Prehabilitation Resource
Surgery puts huge strains and stresses on the body that we don’t normally experience. Therefore, it’s important for a person’s body to be in good condition and prepared for the surgery to take place. This article discusses the benefits of prehabilitation and proper nutrition for patients who are preparing for surgery. It also discusses the different exercises that a person may do within the prehabilitation process that will provide a positive outcome.
Surgery in combination with risk factors such as poor physical and nutritional status have detrimental effects on short- and long-term aspects of recovery and quality of life, especially in elderly patients whose functional reserve is limited. Strategies to minimize these effects and accelerate return to baseline levels have focused on the intra- and post-operative period; however, this may not be the most opportune time to intervene. Instead, the preoperative period may be a more emotionally salient and physically enabling time to initiate an intervention aimed at attenuating surgical stress and enhancing recovery after surgery. The process of increasing patients’ functional reserve in anticipation for surgery is referred to as prehabilitation. Elements of surgical prehabilitation programs include a structured exercise program consisting of both resistance and aerobic training, supplemented by flexibility exercises and nutritional optimization through counselling and supplementation. In general, individuals who are the least fit and the most sedentary have shown the most improvement when they initiate an exercise program. Since their physiologic reserve is limited, even small amounts of physical training can yield significant improvements. The interaction of physical activity and nutrition promotes anabolism, thereby preparing patients to better withstand the stress of surgery and subsequently mitigating the impact on postoperative outcome.
Francesco Carli1 · Vanessa Ferreira1
Received: 27 October 2017 / Accepted: 29 November 2017 / Published online: 4 January 2018 © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
There are great improvements that can be made with prehabilitation before a person undergoes surgery. Through this process, patients increased their functional reserve in order to better prepare for surgery. With this process, guided nutrition, and an exercise routine, patients can expect to better withstand the stress that surgery puts on their bodies which in return will lessen the negative effects of surgery on a person after it takes place.
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