According to the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, every year in the United States, more than one million Americans undergo a total or partial joint replacement surgery. About 60% of all joint replacements, the most common being hip and knee replacements, are performed on women. Women have a higher incidence of joint replacement surgeries than men because “they tend to live longer and have more arthritis than men”, according to Dr. Steven Fitzgerald, an orthopedic surgeon at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland.

Presurgical conditioning (prehabilitation or prehab) before joint replacement surgery can help patients return to acceptable levels of function and activity more quickly after a joint replacement has been completed. Regardless of whether you are looking at joint replacement for your knee, hip, shoulder or any other joint that may require a replacement procedure, prehab can improve patient’s fitness levels, joint mobility and strength before surgery which can result in faster and easier recovery after surgery is completed. “Faster and easier” may not be what comes to mind following any major surgery, but prehabilitation can decrease your hospital stay following joint replacement surgery and can “reduce the need for in-patient rehabilitation after hospital discharge by up to 73%”, according to a study published in the Journal of Arthritis Care and Research. If you are able to avoid a stay in an in-patient facility, you can either move to in-home therapy or out-patient therapy more quickly, all of which may reduce the amount time you that you may spend in therapy overall and facilitate your return to desired activity and work levels.

Stayed tuned for part 2 of Prehabilitation Before Joint Replacement, Recovery “Faster and Easier”.