The Benefits of Prehab – Should I do rehab before surgery?

The best intervention is prevention, second best is rehabilitation. 

However, sometimes injury surpasses what can heal with physical therapy and exercise alone, and surgery becomes indicated. If you are in this position, you may be asking yourself if you should see your Physiotherapist or Athletic Therapist before surgery or wait to start the rehabilitation process after your procedure is complete. To answer this question, we first need to come to the realization that despite being common, the need for surgery is not “normal”. Surgery is typically reserved as a last result intervention for when all other forms of non-invasive rehabilitation will not be enough for recovery.

Correcting Movement Patterns

In many cases, like with joint replacements, barring medical conditions or disease, the need for joint replacements can be due to wear and tear secondary to faulty mechanics. If these movement disorders are not corrected, then we can expect the new joint to continue to wear down after the surgery is complete. The argument can therefore be made that correcting movement should be done prior to and as part of the rehabilitation process. In other words, the best time to have started would have been 20 years ago, however the second-best time would be now.

Mitigation of Atrophy

Surgery of any kind is a trauma to the body and one that almost always leads to restriction and muscle atrophy. Muscle atrophy is essential the wasting away of muscle due to disuse. Although your physical therapist will work with you to reduce restriction and increase muscle mass and strength prehabilitation allows you to train pre-emptively. Despite postoperative muscle wasting, it is always better to start with more to lose. In general, the more strength that one has before surgery, the better the surgical outcome.

Mental Preparation

At times, surgery can be scary with most of the fear stemming from the unknown. Although your surgeon may be able to explain the surgical procedure itself, your rehabilitation professional can help to prepare you for what the rehabilitation will look like. The prehab process allows for explanation of the procedure, what to expect, what the rehab will look like. By setting expectations and eliminating unknowns, psychological outcomes can be improved.