PRE-SURGICAL / CAN I AVOID SURGERY?
Considering surgery? PhysioMender’s thorough evaluation determine if conservative care can eliminate pain and restore full function and allow surgery to be avoided. Certain specific surgeries are an absolute must, but many surgical cases resolve non-surgically with our expertise. Injuries that commonly respond well to conservative treatments include disc herniations (with or without nerve root compression), hip impingement, shoulder impingement, knee “bone-on-bone” arthritis, meniscus and labral dysfunctions.
Our team specializes in extensive testing of joint, nerve and muscle function to understand how your injury site and whole body moves and functions with activities. X-ray and MRI alone provide some good information, especially ruling out cancer and fractures, but unfortunately lack in diagnosis capabilities for soft tissue injuries related to scar tissue, tendinopathy, sprains/strains, tendonitis, and are many times inconclusive at determining what is a non-surgically treatable joint or nerve injury.
Findings like disc herniations, arthritic changes, meniscal tears, and facet arthropathy are so common on radiographic imaging of people that have NO PAIN. This is why you should never be rushed into surgery purely based on image because the source of your pain may have nothing to do with what showed up on the picture. We will test all structures and help you more accurately come to a specific diagnosis and can help you make best decisions of when surgery is absolutely needed. We appreciate all our surgeons and work closely with them as a team to provide the best care. We also can help make recommendations for the best surgeons for your injury.
If surgery is needed, PhysioMender’s prehab programs reduce swelling, improve ROM, strength and function, so that you go into surgery optimized, so that you can bounce back from surgery quicker than normal. Pre-surgical physical therapy is usually performed 1-2 months before surgery, but can start earlier if you are wanting to know if the surgery can be avoided. Pre-surgical rehab is most often recommended before surgeries for joint replacements, rotator cuff, hip, shoulder, ACL, neck, back, nerve, disc or knee replacement.