After Postoperative Care: Yoga as a Pain Relief Strategy

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Surgery, surgery recovery, and postoperative care can leave many people feeling exhausted both physically and mentally. When you go under the knife for any type of surgery, it disrupts your life for a period of time. From a simple nose job to a hip replacement, surgery causes physical trauma to the body. Surgery often mentally and emotionally affects us as well.

Postoperative care can only do so much to remedy the physical and mental pain of surgery. It can help you get back on your feet and back to functioning, but you may need something extra to reduce the pain, both mental and physical, surgery brought into your life. Yoga can help you not only reduce your pain and increase your range of motion, but also better manage your pain.

Yoga Can Help Increase Your Range of Motion

If you recently left postoperative care for a knee, hip, or shoulder surgery, you should not drive straight to the nearest yoga studio, but slow, careful, and mindful yoga practice can help you get back to your old self. Yoga naturally stretches and relaxes your body. The poses add strength to all aspects of your body and ask you to slowly test your limits.

As long as you practice carefully, you will slowly increase your strength and the range of motion in the repaired area. Both added strength and added range of motion decrease pain because day-to-day activities slowly become less of a strain on your body.

Talk to a doctor first before practicing. Each surgery is different. A doctor can tell you how long you should wait before getting back on a yoga mat, and a yoga instructor can personalize a routine to help you recover without complicating your situation.

Yoga Gives You the Mental Tools for Pain Relief

Your brain controls how you not only perceive the outside world but also how you perceive yourself. It controls your perception of pain. Yoga gives you the mental tools to deal with pain in two key ways. First, yoga relaxes you; this reduces anxiety and stress. When we find our minds clear of stress and anxiety, we deal with pain more effectively because we can better focus on coping with it.

Second, yoga teaches your mind to reject your flight or fight impulses. Scientists in a study associated with the U.S. National Institutes of Health hypothesize that yoga practitioners have trained their body to relax, observe, and consider when pain hits them. For most people, however, pain and stress trigger a flight or fight response, but this only intensifies their pain and tension rather than reducing it. Training your mind to react differently to pain will give you a more painless recovery after postoperative care.

Postoperative Care at Pearl Recovery Retreat and Wellness

For initial postoperative care, you should not worry too much about improving strength, increasing range of motion, or holding yoga poses. Your body needs time to recuperate and relax. There is no better place to relax and feel comfortable during postoperative care than at Pearl Recovery Retreat and Wellness. Contact our surgery recovery center today to schedule a stay in one of our beautiful, relaxing rooms.