Surgeons routinely refer post-surgical patients to our physical therapists to help them recover strength, function, and mobility.
Our therapists provide one-on-one, evidence-based physical therapy treatment sessions to help facilitate your recovery and return to activities of daily living (ADLs), work, recreational activities, and even competitive sports.
Pre-Surgical Physical Therapy has shown to greatly improve your post-surgery outcome and decrease your pain compared to no therapy. For example, scheduling pre-surgery visits four weeks prior to your total knee replacement or rotator cuff repair will help you train the right muscles needed for recovery. It will also alleviate many of your concerns and questions leading up to your surgery.
Post-Surgical Physical Therapy is extremely important. Your surgeon did his or job to correct the mechanical issues and dysfunction. Now it is OUR turn to go to work. Yes, OUR turn. Your physical therapist and you will work closely together to improve the function of your nervous system and muscles. After surgery, it is important to retrain your body to use the newly repaired area correctly to avoid adding too much stress. For example, after a total hip replacement, your body will need helping to learn how to use your core and leg muscles to improve the mechanics of the new hip. All of our therapists are trained to do this successfully!
The rehabilitative process depends on the injury and type of surgery. We help patients recover and rehabilitate from a variety of orthopedic post-operative procedures, including:
- Knee, hip and shoulder joint replacements
- Reconstruction of any one or more of the four major knee ligaments: anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), medial collateral ligament (MCL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) and lateral collateral ligament (LCL)
- Arthroscopic knee surgeries (such as meniscectomies, meniscal repairs)
- Ligament and tendon repair, including Achilles tendon repairs
- Arthroscopic hip surgeries (such as labral repairs)
- Nerve releases (such as cubital tunnel, radial tunnel, carpal tunnel, tarsal tunnel)
- Neck and back surgery (such as fusions, laminectomy, decompression and discectomy)
- Nerve compression release
- Bone or joint fusion (arthrodesis)
- Tendon transfers
- Surgical fixation of fractures, including open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF), a two-part surgery used to fix broken bones where the broken bone is reduced (put back into place) and an internal fixation device is placed on the bone (e.g., screws, plates, rods or pins) to hold the bone together
- Shoulder post-surgical recovery for rotator cuff tears, labral tears, superior labrum anterior and posterior (SLAP) tear or lesion, arthroscopy and more
Some of the therapies used to accomplish the goal of regaining movement and reducing pain, swelling and stiffness may include one or more of the following:
- Manual therapy
- Soft tissue and/or joint mobilization
- Muscle energy
- Gait and balance training
- Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) - electrical muscle & nerve stimulation
- Therapeutic exercise and functional strength training
- Functional re-education
- Rehabilitative exercises to help increase strength, endurance, motion, balance and coordination
