Try physical therapy before your knee surgery
DALLAS – April 20, 2022 – With knee replacement surgery becoming more common, Varatharaj Mounasamy, M.D., Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center who specializes in hip and knee replacements, recommends taking off from work for a few weeks, joining a class to learn more about joint replacement, and attending physical therapy before surgery.
“Knee replacement can greatly enhance your quality of life when you recover well,” Dr. Mounasamy said. “Following knee reconstruction and replacement, programs should be designed to help ease the transition from the hospital to home, including physical and occupational rehabilitation to enable patients to return to everyday activities quickly and safely.”
Dr. Mounasamy said patients need to have the right equipment on hand: a walker or cane, an ice machine, an incentive spirometer (a hand-held device that helps your lungs recover after a surgery) and TED hose – compression stockings used after surgery to prevent blood clots from developing in the leg. It’s also advisable to use a bedroom on the ground floor of your home during recovery.
Having family members and friends available to help after surgery is crucial. “Our staff provides caregivers with information about support groups and other resources that are an integral part of our rehabilitation program for all joint-replacement patients,” said Dr. Mounasamy.
About UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty has received six Nobel Prizes and includes 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 16 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 2,800 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 117,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 3 million outpatient visits a year.