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Knee Replacement Surgery: Before and After

Many patients believe that a physical therapy regimen follows joint replacement surgery, but exercise before surgery can reap many benefits afterward. Think about it: The pain in your knee has probably rendered you less active. Less activity causes the muscles—in this case, those in the thighs and hips that directly and indirectly support your bad knee—to weaken. These weakened muscles will have difficulty supporting your new knee joint once it is implanted, thus hindering your rehabilitation process.
Preoperative exercises strengthen those muscles to make the entire knee replacement experience more likely to be fully successful. A new term has been coined for these before-surgery exercise programs: prehabilitation or prehab. Engaging in such an exercise program before joint replacement surgery can
increase knee function
• relieve pain
• improve muscle strength
• speed your recovery
• ensure an overall successful outcome
To help meet these goals, we can provide you with an individual program of exercises tailored to your fitness level, along with directions to perform them properly at home. Such exercises include strength training regimens, aerobic exercises and exercises designed to increase flexibility.
A major study performed in 2006 in conjunction with three Boston hospitals reported that patients about to undergo joint replacement surgeries who had participated in these kinds of exercises three times a week for six weeks reduced their need for inpatient postsurgery rehabilitation by 73%, a noteworthy economic consideration for many patients. These patients were also more likely to walk more than 50 feet by their discharge from the hospital.
We can design a program of prehab exercises that can result in a faster, more successful recuperation from knee replacement surgery. Call our office for a consultation.

Tom Willemann

Tom Willemann

Tom Willemann is a premier physical therapist based out of Bergen County, New Jersey. He holds an MS in physical therapy from the University of Miami, is credentialed in the world-renowned McKenzie Method of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT), and holds an OCS (Orthopedic Clinical Specialist) certification. As of 2018, there are approximately 14,000 ABPTS certified specialists in the nation and less than 400 of them are located in the state of New Jersey. Tom is the owner and director of Apex Orthopedic Rehabilitation in Paramus. He opened the clinic, which specializes in spine and sports injury prevention, in 2004 after many years of experience in the field. Tom’s caring interest in others and his strong belief in continuity of care, combined with his clinic’s ability to find solutions for the most difficult orthopedic problems, have earned Apex Orthopedic Rehabilitation its excellent reputation with patients and medical professionals in northeastern New Jersey and beyond. A true “family man,” Tom takes pride in his clinic’s warm and welcoming environment.
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