Post Operative Physiotherapy London

Where possible, I prefer to provide pre-operative physiotherapy as well as post-op. 

For me, the goal of pre-operative physiotherapy is twofold:

• First, to prepare you for the surgery itself – to get your muscles strong, and your movement patterns as smooth and coordinated as possible. You will inevitably lose a certain amount of strength, flexibility and coordination during the initial post-operative period, so the more you have worked on this beforehand, the faster your recovery is likely to be.
• Second, to familiarise you with the initial post operative rehabilitation exercises. While it’s not always advisable to come straight into the physio clinic after surgery, we can of course work online or via a home visit, but the reason to teach you your post-op exercises before your op is so that your body remembers what it’s supposed to do, despite the grogginess often felt after undergoing a general anaesthetic.  Learning new things after an anaesthetic is harder than remembering things you knew before.

 
Of course this is not always going to be possible, especially if your surgery is unplanned and the result of trauma; but fortunately, many people who have trauma surgery do not have the prior issues of muscle weakness and joint stiffness that characterise patients who are undergoing elective surgery.

The current COVID-19 restrictions do not permit me to be physically present (though many surgeons are proving to be happy for me to join you in clinic via Zoom or FaceTime) but where possible, I also like to join you and your surgeon, both in clinic and in theatre.  There are many reasons I do this, which I have explored more fully in this blog post but essentially, the more information I have, the better job I can do for my patients.  And in turn, the effort I put into collaborating with my surgical colleagues plays a big part in why they trust me to look after their patients: my physiotherapy efforts optimise the results of their surgery.