Pre & Post Surgery Rehabilitation

Surgery is an event. Recovery is a process.

Preparation before surgery and rehabilitation afterwards both significantly affect outcomes — and both are consistently under-resourced in the conventional pathway. Whether it's a joint replacement, spinal surgery, abdominal procedure or any other significant operation, the state of the body going in and the quality of care it receives afterwards make a material difference to how well and how quickly you recover.

Why prehabilitation matters

Prehabilitation — preparing the body for surgery before it happens — is supported by a growing body of evidence showing that people who enter surgery with better physical function, less pain and lower physiological stress recover faster and with fewer complications. Improving joint mobility, reducing compensatory muscle tension, optimising breathing mechanics and supporting nervous system regulation in the weeks before surgery creates better conditions for the body to heal.

Post-surgical rehabilitation

After surgery, the body needs to do two things simultaneously: heal the surgical site, and reorganise the compensation patterns that developed before and during the procedure. Scar tissue, fascial restrictions at and around the surgical site, altered movement patterns and nervous system changes all develop in the post-surgical period — and they all affect long-term outcomes if not addressed.

Visceral manipulation is particularly relevant for people who have had abdominal or pelvic surgery. Surgical scarring creates fascial adhesions that affect organ mobility and can produce distant musculoskeletal symptoms — lower back pain, hip tightness, pelvic floor dysfunction — that are often not connected to the surgery by the person experiencing them.

How Dr Chase approaches it

Pre-surgical sessions focus on reducing pain, improving joint mobility, optimising breathing mechanics and supporting nervous system regulation. Post-surgical sessions are carefully timed to the healing process — early sessions focus on lymphatic drainage, gentle tissue work and nervous system support; later sessions progress to joint mobilisation, scar tissue management and functional rehabilitation.

Treatment is always coordinated with the surgical team's guidelines and adapted to what the body can tolerate at each stage of recovery.

Whether you're preparing for a procedure or recovering from one, osteopathic care can meaningfully support both the process and the outcome.