Neck or Back Pain? Had Hip Replacement or Abdominal Surgery?

Wow! Did you know this about pain levels after hip replacement recovery?

“… your pain levels should slowly decrease to about 1 or 2 in 12 weeks after the hip replacement,” per Johns Hopkins recovery Q&A information.

I think most people expect to be completely out of pain 3 months later!

Back pain after surgical recovery?

You made it through the worst of everything and are all healed up. You did all your exercises for the three months or more, and yet you still feel stiff and achy. You wonder … is this how it’s going to be?

This week’s guest on our YouTube channel, Cindy, had lingering back and neck pain following her surgical recovery. Take a look to see what we found and how it changed with a bit of Bridging.

What do you expect after surgery?

Whether minimally invasive or not, you are told to expect to:

• Feel crummy and in pain for a period of time after your procedure.
• Return to ‘normal’ within a timeframe discussed with your medical professional. (6-8 weeks is minimal)

What you DON’T expect to have are:

• Aches and pains weeks or months later.
• Challenges with exercise or poor balance after this period of time.

Four aspects of your post-surgical recovery still creating havoc

We find that our clients who are still having pain or movement limitations after a surgery generally have traits which fall into four categories.

Each of these is the cause for a glitch in how movement flows within your body. When these flows are stuck or compromised there is stress, which creates your pain or stiffness.

The four common aspects impacting your recovery:

1. Guarding: The body is still protecting the traumatized area that was disrupted by the procedure. Your body doesn’t know it can stop guarding now that it is all healed.
2. Disrupted neuromuscular pathways: The surgical procedure shut down the neuromuscular communications in the area of surgery. The muscles sometimes aren’t able to naturally re-establish ways of working together.
3. Compensations: Dysfunction before surgery can cause compensations such as limping. Compensations can also occur due to post-surgical immobilization or pain while healing.
4. Other traumas: Other aspects of the surgery such as IV trauma to your hands or arms, or breathing support positions of your head and neck, can create glitches to normal movement in areas you’d least suspect.

With Bridging, these can generally be resolved over the course of 2-3 sessions.

The how and why these impact you

In each case, the Bridging process will assess a basic set of foundational movements. When specific movement glitches are identified, we use the gentle rocking and stretching micromovements of the Bridging Technique to reset how your muscles work together, removing stress.

When the surgery was complex or quite invasive, there are layers to your recovery and healing. This is why it takes 2-3 sessions to work through a full set of movement transitions. You will feel better after each session, even though you are a work in progress.

Just like in the video session with Cindy, you will feel better and often calmer.