First Assessment
Free
45 minutes, at home
- Full clinical examination at the patient's home
- The likely cause explained in plain language
- A realistic recovery plan and what it will cost
- No obligation to book any further sessions
The hardest hours after an operation are often the first ones at home. The patient has left a hospital bed that adjusts, a nurse call button and a flat corridor, and arrives at a gate, a driveway and perhaps a flight of steps. In Koregaon Park, where many homes are older bungalows or low-rise apartment blocks, that arrival is worth planning before the day of discharge.
The wider rules of post-operative recovery are set out on our post-surgery rehabilitation page. Here we focus on how a home programme works for households in this neighbourhood.
Planning the homecoming
If you can speak to the physiotherapist before discharge, a few questions save a great deal of trouble. How will the patient get from the car to the door, and are there steps with a rail? Is the bedroom on the same floor as the bathroom? Is the bed high enough to stand from, and is there a firm chair with arms? Will a walker or crutches fit through the doors? A bungalow may have generous rooms but several steps; an apartment block may have a lift but a narrow bathroom. Each case needs a different arrangement.
Clear the path from the entrance to the bed of rugs, cables and loose footwear. Bring a stool or sturdy chair into the bathroom. Keep a phone, water and medicines within reach of the bed. The physiotherapist will check these things on the first visit, and adjust them.
What the early visits cover
- Safe movement. Getting out of bed, standing, sitting and turning without breaking the surgeon's restrictions, such as limits on how far a hip can bend or how much weight a leg can carry.
- Circulation and breathing. Ankle movements, deep breaths and short walks to reduce stiffness and the risk of clots and chest problems.
- Pain and swelling. Positioning, gentle movement and cold or elevation where appropriate, alongside the medicines your doctor has prescribed.
- Strength and range. Graded exercises for the operated joint or the trunk, advanced only as the surgeon allows.
- Walking aids and stairs. Using a walker, crutches or stick correctly, and practising steps with a rail.
A joint replacement leaves a patient with a knee that needs strengthening, which our knee pain physiotherapy page for Koregaon Park also discusses, while a patient after hip surgery has different restrictions. We follow the surgeon's protocol in every case, and ask for a copy of it.
Trips back to the surgeon
Follow-up appointments, X-rays and suture removal usually mean travel. Roads in this part of Pune are affected by the Sadhu Vaswani Bridge reconstruction, which has been under way since May 2024 and is expected to be completed around the turn of 2026 and 2027, so allow extra time and arrange an escort. A patient on crutches or a walker should not rush for a car door. If possible, ask the family driver to bring the car to the foot of the steps, and keep a folding stool in the car if the seat is low.
Getting back to routine
Recovery from an operation is not a straight line. Some days the joint feels stiff and the patient wants to rest, and the physiotherapist helps judge when rest is right and when movement will help. Short, frequent walks around the house, and later the compound, are usually better than one long walk. Outdoor practice on the quiet lanes or at a park such as Osho Teerth Park can follow when the surgeon, the physiotherapist and the patient's own balance all agree.
For an older patient, strength and balance work after the operation also helps reduce the risk of a fall. Our elderly physiotherapy page for Koregaon Park covers this.
Call the surgeon or emergency services if
Seek urgent medical help for a hot, swollen, painful calf, sudden breathlessness or chest pain, a fever, a wound that is red, opening or leaking, new numbness or weakness in a limb, or a fall after surgery. These can point to a clot, an infection or a problem with the repair, and they need a doctor rather than an exercise session.
Booking before or after discharge
Use the appointment page and tell us the type of operation, the date and the surgeon's instructions. More on how we plan routes in the neighbourhood is on our Koregaon Park page.