Rehabilitation With Acupuncture: Post-Surgical and Pre-Surgical

A major surgery can be debilitating and keep you from doing the things you want and need to do for a long time. Using acupuncture as part of your pre-surgery preparations and post-surgical recovery can shorten your rehabilitation time. Joint reconstruction, spinal surgery, oncological, liposuction, gastrointestinal and cosmetic are just a short list of the kinds of surgery that would benefit from pre- and post-surgical acupuncture treatments. Depending on how minor or major your surgery is, these treatments will take weeks to months off your rehabilitation time and get you back to living life fully again.

Before any patient goes in for any kind of surgery, it's important that their immune system is strong. Pre-surgical acupuncture treatments are a great tool to help patients give their immune system a boost. While all acupuncture treatments seem to help boost the immune system, using specific points, such as ST36, LI4, Ren12, UB13, UB17 and Du14 are all particularly effective in boosting the immune system or, in terms of Traditional Oriental Medicine (TCM), tonifying Qi and Blood. A better functioning immune system will benefit you through the surgery and accelerate your recovery time.

After a surgery, varying factors can determine the speed of a patients recovery. Their initial health, the extent of the injury, amount of trauma incurred from the surgery and types of therapies used in the rehabilitation process can make a huge difference in how the patient recovers. It's possible to start acupuncture treatments the same day or day after the surgery. Well before a patient can start physical therapy, acupuncture treatments can expedite the recovery process. Practitioners are able to use distal points, around bandage or casted areas, helping to promote circulation, drain lymph, reduce swelling, increase immune system and control/lower pain levels. These treatments performed early in the recovery process can make it easier, if and when a patient starts physical therapy, by supporting blood flow to the ligaments and tendons, reducing stiffness and maintaining the maximum range of motion of the joints.

Treatments can be continued through all four phases of the rehabilitation process. Patients reported recovery times anywhere from weeks to two months faster than standard rehabilitation times (depending on the surgery). If it's important for you to get back to work sooner, back in competition faster or back to living a normal life, pain free and without annoying physical limitations, as quickly as possible, then acupuncture should definitely be a part of your pre- and post-surgical rehabilitation plan. For more information on acupuncture and recovering from surgery, please visit our website.