- My name is Mr. Azal Jalgaonkar. I'm a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Nuffield
Health, and I specialise in hip and knee surgery.
- Hi, I'm John Taylor, and I'm a Physiotherapy Lead for Nuffield
Health. - I'm Stephen Macconville Senior Personal
Trainer at Nuffield Health.
- Physiotherapy can be an option for anyone who is considering elective surgery.
Physiotherapy can help in a number of ways. Essentially, if we can create an environment
that can improve your mobility, your strength and reduce your pain, you can avoid surgery.
Now when we're considering is surgery the right option,
I would say to everyone that trying physiotherapy first makes perfect
sense. Now if you do end up going down surgery,
the only thing that you've done by going down physiotherapy first
is potentially made yourself stronger and given yourself better mobility going into
that surgical procedure, which is only going to serve
to improve your post-operative outcomes. - There are certain factors that may predispose
you to having the need for requiring surgery.
These include high BMI, increased weight, unhealthy lifestyle and any previous trauma.
Many conditions can be treated initially with physiotherapy,
and surgery might not necessarily be the first port of call.
If your symptoms persist, despite having targeted focused physiotherapy,
then it would be advisable to see a surgical consultant.
A surgeon will discuss with you regarding the type and the timing of the surgery.
You will be seen by the pre-assessment nurse before the surgery, to make sure you're fit
for the surgery. You will be guided throughout the procedure.
The nursing staff will look after you. And on the day of the surgery,
you will be seen by the surgeon before the operation
to go through the consent process. You will have regular visits
by the consultant and the physiotherapist to make sure you're recovering well.
- Surgery is an invasive procedure. And as such,
this causes damage to the tissues within our body,
which will require time to heal. As a byproduct of surgery,
we can have inflammation, we can have pain, and this can make us not want to move that
affected joint. However, if we remain inactive for long periods
of time our mobility can reduce further,
and it become increasingly more difficult to regain that movement later on down the
line. Now this can be really simple movements,
that help to gently improve your mobility, may help to disperse that inflammation,
and make sure that down the line you make a full and thorough recovery.
If you haven't been advised of what you need to do for physiotherapy post-operatively,
make sure you discuss this with your consultant or with a physiotherapist,
and you should be given something to do immediately post-operatively.
There are very few surgical interventions that would require you to do absolutely nothing.
And even though you may have certain restrictions in place post-operatively,
these will probably only apply to certain movements
and certain planes of motion, so there will be plenty of things that you
can do to get your rehabilitation on track and give you the best possible outcomes post-surgery.
- So physical activity is probably one of the most important things
you need to do after surgery, obviously, depending on what type of surgery
you've had. But as we get older,
we tend to have joint replacement surgeries so knee and hip replacements.
And it's really, really important to get moving and
strengthen those joints. Because what will happen is
if you don't strengthen those joints and exercise, the joints will start to lose range, the muscles
will get stiff and tight, and it becomes painful then to move.
As it becomes painful to move, what we start to do is we start to stop moving
altogether. And along with that then comes weight gain,
and with weight gain comes other diseases. Things like cardiovascular disease and diabetes,
so it's sort of a cascade effect that we need to avoid.
And we can stop from the beginning, if we start exercising early on.
Physical activity can help you maintain a healthy weight.
And with that, you've got less likelihood of developing arthritis,
as well as type two diabetes, and you've got less strain on your heart
so the likelihood of you developing cardiovascular disease diminishes significantly.
- There's an old adage that if we don't use it,
we will lose it and that is very true. Our bodies are incredibly good at adapting,
and they can adapt if we're doing more physical activity,
and make us stronger. But equally, if we're not using, we're not
loading, we're not exercising regularly,
our muscles can atrophy and weaken. We can we can be more predisposed
to conditions within our joints, so degeneration and stiffness within joints.
And also, more at risk of conditions such as osteoporosis,
which is thinning of your bones or a reduction in your bone density.
- It's extremely important, especially as it keeps you fit and active.
It avoids joint degeneration, it keeps your muscles in tone
and maintains a flexibility in your joint. And physical activity generally is very good
for maintaining a good, healthy lifestyle. - If you want more great health and wellbeing
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