Respect - Patient must consider their life worthy & regard with honor 

Resolve - Patient must have fixed purpose & determination with decisive conclusion

Resiliency - Inner strength & endurance to rebound & spring back

Revive - Internal inspiration to give ourselves new life & energy; return to life

Reward - Personal recompense in recognition of our commitment & follow-through

Rehabilitation is the secret to success for any patient's joint pain, surgery, or replacement. Many patients think that rehabilitation relates only to those times scheduled with physical therapists by your doctor, for example, three times per week. Successful rehabilitation, depending on the surgery, requires the patient to carry out their rehabilitation exercises every day. In some cases, like joint replacements, it can be twice daily for the short-term. Now doctors are telling their patients they need to carry this regimen on for extended periods, up to a year for joint replacement.

Bob Faught spent one year of dedicated rehabilitation for each of his knee replacements. The results show today in the great strength & endurance Bob has in both his knees & legs. As patients, our attitude should be how much do I need to do versus how little can I get away with. It is our body, and we owe a total commitment to rehabilitation to achieve pain-free mobility & a higher quality of life.

Above we have listed the 5-Rs of Rehabilitation. Below is a quick summary:

• Respect for ourselves

• Resolve to follow-through successfully

• Resiliency to rebound & spring back

• Revive ourselves to new life & energy

• Reward ourselves with pain-free mobility & a higher quality of life

When Bob hears a patient speak about still having pain in their joint well after surgery or replacement, his first question is did they follow-through on their rehab routine. In most cases, the patient admits they did not.

Lack of rehabilitation follow-through is the biggest reason for a patient's unsuccessful surgery or replacement. You can have the best doctor, medical team, hospital & physical therapists, but if the patient does not have the commitment to make themselves better through rehabilitation, there is nothing anyone else can do.

Use your MIND OVER BODY to understand how important it is to take control & ownership of your life, and make the commitment to become dedicated to rehabilitation. This is the key to your pain-free mobility & higher quality of life. A Patient's Success is the Patient's Responsibility.

Bob Faught explains one of the most common areas of pain in a total joint replacement is right behind the new knee joint. He experienced this same intense pain during the rehabilitation for both total knee replacements. Even his mother, in her recovery, experienced this.

In most cases, this comes from the damaged knee not having the ability to go to zero extension. With your knee not extending straight until your joint replacement, the muscles, like rubber bands, retain memory & are not stretched out. With your new joint, the knee can now extend to zero extension, but your muscles need to be stretched over a period of time. Yes, there is pain behind your knee, but you need to work through this to achieve zero extension.

Rehabilitation, depending on the circumstance, will result in some level of pain. With joint surgery, & especially joint replacement, there will be elements of pain that we need to work through.

I've heard patients relate that they will resume their rehabilitation exercises once the pain is gone. When they begin again, the same pain surfaces. We have muscles that need to be strengthened & the only way this can be achieved is working through this pain. Again, if it is a severe pain that you feel is very abnormal, contact your doctor to discuss.

Once you have worked through the pain, your muscles will regain their strength & stamina.

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