What We Treat

Pre & post surgery treatment in Lakewood.

Surgery fixes the structure. It does not hand back the motion, the strength or the confidence. That part is rehab, and the best of it starts before the date on the calendar.

Prehab Joint replacement Spinal surgery Talk to a Specialist

Sound Familiar?

Does this sound like where you are?

  • A surgery date on the calendar and a folder nobody has walked you through
  • A photocopied sheet of exercises and a note to start when you feel up to it
  • The knee bends fine on the table and locks up on the third stair
  • Scar tissue that makes the joint feel like it stops short of where it should go
  • You guard the operated side so carefully that the other one has started aching
  • No idea what counts as normal soreness and what is worth a phone call

Two or more? Keep reading.

Why It Happens

Surgery is the repair. Recovery is the rebuild.

A good operation fixes the structure. It cannot give back what the joint lost around it. Muscle switches itself down after surgery, a protective reflex you get no say in, which is why the leg feels like it belongs to someone else. Swelling limits motion. Healing tissue lays down scar, and scar shortens if the joint is not moved while it forms. None of that is a complication. It is what bodies do, and all of it is trainable.

Two things stall a recovery. Pushing too hard too soon, which flares the joint and costs you weeks. Or resting too long, which lets the stiffness set. Getting the dose right is the whole job, and it starts before the operation: strength you take in with you is strength you do not have to rebuild afterwards. You booked this surgery because you are the one who gets things sorted. Rehab is the half of the job most people leave to chance.

A licensed physical therapist guiding a patient through knee range of motion work after surgery

The Honest Truth

The window around surgery doesn’t stay open.

If you keep waiting

  • Motion is easiest to win back early and hardest once the scar tissue has settled
  • Strength you lose before the operation is strength you rebuild after it, from further back
  • You limp long enough that the limp becomes the habit, and the good side starts paying for it

If you start this week

  • You go in stronger, with the mechanics already practiced
  • Crutches, walkers and the stairs at home get trained before you need them
  • We work to your surgeon’s protocol, so nobody is guessing what is safe yet

Nobody regrets starting too early. Plenty of people wish they hadn’t waited.

How We Fix It

The same four phases. Timed around your surgery.

Prehab starts before the date. After it, every phase has a job and a way to know you’ve earned the next one.

Before & just after

Pain

Get ahead of the swelling.

Before surgery we build the reserve you will draw on. Straight after, hands-on work, positioning and gentle motion stop pain and swelling setting the terms.

Early weeks

Prime

Win the motion back.

Range of motion, scar mobility and getting the muscle around the joint firing again, inside whatever your surgeon has cleared.

Building strength

Perform

Load it until you trust it.

Progressive strength, balance and the movements you have been avoiding: stairs, the car, the ladder at work, the floor and back up again.

Staying ahead

Prevent

Leave stronger than you arrived.

The mechanics that put strain on the joint get retrained and tested under real load, so the other side is not next in line. That is the endpoint, not just another appointment.

Related Conditions

What usually comes with it.

The joint you had operated on is rarely the only thing complaining. Here’s what else we treat.

1

Hip & Knee Pain

Taking the stairs one at a time because the joint does not trust the next step.

Learn More 2

Lymphedema

Swelling in an arm or leg that does not go down on its own overnight.

Learn More 3

Back Pain & Sciatica

Bracing on the counter just to stand up straight in the morning.

Learn More

Questions, Answered

What people ask before surgery, and after it.

Before, if you have the time. Prehab builds the strength, motion and balance you will be drawing on afterwards, and it is especially worth it for joint replacements, spinal procedures and other orthopedic surgeries. It also means you already know the exercises, the crutches and the stairs before you are sore and groggy. If surgery has already happened, most programs start within days of the procedure, depending on what your surgeon clears.

Nothing we do goes outside your surgeon’s protocol. We work with their team, not around them. Some of it is uncomfortable, because regaining motion after an operation usually is. Uncomfortable and unsafe are different things, and knowing the difference is the job. You are one-on-one with a licensed physical therapist for the whole visit, so the dose gets watched every session instead of being printed on a sheet and left with you.

Your procedure sets a lot of it. As a general guideline, a plan runs two to three visits a week for four to six weeks, then we reassess. That is a guideline, not a guarantee. What you do get is a plan with an endpoint, so you always know which phase you are in and what is left. We accept 14 insurance plans, so bring your card and we will go through your coverage with you before anything starts.

Book Your Visit

Ready when you are.

Request a time and a real person calls you back during business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.

  • Hours Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM–5:00 PM
  • (562) 512-3320 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
  • No doctor’s referral needed to start

We call back during business hours, Monday to Friday

Step 1 of 5

So we know who to look for when you walk in.

Visit Us

Care this good, this close.

The PT People

Take Me There (opens in a new tab) Call Us