Before & After Orthopedic Surgery at Tony Schwartz Bodywork LLC

This is a pretty common occurrence when you come in to Tony Schwartz bodywork you find out that there are things I can do to help you prepare for orthopedic surgery and help you heal faster after orthopedic surgery. To help people better understand what it is I'm going to do to help them I want to write a short blog post about it hopefully this will give you the opportunity to better understand some of the other services I provide you don't see very often talked about by other bodyworkers. 

Typically orthopedic surgery is looked at as the long-term result of joint damage or injury recovery before someone can regain their full mobility. Usually this cycle for some people can last 20 to 30 years before surgery becomes recommended. In other cases it is the only viable treatment after a serious injury and both should be taken very seriously by the patient has recoveries do happen significantly faster than they used to it's still has a big impact on your every day life and those around you. 

What I can do to help you prepare is to see you at least three months prior to your scheduled date of surgery and that pretty much coincides with most surgical calendars. The idea is that if we do a proper assessment and we have other information like x-rays MRIs or radiological notes we can discuss what your surgeon is saying about your current condition and what surgical technique they're going to be using. With my understanding of postoperative care and the typical care sequence we can then start formulating a plan to get you into surgery with the best chance of a good recovery. It should be noted here that often times physical therapy is already a daily part of someone's life and that does not mean that without bodywork they can't have a successful recovery but what it does mean is that physical therapy and bodywork can go together. Compensation patterns often occur despite the best efforts of physical therapists and tight muscles and tissues can only exacerbate that affect body work and assist you in losing those tissues up and reducing those compensations prior to surgery which will make recovery and follow up physical therapy significantly less painful and much easier. 

After surgery is complete there are several benchmarks that are used to decide when getting bodywork should be resumed let me go over those briefly now: all dissolvable stitches should be completely dissolved with no bleeding. All extractable stitches should be completely removed and the holes should be healed over completely this typically occurs for most people within a week of having them removed. The patient should also be on a limited amount of painkillers and be able to stand or move their limbs with limited pain consistently and be under the direct care of a physical therapist for at least two weeks after the surgery date. The patient should also have no post surgical complications or infections requiring antibiotics. At least at Tony Schwartz bodywork in Minneapolis you can request an out call service which means it comes to you during this time as many people cannot climb stars or drive. At this time there's no additional cost for that convenience.

Once you are at home and you do make those post surgical patient requirements bodywork can begin safely. Most often I will ask clients to dress in gym like attire loosefitting in nature that allows for you move more easily. Sessions are typically 30 to 60 minutes in length and usually end up tiring people out by the end. I will usually bring in my portable table along with any necessary supplies I require. We will discuss how your surgery went and that you still made all of the necessary post surgical requirements along with any additional surgical notes or recommendations by your orthopedic surgeon or physical therapist. After that discussion we will begin the process of doing some diagnostic palpation so that we can determine that there are healthy compensations that are typical after the type of surgery you have received. After that we start working.