As the baby boomer generation moves into its senior years, more and more patients are opting for joint replacement surgery. The AAOS (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons) website reports that over 285,000 hip replacement surgeries are performed annually, in the US alone. Even more impressive is the over 600,000 knee replacements performed in the US each year!
The Arthritis Foundation recently published an article highlighting the benefits of participating in a prehab program before surgery. Check out the article here: “Prehab for Surgery”
If you’re not in the mood to read the whole thing, the general gist supports the emerging evidence that a prehab program decreases pain and increases function before surgery, which has a correlation with improved post-op outcomes.
My favorite line is the last one: “…you might be able to schedule just one or two appointments with a physical therapist who can review – and possibly adapt – a regimen like these exercises for you to do on your own.” Disclaimer, the link to the aforementioned exercises leads to *very* generalized exercises that may, or may not, be appropriate for you at your level and for your surgery. Victory prehab does employ some generalized exercises, but primarily utilizes our own exercise program, developed from observing patients’ functional needs after surgery. For example, to get you more independent getting in and out of bed using the specific rolling technique after spinal surgery, we have developed several strength/balance combination bed exercises to that will functionally transfer to your post-op recovery.
