Exercise after plastic surgery

Exercising after surgery can be a rather unpleasant thing to do, mainly because of the discomfort of incisions and what not, EITHER WAY exercising after surgery can bring a lot of benefits to your body, health and a faster recovery. Even if you already were active before your surgery, it doesn’t mean you have to pick up where you left off, that can actually harm your body than doing it any good, so this article can help you by giving some tips and recommendations to follow your journey through the recovery of your surgery, these are just for you so we hope that you follow them, of course, guide by your doctor’s professional opinion.

WHAT KINDS OF EXERCISES CAN I DO?

It all depends on the procedure you have done, e.g. body lift, mommy makeover or tummy tuck,  and what your doctor allows you to, but we can give you general instructions throughout your recovery process. When your surgery is done and back in your room, we recommend doing very small movements (as long as they don’t bring any kind of discomfort), such as stretching, rotating shoulders, wrists and/or ankles; this can improve your blood flow which is very important during recovery. Remember that having mobility at all times is a must, no matter if you went through surgery or not, always find a way to move your body and don’t stay completely still.

For a few days (or a little more than a week, depending on your surgery) you may walk or do light arm exercises, then you can move to non-impact activities, such as swimming, yoga, cycling and walking. Be mindful of what exercise to use, if you recently had liposuction on your thighs, yoga and swimming might be a good option, but if you had anything done on your breasts cycling might be a better option. Do not push yourself over the limit, and that limit is also relatively low, this doesn’t mean that you’ll have to start from square 1 when returning to light exercise, but you have to re-start from lower than what you have been used to. For athletes for example, are used to the pain when training, to go the extra step per say, yet you can’t keep up with this mentality during recovery, if your body starts to hurt, you’ll have to stop before you damage the well-being of it, since you can return to the hospital if you overdo it, so please be careful.

Some people are lead to believe that they won’t ever return to the amount of exercise they used to do before their surgeries, but as long as they have a slow and steady approach to exercising, they’ll be able to return to their usual exercising regime, but don’t go faster than your body is ready for during recovery, or you might not be able to return to where you left off before surgery.

BENEFITS OF EXERCISING AFTER SURGERY

For plastic surgery, we already recommend having discipline for both eating and exercise habits to make results as permanent as possible and of course to keep your health as perfect as it can be. In recent years people have mixed bad diets with sedentary lifestyles, and even if working out may balance out a bad diet, no doctor would recommend it. If you don’t have the habit of exercising often you can develop one during your recovery process, where the activities aren’t harsh, and slowly but surely step up to a normal exercising routine. As mentioned exercising can fasten the pace of recovery and improve the blood flow giving your organism a healthier blood supply. It has been proven that exercising releases endorphins, the peptide made by the brain known to create your happiness and feel overall better about yourself, so it does not only improve your physical health but your mental health can have a better output with exercise.

STEPPING OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

We fully understand the temptation that is not doing exercise, even after listening to all of this, sometimes it is easier and more comfortable to stay in bed, some people have also the misconception that during recovery  all you have to is stay in bed, which does sound tempting but that can actually deterior your health by doing so. Being able to be active will give you a feeling of control over your life, even if you don’t need it, in the end it does feel satisfying, this is all so you feel better not only about your image but your whole being. Stepping out of your comfort zone is one hard task, but in this case is for the better, to increase the quality of your body, and in this case going the extra mile is actually exercising your body, not overdoing it to your body; we definitely recommend giving working out a chance and tag along with it so you can see the results in the change of your life style.

ANYTHING ELSE THAT I SHOULD BE AWARE OF?

Remember that dieting is very important as well! We just mentioned you could get by with a bad diet with good exercise, but your body will need its nutrients to be able to perform well as you exercise, a lot of our patients have gotten the habits of good diets and exercise and they have confessed that even if getting used to it was a true hardship for them, they couldn’t be happier with the results that have been displayed of their decision towards a healthier lifestyle. The lifestyle you want to follow is the one you have chosen, and it’s never too late to change that. What is important is that you have realized you want something better for yourself, and that’s the first step towards becoming the best version you can be! Even if we can’t be with you to see the end of your journey, we will be cheering for you, for you to reach your goal, not only us but those people close to you that will help you through every step.