Do I have to do physical therapy before joint replacement surgery?
Dr. Dennis Brown discusses whether to do physical therapy before joint replacement surgery. Click play to watch the video or read the transcript.
Do I have to do physical therapy before joint replacement surgery?
There are some cases where we demand that patients go to physical therapy before their procedure. They're going to get a bad result because they have no muscle tone or they have no muscle ability to support the joint afterwards. Now after the joint has been performed and they're having less pain, they can play catch up but it may take them two to three months to obtain the same result that somebody who was in fit shape or does prehab, obtains in only one month. So yes, there are times where I'll say, "You absolutely need to have better hip range of motion." Or you need to strengthen your knees muscles before we go ahead with surgery, and I don't have a problem doing that because again the patient's going to benefit in the long term.
Your doctor might require you to do physical therapy – known as pre-habilitation – before you have joint replacement surgery.
If you have little or no muscle tone, your muscles might not be able to support your joints after surgery. Doing pre-habilitation can cut recovery time after surgery from two to three months down to one month, Premier Physician Network Premier Physician Network (PPN) physicians say.
Pre-habilitation could go anywhere from six weeks to three months before surgery, depending on your individual physical needs, according to the Arthritis Foundation
.
Talk to your doctor for more information about whether you’ll need to do physical therapy before joint replacement surgery.
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