For conditions like advanced arthritis or a sports injury, joint replacement may be the only practical solution that can provide lasting results. However, replacing your natural joint with a prosthetic implant is no joke – you can’t just go home and sit around while you wait for your body to heal. You will need to engage in physical therapy exercises to strengthen the area to help it heal correctly and completely.
This type of surgery is followed by specific recovery at home as led by a professional therapist. Physical therapy helps make the recovery process more efficient after having joint replacement surgery.
How Can Physical Therapy Help Me After Joint Surgery?
To ensure that you recover in such a way as to not reinjure your joint while you heal, you need to learn and follow the proper physical therapy practices that will benefit your body. Your physical therapist will show you how – it’s not difficult.
Let’s talk about some of the most important ways in which these special exercises and stretches can benefit you during your recovery from joint replacement surgery:
Safeguarding Against Complications
Joint replacement surgery requires surgeons to cut through muscles and ligaments to replace the damaged joint. Therefore, like all types of surgery, this will require you to rest while your wounds heal. While minimally invasive joint replacement procedures allow for faster recovery time and improved outcomes, you will still need time to recuperate.
The danger with inactivity is that it increases the risk of complications, including blood clots. These blood clots can break off, move to other parts of the body through the circulatory system, and create a blockage. This can be lethal if it goes to the heart.
Hence, doctors usually advise patients to start physical therapy exercises as soon as possible after surgery. The first few exercises you’ll do may be as simple as rotating your ankles. These movements help improve blood circulation, preventing blood clots from forming.
Managing Discomfort
Surgery causes some level of damage to tissues, so some amount of inflammation is unavoidable. Nevertheless, interventions such as physical therapy can help reduce the pain and discomfort that you feel.
For example, regular movements help reduce swelling by stimulating the lymphatic system, which relies on muscular contractions to remove excess fluid from the tissues of affected areas. Exercise also helps to elevate mood and decrease pain.
Strength Building
Physical therapy is part of complete rehabilitation from the original injury, helping to restore you back to full health as you were before. Many degenerative diseases such as arthritis can cause so much pain that you learned how to move in certain ways that would not cause pain, or would cause less pain – hence, it’s common for people to have to relearn how to move with their new joint after surgery.
One of the main goals of physical therapy is to increase strength and regain proper range of motion. While the first few exercises that you’ll do might seem too weak to make a difference, your training sessions will steadily become more challenging and fulfilling as you become stronger.
Physical Therapy in Clinton Township, MI
Physical therapy teaches your body how to move again while you heal from joint replacement surgery. Patients can expect less pain and discomfort as they recover. Physical therapy will also help to restore you to your previous fitness level.
Be sure to find a facility that will help you both during and after joint replacement. Here at Movement Orthopedics, our medical professionals will provide you with high-quality treatments, followed by an extensive post-operative recovery that’s designed just for you.
To inquire about our healthcare services, call us at (586) 436-3785 or use our online form to request an appointment. We look forward to seeing you!
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