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
Hospital stays after surgery are short, so most of the recovery takes place at home. Patients returning to homes along Shankar Sheth Road often face two practical hurdles. The first is the building: a flat up a flight of stairs, or a wada with steep wooden steps, has to be managed with a walker or crutches and a healing joint. The second is the follow-up with the surgeon in the weeks after the operation, which means a journey along one of the city's busiest roads with a fresh wound and limited movement.
Our post-surgery rehabilitation page describes rehabilitation after common operations in general. This page covers how we work with patients on and around this road.
Between discharge and the first follow-up
Ideally, the first home visit is arranged before you leave hospital. The physiotherapist reads the discharge summary and notes the operation, any weight-bearing limits and movement precautions. They then check swelling, pain control and how you are getting in and out of bed, on and off the toilet and up from a chair. Early exercises are simple and frequent: ankle pumps to help circulation, tightening the thigh or buttock muscles, and gentle movement of the operated joint as permitted.
Walking with the aid you were given starts indoors, on the floors you will use every day. Rugs that slide, a raised step into the bathroom and a bed that is too low are dealt with early. For older patients, or anyone whose balance was shaky before the operation, our elderly physiotherapy page for this road adds fall prevention.
Working within the surgeon's instructions
Every operation comes with its own rules. After a hip replacement there may be positions to avoid for a time; after a knee replacement, regaining the bend and full straightening early matters; after fracture fixation, weight through the limb may be limited until the bone has healed; after spine surgery, bending and lifting are often restricted. The physiotherapist follows the protocol your surgeon sets, and anything unclear is checked with the surgical team rather than guessed. For broken bones, see also our post-fracture rehabilitation page, and for new knees, knee replacement rehabilitation.
Planning the trip back to the surgeon
The follow-up appointment is often the first time you leave home after surgery, so it is worth rehearsing. In the sessions before it, the physiotherapist practises the stairs with your walker or crutches, the step out of the gate, and getting into the vehicle you will travel in. Entering a car seat backwards, sitting first and then swinging the legs in, suits many hip and knee patients, and a firm cushion can raise a low seat. Ask the family to bring the vehicle into a side lane rather than stopping on the main road, and travel when traffic is lighter if the clinic's timings allow. Carry the discharge summary and a written list of the questions you want to ask.
Warning signs after an operation
Contact your surgeon or go to an emergency department for increasing redness, discharge or heat around the wound, a fever, a calf that becomes painful and swollen, sudden breathlessness or chest pain, or a sharp rise in pain together with a change in the shape of the limb.
To arrange visits from your first days at home, use the booking page. The Shankar Sheth Road home physiotherapy page has the practical details of visits on this road.