Post-Surgery Rehabilitation
Structured rehab after knee, hip, spine and fracture surgery — protect the repair, rebuild the strength.
An operation fixes a structure; rehabilitation restores its function — and the second half decides how good the first half feels in a year. After knee or hip replacement, ligament reconstruction, spine surgery or fracture fixation, tissues heal along a biological timetable, joints stiffen fast when guarded, and muscles begin losing strength within days of disuse. Good rehabilitation threads that needle: enough load to drive healing and rebuild muscle, never so much that the repair is endangered. Both over-caution and over-enthusiasm have costs, and both are common.
At MBM Physiotherapy, Dr. Sushma Singh (PT) works within your surgeon’s protocol — the operation note and discharge advice set the boundaries, and we respect them — while progressing you through the stages: protecting the repair and controlling swelling first, restoring range of motion, rebuilding strength, then retraining the real tasks of your life, from stairs and floor sitting to two-wheeler riding and sport. Progress is checked against measurable milestones, so 'am I on track?' always has a factual answer.
Who should consider this
- Knee or hip replacement patients discharged with a physiotherapy advice sheet and unsure how to progress it
- Ligament reconstruction (such as ACL) recovery, needing a graded months-long programme
- After spine surgery — discectomy or fixation — once the surgeon clears active rehabilitation
- Fracture patients whose plaster or fixator has come off, with a stiff, wasted limb
- Shoulder repair recovery, where the sequence of protected then progressive motion is critical
- Anyone weeks past surgery whose operated limb remains weak, stiff or un-trusted despite the wound healing well
- Patients preparing FOR a planned surgery who want to enter it stronger — rehabilitation before, informally called prehab
Before your first session
Bring your surgical papers — the protocol starts from them
- Bring the discharge summary, operation notes if given, and any post-operative X-rays or scans with their reports
- Bring your surgeon’s written physiotherapy advice or protocol sheet if one was provided, and your full current medicine list
- Wear loose clothing giving easy access to the operated area, and bring the walker, crutches, brace or sling you are currently using
- Note your surgeon’s stated restrictions — weight-bearing status, movement limits, precautions — exactly as told to you
- If dressings are still on, that is fine; treatment works around a healing wound, but tell us about any discharge, opening or increasing redness
What happens during treatment
The first session establishes where you are against where your protocol expects you to be: wound and swelling check, measured range of motion, strength grading of the operated and supporting muscles, and assessment of how you currently move — transfers, walking pattern, aid use. Dr. Singh then aligns a stage-appropriate plan with your surgeon’s restrictions and begins treatment: swelling management and gentle mobilisation in early stages, or progressive strengthening and balance work if you arrive later, plus correction of the limping and guarding habits that creep in during protected weeks and quietly become permanent if unaddressed.
Sessions and timeline
Timelines follow tissue biology, so honesty here is easy to give: joint replacements typically see the sharpest functional gains across the first six to twelve weeks with refinement for months after; ligament reconstructions run six to nine months or more before sport-level return; fracture rehabilitation depends on bone healing confirmed by your surgeon. Session frequency starts around two to three per week and tapers as the home programme carries more load — the exact course depends on the operation, your surgeon’s protocol and your measured progress, all reviewed openly. Contact your surgeon or an emergency department first — not the physiotherapy desk — for a hot swollen calf, sudden breathlessness or chest pain, fever with a discharging or increasingly red wound, or a sudden new deformity or giving-way of the operated limb.
What it costs
Rehabilitation cost is a function of the operation and its stage: an early post-operative course differs from a late strength-phase course, and the detailed first assessment is priced separately from shorter follow-up sessions. The assessment gives you a stage-by-stage estimate up front, aligned with your surgical protocol, so the course has a visible shape rather than an open end.
Call +91 11 4119 4668 for today’s rate — it takes a minute and there are no surprise charges. For multi-week courses, ask about session blocks; a planned block usually costs less per visit than paying singly.
Common questions
When after surgery should physiotherapy start?
Usually far earlier than families expect — for joint replacements, basic movement often starts within a day or two in hospital, and structured outpatient rehabilitation follows discharge. The correct start date is your surgeon’s call for your specific operation; our job begins wherever their protocol hands over, and starting late mainly means extra weeks spent un-stiffening what waiting stiffened.
Is pain during rehabilitation exercises normal?
Some discomfort is expected and safe — stretch sensations, muscle burn, mild ache settling within a day. Sharp pain at the surgical site, swelling that increases day on day, or night pain that is worsening are signals to adjust, and we teach you this traffic-light distinction early so you can push confidently at home without fear or recklessness.
My wound has healed. Why is the limb still so weak?
Skin heals in weeks; muscle and confidence take months. Muscles begin wasting within days of disuse, and protected weeks after surgery cost real strength that only progressive loading rebuilds — roughly six to twelve weeks of consistent strength work to make measurable change. A healed scar is the starting line of rehabilitation, not the finish.
Can you coordinate with my operating surgeon?
Yes — that is the preferred way of working. Your surgeon’s protocol and restrictions form the boundaries of the plan, progress notes can be shared at your follow-up visits, and if anything in your recovery looks off-track for the stage, we will tell you to see the surgeon promptly rather than pressing on.
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