The Critical Importance of Pre-Habilitation Prior to Orthopedic Surgery
I am the Commissioner and Founder of one of the oldest basketball leagues in New York City: The Staten Island Basketball League www.sibl.us. which I began in 1980.
Pre-Hab is what you do to get yourself ready physically prior to orthopedic surgery.
I have written a series of articles over the years discussing various aspects of my orthopedic surgeries from finding the right hospital to finding the right orthopedic surgeon to the importance of rehab. All of these articles have been written based on my first person accounts of undergoing double knee replacement surgeries, full muscle tear shoulder surgery and a lifetime of assorted surgeries and injuries. All due primarily to playing full court highly competitive basketball . The purpose of these articles is to share all of my experiences of the full orthopedic experience from diagnosis through rehabilitation and beyond in an effort to illuminate the process and to minimize anxiety. So many people do not ask the right questions of their orthopedic surgeon out of fear or ignorance and as the surgeon speaks they have the deer in the headlight look. No longer should you view your surgeon as God-like and take his/her words as the gospel.
Educate yourself! One of the best on-line publications that I have written for is Bonesmart.og. I would recommend everyone to sign up fro this outstanding publication.
At the ripe old age of 72 I continue to play full contact full court basketball with men aged 28-75. I am a strong advocate of playing sports and engaging in strenuous or moderate activities as long as you are fit and able. Sitting around all day as you get older and leading a sedentary life style is usually a prescription for poor health emotionally, mentally and physically.
These articles have been published in medical journals, orthopedic hospital magazines/newsletters, newspapers and various on-line publications. Various publications/. I have been interviewed by the 2 surgical implant companies whose products I have in my body: Smith & Newman ( total knee replacement) and Stryker ( shoulder sub-acromial balloon). They have profiled me in print and in a national You Tube video campaign to share the benefits the insertion of one of their products in my shoulder.
I have written these articles to provide the average everyday person important insight as they consider orthopedic surgery with all of its unsettling aspects. These articles have helped thousands of people to understand all aspects of these surgeries in an effort to minimize anxiety to a certain extent through
education. Most people get their information about these surgeries form friends or relatives who are predictably uninformed alarmists or pass on information that he heard from others.
They usually know someone who had knee replacement surgery that ended up walking with a with a limp. Ot they heard about someone having hip replacement surgery and they could not get up or sit down without excruciating pain. These stories are generally half truths that are embellished as the story goes from one person to another. The web through its search engines like Dog Pile, Duck Duck Go, Google etc as well as You Tube provide an unlimited amount of information at your finger tips. Many people who meet with their orthopedic surgeons usually listen and nod their heads as the surgeon rattles off medical terms without ever asking the surgeon to speak in layman’s terms.
When I had my knees replaced about 10 years ago I did a huge amount of research to understand the surgery, see the surgery (You Tube), find the right orthopedic surgeon and the right hospital. This research allowed me to fully understand what was going and it helped minimize the anxiety tremendously.
Their is basically no information available or a plan provided to candidates to physically get ready for hip, knee or shoulder replacement surgery. Pre-Habilitation (Pre-Hab) as I call it is a series of exercises starting a few months prior to surgery to help strengthen the muscles needed for rehabilitation.
For example when I had my first knee replaced I went through months of agonizing pain as my physical therapist put me through grueling exercises and techniques to help gain back full range of motion. Because you need to rely on you quadriceps muscles to help move your knee strengthening those quad muscle prior to surgery would have help tremendously. For shoulder surgery initiating certain exercises to isolate muscles around the weaker area wld have helped strongly in rehab.
Orthopedic surgeons do not discuss what should be done months before you undergo surgery. Going to the gym or developing a series of exercises to strengthen areas around the knees or shoulders or hips is critical to a better rehabilitation.
In my next article I will discuss the exact exercises that you should consider doing prior to surgery.
Craig Raucher craucher@aol.com 718-8605-2189