As a Manual Movement Therapist, my goal is to help you avoid surgery for as long as possible or, ideally, to not need the surgery at all. The important thing to understand is that MMT and Surgery is beneficial both before and after.
As a Referral for Post-Op Care
You were doing everything possible to avoid surgery, but the time came. The pain and the mobility issues could no longer be denied. Your best course of action was to have a surgical intervention. Now you’re dealing with the aftermath.
Surgery is kind of a big deal. Perhaps not in the way you think. Your Nervous System views surgery as a life threatening experience. It’s entirely probable that your Systems will now go into a protective state in order to keep moving forward. Which can impair your recovery.
We all know a person that has gone through surgery and has had a really rough time trying to bounce back. What was supposed to be ‘routine’ with a 4-6 week recovery time is now an ongoing saga. This is where MMT shines.
For post-op care, MMT can help your Systems get out of this protective state. The neural recruitment can be rewired to not expect a life threatening experience to occur every time you open your eyes. Your compensation patterns that have developed since surgery will be assessed and redirected to become more efficient during your healing process. This reduction in heightened sensitivity will allow the Systems to have access to more resources needed to heal efficiently.
For more effective rehab, MMT will also address the events that possibly led up to needing the surgery in the first place. That’s where pre-op is very beneficial.
MMT and Surgery Pre-Op
Let’s face it, surgery isn’t on anyone’s wish list. Most of us want to avoid it at all cost, but we also know that we are likely one stupid human trick away from the inevitable.
The point is to not just give up and wait for the surgery date to creep up on you. There are many benefits to implementing MMT into your routine maintenance prior to surgery.
Obviously, surgery is needed for a reason. Something is broken that needs fixing. But was it a freak accident that no normal human can comprehend or was it an entirely explainable injury or wear and tear due to a repetitive action?
MMT gets your body into a better position to go through and recover from surgery.
MMT helps you recover faster. Using the same neurotheories and motor control therapies as we would post-op we can help decrease sensitivity, engage neural recruitment for improved function, and get you helping yourself with self-care.
This primes your body so that it is working to the best of its ability with what it has now. This improved functionality means that it is prepared to do the work necessary for healing from the inevitable surgery.
You also gain an incredible amount of knowledge from MMT sessions. It helps everything seem less scary and gives you the tools needed to help yourself. Before and after surgery.
