7 Ways to Enhance Recovery After Surgery

The most important part of post-surgery is a healthy recovery. If you have surgery coming up, you probably would like to know ways you can help speed up and enhance recovery after your procedure. 

The first place to begin a good recovery is closely following your discharge and post-op instructions. Make sure you read all recovery instructions the doctor gives you carefully, and don’t hesitate to ask questions to make sure you fully understand them as well. 

Beyond your post-op recovery instructions, there are several additional ways to further improve recovery. Below we’ll discuss 7 ways to enhance your recovery after surgery so you can get back to your daily life as usual before you know it.

Keep Your Follow-Up Appointments

Beyond following your doctor’s post-op instructions carefully, make sure you attend each of your follow-up appointments. Some patients will skip appointments and feel like they aren’t necessary if they’re feeling good and their wounds are healing well. However, even if it seems like everything is healing fine, it’s still crucial to attend every follow-up appointment your doctor suggests.

Beyond inspecting the surgical area and wounds for signs of infection, your doctor will want to know how you’re feeling, how you’re doing on any prescribed medications, and check for signs of possible complications. 

Stay Clean To Prevent Infection

One of the top concerns during post-op recovery is preventing infection. Infection of the surgical wound can cause severe complications and, in some cases, require more surgery to treat. The most critical part of preventing infection is keeping the wound area clean. 

Before touching the area, thoroughly wash your hands and follow the proper wound and incision cleaning instructions given. If you’re unsure how to keep the site clean and prevent infection, ask your doctor how you can best stay clean and infection-free. 

Drink and Eat Properly To Enhance Recovery After Surgery

Having surgery can throw your appetite and digestion out of balance. Many people after surgery don’t have an appetite, feel nauseous, or constipated. Regardless of how hungry you may not feel afterward, staying hydrated and eating a healthy diet after surgery is essential to promoting better healing, minimizing possible complications, and reducing medication side effects.

If you’re unsure of how to modify your diet or make sure you get the proper nutrition and hydration needed after your surgery, don’t be afraid to ask your doctor.

Move Carefully To Enhance Recovery After Surgery

After surgery, your incision area is weak, and specific movements can put stress and tension on the area, possibly causing incisions to open up. You’ll want to be careful with movement that involves putting tension or stress on your incisions. 

You’ll also want to be careful coughing or sneezing hard. Depending on the incision, a hard cough or sneeze may tear it back open and possibly make it easier for infection or other complications to appear. 

Pain Management

Keeping pain under control is a top concern for most patients. Some patients resist this and push through the pain because they don’t want to take strong pain medications. However, if you’re in too much pain, it can lead to other complications. For example, being in too much pain to cough can lead to pneumonia, being in too much pain to walk can lead to blood clots, etc. 

The goal is to keep the pain at a tolerable level so that your recovery process can continue moving along. If you’re opposed to pain medications or pain management is a concern of yours, discuss the pain management options available to you with your doctor. 

Some patients can manage their pain with over-the-counter medications instead of prescription-strength pain medications. Other patients will use additional therapeutic treatments to help manage their pain and enhance the recovery process.

Get Plenty of Rest

One of the most essential things to enhancing recovery after surgery is to give your body plenty of rest. You’re probably anxious to get back to your normal activities or work as soon as possible, but rest is crucial for your body’s recovery process. 

While movement is also an important part of recovery, resting the first couple of days after surgery is recommended. Take it easy on your body, don’t strain yourself, and allow yourself to sleep when your body feels tired. 

Get Moving

Knowing when to rest and when to move your body during recovery is important and varies from patient to patient. Some patients may require more rest or more extended rest periods before moving regularly again, while others may only need one full day of rest before being encouraged to get moving.

Movement after surgery doesn’t have to be strenuous though. Walking is one of the easiest and most important forms of movement you can do to enhance recovery after surgery. A quick walk around your home a few times a day is good enough to prevent serious complications such as deep vein thrombosis or pneumonia.

Your doctor will have the best recommendations for resting and movement after your surgery, so be sure to check when you should start moving again, how often, and what type of movement is okay. 

Enhance Recovery After Surgery: The Bottom Line

One main reason people don’t have a smooth recovery experience after surgery is that they don’t follow their post-op recovery instructions. If you really want to enhance recovery after surgery and have the best possible experience, post-op instructions are just the beginning. Make sure you discuss your post-op instructions and any additional steps you can take in order to have the best recovery experience possible with your doctor.

Your body needs time to heal and recover, and you can also do numerous things to help promote the healing and recovery process. At CORR, we work with you and your post-op recovery plan to provide additional healing therapies to enhance your surgery recovery. Our experienced and professional team will optimize your recovery experience while minimizing pain and compilation risk so you can get back to feeling like yourself and everyday life again. 

Reach out to us today to learn more about our surgery, recovery, and healing therapy options.