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Pre Operative Physiotherapy London

Name: Nell Mead
Address: Longcroft House 2-8 Victoria Ave, London, EC2M 4NS
Telephone: 0207 175 0150

If you’re looking for pre-operative physiotherapy to help you prepare for surgery and optimise your recovery, look no further!!

Get in contact

Just call my London team on
0207 175 0150 or use the form below and let me help you get better.

Just call my London team on 0207 175 0150 or use the form here.

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Why choose me for Pre-Operative Physiotherapy?

If you’re considering undergoing orthopaedic surgery, such as a hip replacement, knee replacement, ligament reconstruction, or bunionectomy, it’s crucial to find a skilled physiotherapist to work with you pre-operatively.

Pre-operative therapy can help optimise your recovery and improve outcomes by addressing any pre-existing conditions, improving strength and range of motion, and preparing you mentally for the surgery. A great surgeon alone is not enough; successful pre & post-operative rehabilitation is just as important as the surgery itself.

As skilled physiotherapist I can tailor a treatment plan to your specific needs, ensuring you achieve the best possible recovery outcome. I am trusted by London’s top sports doctors and orthopaedic surgeons and specialise in helping patients with complex cases achieve optimal recovery.

To book an initial assessment simply call my team on 0207 175 0150

What can you expect from my physio assessment?

When you first come to see me for a pre-operative physiotherapy assessment, we will discuss exactly what your surgeon plans to do – which structures they plan to repair or replace etc and how, and we will discuss the likely effect of this on your body – both immediately after the operation and in the longer term. This may include going through clinic letters and MRI reports and scans.
We will discuss the possibility of me coming to observe the surgery (link to blog post) – it’s not always possible, but when it is, it’s useful for me to be able to see exactly what happened inside your body, and to discuss with your surgeon how they envisage your recovery, and to talk about the quality of the tissue inside your joints, as this all helps me to optimise your rehabilitation plan.
We will discuss your surgical goals and assess your body in its current state, to work out what the deficiencies are that might be causing immediate issues, and that might affect your post-operative recovery.
We will put together a treatment plan to get you as strong and as pain-free as possible before your operation. This not only prepares you for a better post-operative outcome but can also make the operation itself easier for your surgeon.
Finally, we will put together a plan for your immediate post-operative treatment, so that you know which exercises to do and which equipment you might need, such as muscle stimulators, braces, crutches or cryotherapy devices – as well as shower stools, grab rails and extra pillows!

What treatment techniques do I use?

The treatment I provide before your surgery may include hands-on manual therapy to alleviate any barriers to achieving high-quality, functional movement. We may work on reducing swelling, muscle tension, joint stiffness, and other related issues.
If any other part of your body is overloading or triggering your painful area, we will also work on rehabilitating that, so that the area to be operated on is offloaded as much as possible, to prepare for surgery and healing.
We will develop a set of “prehab” exercises to help you reduce swelling and stiffness, and improve proprioception and strength – the idea is to get your body to be functioning as optimally as possible before the surgery, so that the surgery itself is less traumatic for your body and easier to recover from.
We will also develop an early post-operative series of exercises which I will ask you to practise before your operation, so that the movement patterns are ingrained in your nervous system. These exercises will be the first ones you do when you wake up from your surgery but before you come to see me for post-operative physiotherapy, so that the first few days after the surgery are as productive and as conducive to good quality healing as possible.
If there are other members of your support team that you want to involve (surgeon, family members, therapists, personal trainers etc) then we can also include them in any decision making. The optimal surgical outcome depends not only on the surgeon, but on you, me and anyone else involved in helping you – so the more communication there is, the better everyone can help.

Pre surgery physiotherapy assessments are 90 minutes

Follow-up sessions if required are usually an hour – it’s important to me to be very thorough, as I want to be the last physiotherapist you need.

Pre operative physiotherapy or post operative physiotherapy?

Pre-operative physiotherapy serves two primary goals:

Firstly, it aims to prepare you for the upcoming surgery by strengthening your muscles and improving your movement patterns. The stronger and more coordinated you are before surgery, the faster your recovery is likely to be as you are likely to experience a certain amount of strength, flexibility, and coordination loss during the initial post-operative period.

Secondly, pre-operative therapy familiarises you with the rehabilitation exercises you will need to do after surgery. While it may not be advisable to visit the clinic immediately after surgery, we can work with you online or via a home visit. By teaching you these exercises beforehand, your body can better remember how to do them even when feeling groggy after undergoing a general anesthetic. This helps facilitate an easier transition into post-operative rehabilitation.

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.

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.