Post-Surgery Rehabilitation at Home in Tilak Road, Pune

The day a patient returns from hospital is the day the plan meets the building. Upstairs or ground floor, a lift or no lift, a toilet down a corridor or inside the bedroom: these facts decide how the first week goes. For families in Sadashiv Peth and along Tilak Road, where many buildings are older and compact, it pays to think about them before discharge.

Our post-surgery rehabilitation page covers recovery after common operations. This page concentrates on the first days and weeks at home after surgery, and on preparing a flat in this neighbourhood for them.

Plan the flat before the patient arrives

A short checklist done a day or two before discharge makes the first night calmer.

• The route to the bed. Clear rugs, cables and low stools from the path between the entrance, the bed and the toilet.
• A raised seat. After a hip or knee replacement a higher chair, and sometimes a raised toilet seat, avoids a deep bend.
• The stairs. If the flat is above the ground floor and has no lift, count the steps, check the rail and decide who will walk beside the patient on the way up.
• Night lighting. A lamp within reach, and a light on the way to the bathroom.
• Bathroom footing. A non-slip mat and a sturdy stool, with a plan for washing that follows the surgeon's wound-care advice.

If you can, book physiotherapy before discharge so the first visit takes place within the first days, when the guidance is most useful.

The first trip down the stairs

For someone in a flat without a lift, the first descent is often the trip to the surgeon for a wound check. It is worth practising before the day. The physiotherapist teaches the order of steps: for most lower-limb operations, the stronger leg goes first on the way up, and the operated leg leads on the way down, with the stick or crutch moving together with it. A family member stands one step below on the descent and one step above on the climb, and does not lift the patient.

What the visits cover

Different operations call for different plans. After knee or hip surgery the early priorities are safe movement, swelling control, getting out of bed and chair, and walking with the right aid. After a spine operation the physiotherapist teaches protective positions and how to roll, sit and stand without twisting. After abdominal or chest surgery the work centres on breathing exercises, supporting the wound when coughing and gradual return to walking. In every case, the surgeon's instructions on weight-bearing and movement limits take precedence over general advice.

Once the wound has healed and the pain has settled, the plan gradually moves from protection to strength. For a knee patient, the knee pain physiotherapy page shows what that later phase looks like, and for older patients elderly physiotherapy adds balance work.

Signs to report quickly

Call the surgeon or go to an emergency department for a fever, a wound that is red, hot, leaking or opening, sudden breathlessness or chest pain, or a calf that becomes swollen, warm and painful. A new inability to bear weight after a stable period also needs prompt review. Our physiotherapist will stop a session and ask you to contact the doctor if any of these appear.

Book on the booking page, or read how we work across Tilak Road.