Dr. Warner's Surgery Recovery Plan

While we want to avoid surgery when possible, sometimes it’s necessary to reduce pain and improve mobility or to repair a broken and dysfunctional structure.

Oftentimes, it can be painful during the recovery period following surgery. So, Dr. Warner wants to share her favorite methods for post-operative care.

You’ve been told you need surgery and your procedure has been scheduled. So, what do you do in the meantime?

A lot of us can feel anxious or nervous before surgery, and that’s a fair feeling to have. Surgery can bring up mixed feelings, like uncertainty and hope for improvement. However, you can reduce your anxiety when you feel prepared and have a plan in place.

You can first prepare by talking through these anxious feelings with your support system. Whether that’s a family member, friend or therapist, it’s important to talk through these emotions with someone you trust. Your mental health can play a role in perceived pain and recovery time.

You’ll also want to prepare your body physically. When you take certain supplements leading up to your surgery, you’re preparing your body for the physical stress of surgery while boosting your immune system. Dr. Warner recommends supplements that contain calcium, magnesium, vitamin D3, vitamin C, zinc, and the B vitamins.

It’s also important to follow any pre-operative instructions from your surgeon, so you’ll feel confident heading into surgery.

It’s equally important to follow the detailed guide provided by your surgeon in the days following surgery. You’ll want to follow these instructions as closely as possible. It may be tempting to ignore certain instructions, but this care plan was carefully curated for your recovery. If you don’t follow it as closely as possible, you will risk your health and recovery time.

If you’re not confident about what to do during this time, it’s important to reach out to your care team and seek clarification. It’s also important to attend any follow-up appointments so your physician can ensure you’re recovering well and are free of infection.

Active recovery is an important element to feeling better, faster. It can prevent complications from occurring too. Making a point to walk around your home every couple hours can help prevent blood clots from forming. Obviously, if one of your limbs is to be ‘non weight bearing’, you must respect that and use the appropriate assistive device.

Use ice and heat. Dr. Warner is a fan of alternating these simple and effective remedies for pain and inflammation. A gel pack can often be both heated and chilled. Heat will bring blood to the area and induce healing, but will also sometimes add to swelling and some inflammation. Ice will reduce superficial inflammation and also provide numbness to the skin and help with pain control. (Speak with your physician because some out there don’t like one or the other of these time-honored methods for recovery.)

Continuing to take supplements that promote tissue healing is also highly encouraged. Well Theory offers a few supplements that can fulfill this need.

Our Daily Immune Complex promotes a healthy immune system with a unique combination of elderberry, schisandra berry, garlic bulb extract, echinacea purpurea extract, olive leaf extract, pine bark extract, zinc, vitamin D3, vitamin C and quercetin. A healthy immune system leads to faster and better healing of your tissues after the procedure.

Echinacea purpurea extract is shown to help fight infection while reducing inflammation, which is necessary for post-operative care. Garlic bulb extract promotes a healthy heart, while schisandra berry can promote faster recovery.