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#### 10 Tips to Ensuring a Speedy Recovery After Surgery

If you have suffered a personal injury, you may be required to undergo surgery to address the problem. With a variety of surgical procedures and advancement in technology, recovery from a personal injury surgery is easier now than ever before. To ensure a speedy and safe recovery try the 10 tips below.

Follow All of Your Doctors Post-Operative Instructions

One of the most important things to do following a surgical procedure is to follow all of your doctors post-operative care instructions. While this may seem like an obvious concept, some of the instructions may seem odd or that they may not apply to you, such as not vacuuming for weeks. These instructions are all important and have a reason they have been addressed.

Keep Your Incision Clean

During recovery you will want to make sure that your incision is always kept clean and dressings are replaced often. One of the most common complications after surgery is infection and is usually preventable by proper wound care. Your hospital staff should provide you with wound care instructions as well as supplies to get started.

Maintain a Healthy Diet

Eating the right foods will not only help you with recovery, but also help you with medication side effects that may occur. Pain medication can cause digestive issues and therefore having proper fiber in your diet will help make your recovery more comfortable. It is also important to stay hydrated and eat regular meals to help prevent nausea from medication and help your body start the healing process.

Keep Your Pain in Check

You may feel like dealing with pain from your surgery instead of taking pain medication makes you a stronger person, or may have a fear that taking pain medication may lead to dependence. In truth suffering through pain after surgery can cause your recovery time to take longer as well as cause a lot of unnecessary pain. If you take medication as prescribed you will not suffer withdrawals and are very unlikely to cause dependence. In addition, it is important to take your pain medication on the onset of pain, as waiting too long will cause the medication to be less effective.

Contact Your Doctor When Issues Arise

You know your body best, so if you feel that something is not right or there is an issue hindering your recovery, be sure to contact your doctor’s office or the surgical facility. While many side effects can be common, it is important to check on the issue to prevent it from becoming an emergency.

Be Cautious of Activities That Can Affect Your Incision

If you have an incision in the stomach or chest area, something as simple as a sneeze can cause pain in or possible tearing in your incision. Try to exercise caution or minimize movement that can affect your incision area. For example, in the case of coughing or sneezing, hold a pillow to your chest or stomach to prevent forceful movement.

Move as Much as Will Allow

Swelling, muscle problems, and even blood clots can occur after surgery if you remain immobile for too long. It is important to get up and move throughout the day, to not only prevent these issues, but also get your blood circulating to aid the body in the healing process. Just be sure to take it slow and don’t overdo.

Have a Support System in Place

Depending on the type of personal injury surgery you have, you will need support in place for your recovery process. This may be as significant as round the clock care, or as simple as someone to take you to your appointments or be available in case an emergency arises.

Help Maintain a Positive Attitude

Having a positive attitude will not only help you handle your recovery better, but also help you to focus on the end goal, which is overall health. One way to help maintain a positive attitude is by bringing a little sunshine into your recovery. This can be as simple as opening the blinds during the day, or stepping outside if your healing allows. Studies have shown that sunlight actually helps aid in your body’s natural recovery process.

Follow-up with Your Doctor as Required

Even if you are feeling good, you will want to attend all of your follow-up doctor or therapy appointments. These are important to the recovery process as they help to address any issues before they become major problems and make sure you are healing properly.

By SignatureCare ER | May 14th, 2017| Categories: Health & Wellness
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