Starting Back After Surgery  by:  Joella Baker

 

People have surgery for so many reasons.  Some can be easy and outpatient procedures, others are more intrusive and may require a lot of time in the hospital and physical therapy.  Either way, knowing when and how to get back into or perhaps simply start an exercise program is difficult.

After surgery, your body needs a lot of time to heal.  During this healing process, depending on the type of surgery you had, you may not be able to do any physical activity at all.  If that is the case, then getting back into a program will be even more difficult.  It’s extremely important that when you plan to start back to exercising, you clear it with your doctor.

 

Find out the following:

 

  • When can you start a program?
  • What type of exercises are good for you to do to start?
  • What duration are you permitted to do?
  • How quickly or slowly should you progress?
  • What are your restrictions?

 

Once you’ve found out all of that, you need a program.  You can do this several ways.  You can simply do as the doctor says and progress based on how you feel.  You can join a health or fitness club and ask the advice of instructors at the facility who can lead you through proper exercises and how to do the exercises.  You can hire a personal trainer or coach.  You can also find friends to work out with who can help you through the process.  The most important thing is to remember to start out slow and to do something that feels comfortable to you and also find something that is fun.

 

Starting back to exercising is tough enough, but if you try and do something that is too tough for you or not any fun, you won’t stick with it.  Often times exercise is a major component in making sure surgery isn’t needed again in the future, so starting on the right program is extremely important.

 

At Get Fit Families, we will work closely with individuals over coming surgery and their doctors to make sure we are developing the right program for that individual.  If you’re interested in finding out more about our post-surgery programs, please email or call us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 724-321-4265.