Confidence in your recovery: Returning to activity

Overcoming broken bones and years of pain to get back to an active lifestyle.

Don’t be mistaken, it will take some time.

But you’ll get there.

This is the message Dr. Michael Milshteyn imparts on his patients.

As an orthopedic trauma surgeon at McLaren Macomb, Dr. Milshteyn has seen and treated patients whose injuries have devastated them to the point that many of them wondered if they’d be able to walk, move or get around with the ease they’d become accustomed to.

Many, too, have returned from those injuries to enjoy the activities as they had before.

“Even though we’re able to surgically repair an orthopedic injury, be it a broken bone, poly trauma or reconstructed joint, patients can understandably still be hesitant when they’re cleared to return to activity,” Dr. Milshteyn said.

With a bone fracture, ligament tear or other injury requiring surgical repair, rehabilitation under the trained eye of a physical therapist aims to get the patient back to their active lives.

“One of the things I tell my patients as they go through recovery and follow-up care is to have confidence in their rehabilitation,” Dr. Milshteyn said. “Be confident in your recovery. Listen to your doctor and therapists, but more importantly, listen to your body.”

When returning to activity, Dr. Milshteyn urges patients to:

• Thoroughly stretch and warm up before any activity.
• Ease back into activity, steadily increasing your workload.
• Stop any activity if it becomes at all painful.
• Ice afterward, even if you’re not swelling or achy.
• Be mindful of numbness or if weakness occurs.
• Ask your doctor about the use of over-the-counter pain medications.