Having Surgery? How Prehabilitation Impacts Rehabilitation

Surgery can be extremely taxing, even when it’s only for a minor condition or as an exploratory procedure. Along with preparing your home, medicine cabinet, and family for your recovery, you also need to prepare your body and mind. Prehabilitation before your surgery can help speed rehabilitation afterward.

At Desert West Surgery with three locations in Las Vegas, Nevada, our medical professionals, including minimally invasive surgery specialists, are here for you before, during, and after your procedure. We offer information about how your surgery will affect you, how to prepare for different types of surgery, and what you can do to pave the best possible path to full recovery. 

What is prehabilitation? 

Rehabilitation includes the steps taken towards recovery after the surgery. But prehabilitation means preparing for the surgery and recovery in advance of your procedure. This can include losing weight, making lifestyle changes such as stopping smoking or other tobacco use, exercising certain muscles to strengthen them, and even adapting your home if mobility will be an issue after surgery.

Prehabilitation can also refer to actions taken to prepare for specific procedures, like elective cardiac surgery or surgery for cancer. Our team believes in preparing for your surgical procedure and recovery in advance, to shorten the time it takes you to heal and allow you to feel stronger and pain free as soon after surgery as possible.  

Prehabilitation options

You may wish to improve muscle tone in the areas you'll be using during physical therapy and recovery, especially if you’ll need to use a walker or wheelchair. Arm exercises can get you ready for this challenge. You can also strengthen muscles around the surgical area to improve mobility and flexibility after exploratory surgery such as a breast biopsy. 

Prehabilitation can also include changing your lifestyle, diet, or mindset to prepare for surgery and treatment. Some surgeries are safer if you lose weight beforehand, and rehabilitation can go more smoothly if you learn techniques like meditation and breathing exercises to help manage post surgical pain.

You can benefit from prehabilitation for common abdominal surgeries like hernia repair or colectomy. At Desert West Surgery, we perform minimally invasive surgery whenever possible, which combined with prehabilitation can mean a quick recovery time and minimal postoperative pain. 

To schedule an appointment to talk about prehabilitation in advance of your upcoming surgical procedure, contact us by calling one of our three convenient Las Vegas locations.