The Journey from Pre Op to Post Op

Clients who are facing surgery may wonder what the journey is like pre and post op. If it’s your first surgery you may not know what to expect in terms of the prehab and rehab. One of our young client’s Neave experienced this journey over the past year and was happy to share her journey with others to help ease any anxiety that comes with the unknown.

Lets set the scene – Neave has always been predisposed to patella (knee cap) dislocations and last year experienced one at school playing soccer. On assessment the knee was obviously sore and restricted and the main protocol is to treat conservatively with pain reduction and strengthening exercises. Everything was going quite smoothly until she tripped in a pot hole on a Sydney city road and another traumatic incident to the same knee occurred.

It was from that point that aggressive treatment was required which was surgery to reconstruct the ligament to hold the patella in place. Surgery happened mid December but as a result of doing all the strengthening and core work prior to surgery (Pilates, cycling, leg press and proprioception exercises) recovery so far has been a breeze! Prehab has ment that Neave was off crutches within the first week, cycling on a stationary bike by the second week and walking with minimal pain and no limp by the third week. We are now 4 weeks post op and have started with Black Flag Barbell – she can even deadlift 30kg!

Doing the majority of the strengthening prior to the surgery has ment that the recovery has been a lot smoother and faster then if she had done nothing and ‘rested’ before hand. There is always a way to stay relatively active prior to surgery which means returning to activity or sport can happen a lot sooner post surgery.

If you have any questions about prehab or rehab post surgery feel free to call the clinic on 9674 5596 or email us at info@inspiredphysio.com.au – we’d be happy to help and make the process of recovery as smooth as possible.