Questions Orthopedic Surgery Patients Often Have
Posted on: 20 August 2015
Injuries to your joints can be extremely debilitating, and surgery is often required to repair this type of damage. Luckily, arthroscopic surgery has made it possible for your doctor to perform these procedures using much smaller incisions, which allow patients to experience a much shorter recovering time. However, if you have never undergone this type of procedure, you may benefit from the following answers to common arthroscopic surgery questions.
What Should You Expect Immediately Following Arthroscopic Surgery?
Arthroscopic surgery is far less invasive than traditional orthopedic surgery, but you may not know what to expect in the days immediately following this procedure. While you can expect a more rapid recovery period than traditional surgery, you may still experience significant discomfort during the first couple of days. Infection is a major concern during this period, and you should take great care to keep the wounds clean as they are healing. This will require changing your bandages every few hours and routinely applying a prescription or over-the-counter disinfectant to the site of the surgery.
Excessive swelling is another issue that you will need to address during these first few days, and this problem can be both extremely painful and damaging to the joint. As a result, you should make it a point to keep the joint elevated and to use cold compresses as much as possible to reduce any swelling that may happen. If your doctor gave you anti-inflammatories, you should always take them as directed to prevent swelling from undoing the repairs to the joint.
How Do You Rehabilitate Your Healing Joint?
Once the joint has sufficiently healed, you will need to start rehabilitating it. This is essential for strengthening it, which can help reduce the chances of you injuring it again in the future. The way that you will receive rehabilitation will largely depend on the severity of the damage to the joint. When it is relatively minor, you will likely be able to rehab it at your home by doing special exercises that your doctor recommends.
Unfortunately, severely damaged joints may require professional rehabilitation to fully heal. While you may think this will be extremely inconvenient, these sessions are essential to restore as much strength and range of movement as possible to severely compromised joints. If you lack a reliable source of transportation, there are rehabilitation services that can provide home care for patients that request it.
Going through orthopedic surgery is never a fun task, but it can be the only way of repairing and storing your joints. By understanding what the recovery immediately following surgery will be like and what to expect when rehabilitating the joins, you will be a much better-informed patient. Find orthopedic surgeons in your area, such as from Town Center Orthopaedic Associates, to get more information.
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