Medical Massage can play a critical role in the recovery process after joint-replacement surgery
Hip- and knee-replacement surgery offers a path to pain-free mobility for people whose joint function has diminished due to age, illness, activity, or injury. It’s no surprise, then, that the popularity of these procedures is surging A 2019 study in The Journal of Rheumatology projected that the number of total knee-replacement surgeries performed in the U.S. would jump from about 1 million in 2020 to more than 1.9 million by 2030; total hip replacements were expected to jump from about half a million to 850,000 in that same period.
.Knee and Hip procedures can provide meaningful long-term benefits to patients, but they usually also come with long and painful recoveries. Medical Massage therapy can play a crucial role in the recovery process. Post-surgical massage can soothe the guarding reaction of tissues, helping them to return to normal function. In effect, one is communicating to the [central nervous system] through the tissues that the trauma is past, and that the nervous system and tissues can return to pre-trauma normal. In additionally, lymphatic drainage massage can also be useful in reducing both pain and swelling and should in many cases be considered a core part of the broader post-surgical therapeutic after care.
Medical Massage can also address other common post-surgery issues, such as the buildup of scar tissue that often accompanies hip and knee procedures.