Prehabilitation: preparing for treatment
Prehabilitation: preparing for treatment
Prehabilitation is a way of improving your physical and emotional health before treatment, including surgery. It aims to help your recovery and reduce your risk of complications afterwards.
Your doctor or specialist nurse will help you manage any other health conditions you might have, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
They can also give you information about things you can do yourself, such as:
- eating a healthy and balanced diet
- keeping active
- giving up smoking
- cutting down on alcohol
- looking after your emotional health
You may start prehabilitation soon after being diagnosed.
If there is a prehabilitation service in your hospital or local area, your healthcare team will refer you. If there isn’t a service at your hospital, your healthcare team will assess you and discuss what support might be helpful for you.
Prehabilitation may involve support from different healthcare professionals:
- A dietician will look at your diet and weight, and provide guidance on the types of food that will help you during treatment
- A physiotherapist can help with increasing your physical activity
- An occupational therapist can help you manage day to day tasks, such as housework, washing and cooking
- A counsellor or psychologist can you help to manage your emotional wellbeing
The support you get will depend on your own personal needs, and the type of treatment or cancer you have.
Prehabilitation may be offered as part of an enhanced recovery programme. This is also known as rapid or accelerated recovery. The enhanced recovery programme aims to help you recover from your operation more quickly. It can reduce the risk of complications and help your bowel to start working sooner after the operation. It can also mean a shorter hospital stay.
Your surgeon and specialist nurse will explain the programme and tell you whether it will be suitable for you.
There is evidence to show that prehabilitation can:
- Reduce anxiety and improve your emotional wellbeing
- Improve your sleeping pattern
- Improve your energy levels and general fitness
- Support you to do more of your normal day to day activities
- Improve your response to treatment
- Reduce the side effects of treatment
- Reduce the length of time in hospital if you're having surgery
- Promote a healthy lifestyle for the future
Links to further information:
Visit our Emotional wellbeing hubfor more informaiton
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