Elbow injuries hurt any way you bend it, but your post-op elbow surgery care can make the recovery process a lot less painful. Working with the right physio team to help you heal from elbow surgery is one of the best ways to set yourself up for pain-free living and getting back to your favorite activities.
Why Do People Get Elbow Surgery?
While many elbow injuries heal either on their own or with physical therapy alone, some more serious elbow injuries require surgery. A few reasons people may need elbow surgery include:
- Elbow surgery for tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow. These two common overuse injuries are typically treated without surgery. If, however, pain persists even after a year of nonsurgical treatment for tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow, surgery may be necessary.
- Traumatic elbow injuries.
- Rheumatoid arthritis.
What are the Different Types of Elbow Surgery?
Although we won’t go into too much detail about the varying types of elbow surgery, it’s important to note that not all types of elbow surgeries are the same. The elbow surgery you get will depend on your needs, including your injury or condition. The most common types of elbow surgery are:
- Synovectomy
- Elbow Interpositional arthroplasty
- Arthroscopic debridement
- Total Elbow Replacement
- Open reduction and Internal Fixation
What to Expect Post Elbow Surgery?
Immediately following your elbow surgery, you may have to swear a splint or cast for several weeks. Additionally, you may still have pain post-op depending on the type of elbow surgery you had. Pain after elbow surgery is normal and should subside with the right rehab practices in place. Most elbow pain goes away within 3 to 6 months post elbow surgery, but this can be accelerated by the right rehab.
Recovering from Elbow Surgery
The course of your recovery from elbow surgery depends on the type of elbow surgery you had and your follow-up care.
Surgeons typically prescribe physical therapy for tennis elbow surgery and golfer’s elbow surgery to help get the muscles to work better and mobility to be restored. A physical therapist with experience in elbow surgery will work with you getting you back to your favorite activities.
Next Level Physio for Post-Op Elbow Surgery
Elbow surgery involves serious procedures; that said, these procedures can seriously improve your life in leaps and bounds. Don’t let your recovery from elbow surgery stagnate. Instead, work with a team of experienced physical therapists to make sure you heal properly.
What do we do differently at Next Level? On top of using cutting edge modalities and treatment strategies, we also provide you with programming to keep the rest of your body from deteriorating, and for those who are active, we can coach you on what CAN do to keep fit and healthy during the long recovery process.
In addition to physical therapy for post-op elbow surgery, we also treat many other conditions including:
- Sports injuries
- Pre-surgical rehab
- Post-surgical rehab
- Neck pain
- Shoulder and elbow pain
- Vertigo and concussion
- Wrist and hand pain
- Ankle and foot pain
- Sciatica/back pain… and more
Some of the physical therapy methods we use for pain treatment include:
- IASTM Technique
- Blood Flow Restriction Training
- Therapeutic Exercise
- Shockwave
- Cold Laser
- Australian Manual Therapy
- Cupping, and more
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