Prehabilitation, or “prehab,” is the process of preparing your body for surgery to improve recovery outcomes. Think of it as getting ready for a big event—just like you might train for a marathon or practice for an important competition, prehab helps you prepare for surgery so that your recovery goes as smoothly as possible. This is particularly important for more complex surgeries involving multiple soft tissue structures and involve joints within the body like the shoulder or the knee.
Prehab involves a series of exercises and activities designed to strengthen and prepare your body before the operation. The goal is to improve your physical condition and address any issues that might slow down your recovery. These issues may present as strength, coordination or even alleviating pain.
By doing prehab, you can:
- Strengthen Surrounding Muscles: Before surgery, focusing on strengthening the muscles around the area that will be operated on can make a big difference. Stronger muscles can help support the joint better, reducing strain and aiding quicker recovery.
- Improve Range of Motion: For many surgeries, it’s important to maintain or improve the joint’s flexibility. This can help in reducing stiffness and pain after the surgery, making the rehabilitation process smoother.
- Reduce Pain and Swelling: Engaging in prehab exercises can help minimize pre-surgery pain and swelling, making the post-surgery phase less uncomfortable.
- Enhance Overall Function: Prehab can improve your overall functional abilities, such as balance and coordination, which can help you return to your daily activities more quickly after surgery.
For example, one site which is often subject to reparative surgery is the rotator cuffs. This is a complex area where prehab prior to surgery can be provide significant benefits for post-operative recovery. The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons that stabilize the shoulder joint. Injury to this area often requires surgery to repair the torn tendons. By preparing your shoulder before surgery, you can improve the outcomes and speed up your recovery. Prehab doesn’t mean lifting heavy weights, rather it relative to the ability of the body and can present in many different ways depending on the person and severity of injury.
Below is a simple prehab protocol you might follow before rotator cuff surgery:
- Strengthening Exercises: Strengthening the muscles around your shoulder can provide better support during and after the repair. Examples include:
- External Rotation with Resistance Band: Stand with your elbow bent at 90 degrees, hold a resistance band, and rotate your arm outward. Do this 2-3 sets of 15 repetitions.
- Internal Rotation with Resistance Band: Like external rotation but rotate your arm inward. Perform 2-3 sets of 15 repetitions.
- Range of Motion Exercises: These exercises help maintain flexibility and reduce stiffness.
- Pendulum Swings: Bend at the waist and let your affected arm swing gently in a circular motion. Do this for 1-2 minutes a few times daily.
- Shoulder Blade Squeezes: Pinch your shoulder blades together and hold for 5 seconds, then relax. Repeat 10-15 times.
- Stretching Exercises: Stretching helps keep the shoulder flexible.
- Cross-Body Shoulder Stretch: Gently pull your arm across your chest with your other arm. Hold for 15-30 seconds and repeat 2-3 times.
- Functional Activities: Practice movements that mimic daily activities to improve coordination and strength.
- Wall Crawls: Place your fingers against a wall and slowly walk them up as high as you can. This helps with shoulder mobility and strength. Perform 2-3 sets of 10 repetitions.
Prehabilitation is a smart and effective way to prepare for surgery, leading to better and faster recovery. Exercises within prehab programs is specific to the person and injury and, thus intensity / volume exercise will vary significantly. Always consult with the surgeon or a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist for advice with your prehabilitation. By investing time in prehab, you’re essentially setting yourself up for a smoother post-surgery experience, allowing you to get back to your regular activities more quickly and comfortably.
