in Scottsdale, AZ, you can strengthen different parts of your body so it can handle the surgery — and so the body can heal faster afterward.

Will Prehab Eliminate the Need for Post-Surgery Physical Therapy?

No, though it may mean fewer sessions and less uncomfortable sessions. The goal of prehab is to not only address the problem area, but to look at the surrounding areas in context with the entire body. Most people they look at the issue through a relatively narrow lens. For example, you might wake up in the morning and focus on your knee pain. A physical therapist will look at how everything from the knee to the back to the neck influences the pressure and discomfort to ensure that you’re as ready as possible for the surgery.

Interested in learning more about prehab in Scottsdale, AZ? Contact Corrective Physical Therapy to learn how we help our patients prepare both mentally and physically for surgery.