Physiotherapy in Chester After surgery
The operation is the surgeon’s part. The weeks and months afterwards are yours, and they make a real difference to how well the joint works in the end. Hannah works to your surgeon’s protocol and sets the pace with you, week by week.
- Home visits in the first fortnight
- £75
- Visits to begin with
- Weekly
- You’ll see
- Hannah
Sounds like you?
People find us at different points: before the operation, the week they come home, or months later when progress has stalled.
You’ll see Hannah. Hannah sees most of our backs, necks and post‑operative patients, and you’ll see her at every visit.
- You have a date for a new knee or hip and want to go in as strong as you can.
- You’re home from hospital with a sheet of exercises and aren’t sure you’re doing them right.
- Your new knee won’t bend as far as you were told it should by now.
- You’ve had your ACL rebuilt and want to get back to sport properly, not just back to walking.
- You’re in a sling after a shoulder repair and nervous about moving it at all.
- Your hospital physio has finished and you don’t feel finished.
Had a different operation? Ring Carys. Hannah has worked with most orthopaedic procedures, and will tell you if yours is outside what she knows.
The operations we see most
- Knee replacement
- The early weeks are about getting the knee fully straight, getting it to bend, and walking well with sticks and then without. It’s hard work at the start, and worth doing on schedule.
- Hip replacement
- Walking, stairs and strength around the hip, within whatever movement precautions your surgeon has set. Most people find it easier than they feared.
- ACL reconstruction
- A long one: nine to twelve months before twisting or contact sport. Early on it’s swelling, straightening and waking up the thigh muscle. Later it’s strength, landing and changing direction, with tests before each step up.
- Rotator cuff repair
- The repair needs protecting, so for roughly the first six weeks you wear the sling as instructed and we move the arm for you. Lifting it yourself comes next, and strengthening from about three months.
What happens when you come
A first appointment is 45 minutes with Hannah, at the clinic or at your home. Bring your discharge letter, your exercise sheet and a list of your medicines.
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Where you are now
Hannah reads your surgeon’s instructions, then asks how the operation and the days since have gone, and what you most want to be able to do again.
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Measuring
How far the joint moves, how strong the muscles around it are, how you’re walking, how the wound and the swelling look. We write the numbers down, because watching them change is encouraging.
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Your exercises, checked
We go through the hospital sheet with you, correct what needs correcting, and add or remove exercises to suit this week.
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Hands‑on work
Gentle movement of the joint, work on the scar and the swelling, and help with walking aids, stairs and getting in and out of a car.
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A timetable
You’ll know what we’re aiming for by the next visit and by the time you see your surgeon again. When you’ve reached the goals you set, we stop.
What the first six weeks look like
This is the usual shape after a knee or hip replacement. Shoulders and ACLs move more slowly, and your surgeon’s instructions always come first.
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Before the operation
Getting ready
If there’s time, one or two sessions to build strength and to practise the exercises and the sticks or crutches while it’s still easy.
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Days 1 to 14
At home
Managing swelling, getting the joint moving within the limits you’ve been given, and walking safely indoors and on the stairs. Hannah can come to you: home visits are £75.
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Weeks 2 to 4
Into the clinic
Once your wound has been checked and you can travel, you come to us. More movement, the first strengthening, and walking further with less support.
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Weeks 4 to 6
Building up
Strength and stamina, aimed at the things on your own list: stairs without the rail, a walk to the shops, driving once your surgeon agrees.
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After week 6
Further apart
Most people see their surgeon for a review around now. Visits drop to fortnightly, then monthly, and the programme gets more ambitious.
We work to your surgeon’s protocol
Every surgeon sets rules for the weeks after an operation: how much weight the leg can take, how far the joint may move, when the sling comes off. Bring your discharge letter and any instructions to your first appointment. Hannah follows them, and gets in touch with your surgeon’s team if anything is unclear or isn’t progressing as it should.
How long it takes
After a knee or hip replacement, most people see us six to ten times over about three months: weekly at first, then further apart. The joint goes on improving for up to a year. Shoulder repairs and ACL reconstructions take longer, six to twelve months to full recovery, but with visits three or four weeks apart once you’re on your way.
We’ll estimate the number of sessions at your first appointment and tell you if it changes.
- Knee or hip replacement
- Most of the physio is in the first 3 months, over 6 to 10 sessions
- Rotator cuff repair
- 6 to 9 months to full recovery
- ACL reconstruction, back to sport
- 9 to 12 months
Three things people ask after an operation
I’m already having physio at the hospital. Can I see you as well?
Yes. Plenty of people do, particularly when hospital appointments are far apart. Tell both of us and bring your exercise sheet, and we’ll build on it rather than hand you a second programme that competes with the first.
How soon after the operation should I start?
After a knee or hip replacement, within the first week or two if you can. Hannah can visit you at home, for £75, until you’re able to travel. After shoulder and ACL surgery your surgeon’s protocol sets the timing, so ring us before the operation and we’ll plan around it.
Will my insurance cover it?
Often, if your operation was done privately. We’re recognised by the main health insurers. Bring your authorisation number to your first appointment.
“Hannah came to the house twice in the first fortnight. By week five I walked to the clinic, which had been the target from the start.”
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