Pre & Post-Operative Physical Therapy
Surgery is often just the first step. What happens in the weeks after — the exercises, the mobility work, the small daily wins — determines whether you fully bounce back or end up limited for months. Stride Home Therapy provides pre-op (prehab) and post-op (rehab) physical therapy right in your home, so you're recovering in the space you actually live in, not driving to a clinic while still swollen, sore, or on crutches.
I work most often with clients recovering from:
- Total Knee Arthroplasty
- Total Hip Replacement
- Shoulder Replacement
Prehab is physical therapy "before" your surgery date. Research consistently shows that patients who go into joint replacement surgery stronger and more mobile tend to recover faster and more fully afterward. In the weeks before your procedure, we focus on:
- Building strength in the muscles that support the joint being replaced
- Improving your range of motion where surgery hasn't yet limited it
- Practicing the exact movements you'll need immediately after surgery — getting in and out of a chair, using a walker, navigating stairs
- Setting up your home before you need it: removing fall hazards, positioning furniture, arranging assistive equipment
Post Operative Rehabilitation
Walking into surgery prepared makes the first two weeks afterward significantly easier. Every surgery — and every person — recovers on a different timeline, but here's a general sense of what in-home rehab addresses at each stage:
Total Knee Replacement
The first few weeks are about regaining bend and straighten range of motion in the knee before scar tissue limits it permanently, along with quad strength to support safe walking. We track your degrees of flexion week to week and adjust exercises as swelling decreases and your comfort with weight-bearing increases. Most clients progress to unassisted walking within 12 weeks. After the out-patient clinical experience, you may feel you have not yet reached your potential. That is where I fit in. Take that next step to achieve your potential!
Total Hip Replacement
Early recovery centers on relearning safe movement patterns — how to bend, sit, and turn without stressing the new joint — alongside strengthening the hip and surrounding muscles that support your gait. We also work on the specific precautions your surgeon gave you (which vary depending on the surgical approach used), so you're moving confidently rather than fearfully. Most clients transition off assistive devices within 4-8 weeks.
Total Shoulder Replacement
Shoulder recovery tends to be slower and more protective early on, since the joint needs time to heal before it can bear load. We work through a careful progression from passive range of motion (where I move the arm for you) to active-assisted movement to independent strengthening — always within the limits your surgeon sets. Return of functional use for daily tasks like dressing and reaching typically develops over 3-4 months. My role would most likely follow the out-patient setting possible due to insurance visit limitations or the due to difficulties just getting to the clinic.