Prehab: What is it?

Most of the time when you think of physiotherapy, you might recall visiting a physio after an injury to help you recover. However, physiotherapy encompasses a whole lot more than just recovery from injuries during sport or everyday life. There are a whole number of things that physiotherapists do, including, respiratory physiotherapy for people with lung conditions, cardiac physiotherapy for people with heart conditions, neurological physiotherapy for people with conditions of the brain and spinal cord (e.g., people who have had a stroke), and even physiotherapy for animals… Physiotherapy encompasses a massive range of different components of the human (or animal) body and works in all stages of recovery. 

Now, what is prehab? Prehab refers to pre-surgery rehabilitation and involves increasing your strength, range of motion, and overall function prior to your surgery, as well as giving you all of the education that you need in order to know what to expect from your surgery, and the associated recovery. Prehab is crucial before many surgeries, whether it’s a knee replacement or open-heart surgery.

Is Prehab Really Necessary? 

Prehab prepares you for what to expect during your recovery after surgery, helping you to bounce back faster post-operation. Most importantly though, prehab has been shown to improve your outcomes post-surgery. Prehab helps you to decrease the length of your hospital stay and shorten your overall recovery time.

Prehab helps boost your strength, range of motion, and overall function before surgery, making it easier to regain them afterward. It’s all about getting you back to your usual activities as smoothly as possible following surgery.

What Does Prehab Involve?

As mentioned earlier, prehab focuses on improving your strength, range of motion, and overall function while educating you about your upcoming surgery and recovery process. Your physiotherapist will assess any potential barriers to your recovery and collaborate with you to design a personalized program. This ensures that any obstacles identified won’t hinder your post-surgery progress.

Let’s start off with an example, you have been having knee pain and swelling for 6 months and you can’t deal with the pain anymore. You go and see your local GP who gives you a referral for a knee specialist. The specialist tells you to get an X-ray which shows that there is quite a lot of arthritis in the joint. Due to your prolonged symptoms, this arthritis appears to be the cause of your pain. Therefore, you discuss all options with your healthcare providers and come to the decision that you should get a knee replacement.

Before you get your knee replaced, your healthcare providers will generally encourage you to do a few things. You will be encouraged to get your knee as strong as possible, get it moving as much as you can, and in some cases, to try and lose some weight, as being heavier leads to increased weight and load through the knee joint.

This marks the start of your prehab journey. During this phase, your physiotherapist will create a tailored program to help you achieve your recovery goals effectively. This program will include various exercises targeting your specific goals, aiming to enhance your post-surgery recovery process.

How Long Should Prehab Take?

Prehab typically spans from 6 to 12 weeks, aiming to get you into optimal pre-surgery shape. Although it may seem like a lengthy process, the effort you invest will pay off when you experience a smoother and quicker recovery compared to those who didn’t undergo prehab.

Extra Benefits of Prehab!!!

In certain situations, effective prehab through physiotherapy can significantly decrease pain levels, and in some cases, eliminate the need for surgery entirely. However, the likelihood of avoiding surgery varies depending on the type of procedure you’re considering.

Read our article “Knee Arthritis: Effective Treatment Tips”, or, watch our “Knee OA Masterclass” for some great education, advice, and exercises to help you fight the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis without the need for surgery. 
We have another great article on ACL injuries which discusses The 5 Phases of ACL Rehabilitation, this includes the prehab, and all of the post-surgery phases of recovery.

Good Luck With Your Recovery 

You should now know exactly what the prehab process is about and why it is so important for you. If you, or someone you know is having a surgery soon, be sure to get to the physio and start your prehab early.Remember, the better you are before surgery, the greater the chance of your recovery going smoothly. 

If you have any questions, or want to book in with one of our great physiotherapists, you can get in contact with us through email: [email protected] or book an appointment

We proudly service everywhere in Australia, including, Sydney (NSW), Revesby (NSW), Bathurst (NSW), Newcastle (NSW), Perth (WA), Gosnells (WA), Melbourne (Vic), St Kilda (Vic), Adelaide (SA), Alice Springs (NT), Darwin (NT), Canberra (ACT), Brisbane (QLD), Surfer’s Paradise (QLD), Gold Coast (QLD), and Hobart (Tas).

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Here at EmbdyHealth we know that you’re going to love your physiotherapy. If you don’t see any improvement after 3 sessions you get your money back. That is our guarantee to you that you will have a great time at EmbdyHealth Physiotherapy.