What's going on
PhysioOnClick delivers post-surgery physiotherapy through video consultations, or home visits in the Glasgow area. Rehab starts once your surgical team has confirmed you have no restrictions. Until then, the early stages stay with your surgical team and the physiotherapy they arrange. Recovery after surgery follows a biological healing timeline that rehab has to respect: tissue needs time to gain tensile strength before it can tolerate full loading, regardless of how good someone feels day to day. Rehab that moves faster than this timeline risks setting recovery back; rehab that moves slower than necessary leaves people deconditioned and often more anxious about movement than the surgery itself justifies.
Surgeons' individual protocols vary by procedure, and physiotherapy should follow the specific guidance given for that operation. Within that framework, the physiotherapist's role is to progress range of motion, strength and function as the tissue allows, while addressing the very common drop in confidence that follows any operation.
What physiotherapy assessment looks at
Assessment reviews the surgical procedure and any surgeon-specific precautions, wound healing, swelling, current range of movement against expected milestones for that stage of recovery, and functional goals — return to work, driving, sport or specific hobbies.
Where exercise pacing is the main day-to-day problem, assessment also looks specifically at how that symptom behaves — what makes it better or worse, and how it's changed since it started — since that shapes which part of the rehab plan gets priority first.
Practical guidance on exercise pacing
The 'boom and bust' cycle — pushing hard on a good day and then needing several days to recover — is one of the most common barriers to steady progress. Pacing means choosing an activity level that's sustainable most days, even on better days, and increasing it gradually on a planned schedule rather than in response to how you feel that morning.
A structured approach sets a baseline slightly below what currently causes a flare-up, holds it consistently for one to two weeks, and only then increases by a small, predictable amount — usually 10–20%. This trades short-term temptation for a more predictable, faster overall recovery.
When to seek extra help
Increasing redness, warmth, discharge or fever around a surgical site, or a sudden increase in swelling or pain need an urgent GP appointment or NHS 111 rather than physiotherapy. Throbbing or cramping pain or swelling in one leg can be a blood clot and needs an urgent GP appointment or NHS 111; with breathlessness or chest pain, call 999 or go to A&E (possible clot in the lung), and do not drive yourself.
A practical starting point
Write down your current baseline for one key activity (minutes walking, reps of an exercise, hours at a desk before a break) and commit to that exact amount for two weeks before increasing it, regardless of how good a particular day feels.
This guide is part of PhysioOnClick's patient education library and is intended to support informed decisions, not replace an individual assessment. If symptoms are worsening, unclear, or affecting your confidence with movement, a full physiotherapy assessment is the safest next step.