Minor Injuries: Seeking Treatment in a Timely Manner

You're finally getting that joint replacement so you can walk without pain again. This is major surgery, but your orthopedic surgeon has performed it numerous times. This is the first time for you, though, and you want your recovery to be successful.

With the costs of a hospital stay, many people choose to recover at home from major surgery. The thought of recovering in a familiar surrounding is appealing. But being at home can also be a distraction from your focus on your hip. In a short term rehab center, your primary focus is healing and you have a number of people there to help you stay focused. Here are a number of reasons to consider a short term rehabilitation center to make sure your recovery goes as well as possible.

1. Your progress is tracked closely so you can see the improvements.

Recovering from a total hip replacement requires regaining the range of motion in your hip followed by strengthening the muscles to support the hip joint. Slow and incremental progress is important to recovering without straining your hip or impeding the healing of bone and soft tissues. You may become frustrated at your perceived lack of progress but the staff can show you that you are improving at a healthy rate.

2. You get support and encouragement during those tough times.

After a tough day, you may not want to get out of bed the next morning. The staff in the facility know how important it is for you to maintain your physical therapy schedule to continue your progress. They will help you get motivated to get back into your schedule and stick with your exercise program.

3. You'll get help with medication management.

Your doctor will have given you one or more prescriptions for pain medication. You'll have aching in your hip which may increase during your physical therapy. This might make it hard to look forward to your exercises, which is where proper medication management comes in. The rehabilitation center staff will make sure that you take your pain medications on schedule, especially before going to physical therapy. This prevents you from aching after the session. Good pain management is also necessary for the first few weeks to make sure you get plenty or rest at night.

4. You'll get immediate feedback on your health questions.

You step down hard when going down the stairs and feel a twinge in your hip. Is it something to be concerned with? If you're at home, you'll have to call your doctor and perhaps wait for several hours for them to get back to you. The rehab staff can help answer those questions right away or track down the doctor or therapist who can best answer them for you.

When considering where to recover from your hip surgery, look at a short term rehabilitation center. It will help you focus on your healing so you can have the most successful recovery possible. Check out websites like http://www.nrothandrehab.com for more information.