Prepare well. Recover progressively. Return with confidence.
What is post-surgical rehabilitation?
Surgery is often one stage of a longer rehabilitation journey. Physiotherapy can help you prepare beforehand, understand what recovery involves, and rebuild movement, strength and function afterwards for home, work and recreation.
What it can help with
- Hip and knee replacement
- ACL, knee ligament and meniscus surgery
- Rotator cuff repair and shoulder stabilisation
- Foot, ankle and other joint surgery
- Fracture surgery or immobilisation
- Preparing for surgery (prehabilitation)
- Prostate and pelvic surgery
Your assessment
Before surgery, we take baseline measures of your strength, movement and function, talk through what recovery is likely to involve, and help you plan for the first weeks at home.
After surgery, your assessment starts with the procedure: what was done, your surgeon’s instructions, any restrictions on movement or weight-bearing, and where you are in the healing timeframe. We then check swelling, comfort around the surgical site, range of motion, strength, and how you are walking or using your arm, so we can see how recovery is tracking.
Your treatment
Rehabilitation progresses in stages, in line with your surgeon’s protocol. Early on, the focus is usually managing swelling and pain through advice, hands-on treatment and gentle exercise, protecting the repair and regaining movement. As healing allows, it shifts to strength, balance and walking, and then to the specific tasks you need for work, sport or home.
Moving to the next stage depends on meeting agreed milestones, not just on how many weeks have passed. We keep your surgeon or GP informed where needed, and if your symptoms or progress raise concerns, we will discuss this with them. Physiotherapy does not replace surgical review.