What should I expect during my recovery period?
After surgery, you'll wear the elbow brace for up to six weeks to give your elbow time to heal. Then you may be ready to see a Physical Therapist at Ogren Physical Therapy to direct your recovery program. Although the time required for rehabilitation varies among patients, as a guideline you may need to attend Physical Therapy sessions for one to two months, and you should expect full recovery to take up to four months.
Our first few Physical Therapy treatments will focus on controlling the pain and swelling from surgery. Our Physical Therapist may use heat treatments, gentle massage and other hands-on procedures to ease muscle spasm and pain.
When you are ready, we will instruct you to begin gentle range-of-motion exercises, which may include active elbow movements and passive stretching. You Physical Therapist will then introduce strengthening exercises to give extra stability to your elbow joint. As with any surgery, you need to avoid doing too much, too quickly.
Some of the exercises we'll have you do are designed to get your arm working in ways that are similar to your work tasks and daily activities. Our Physical Therapist will help you find ways to do your tasks that don't put too much stress on your elbow joint. Before your therapy sessions end, our therapist will teach you a number of ways to avoid future problems.
At Ogren Physical Therapy, our goal is to help you keep control your pain, improve your strength, and maximize your range of motion. When your recovery is well under way, regular visits to our office will end. Although we will continue to be a resource, you will be in charge of your own exercises as part of an ongoing home program.
Ogren Physical Therapy provides services for Physical Therapy in Armonk.
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