Post-Op Hand Therapy Timing Matters

Your surgery date isn’t the only date that matters. We’re joined by Carl Petito from Hand to Shoulder Solution, a hand therapist who works directly alongside orthopedic surgeons and orthopedic PAs, to share a quick but powerful recovery tip: schedule your post-operative hand therapy at the same time you schedule your surgery. It’s a simple planning move that can reduce stress and protect your results, especially after hand and wrist procedures.

Carl walks us through what happens behind the scenes in an orthopedic office once a surgery is booked: the surgeon’s order, the procedure details (like scaphoid repair), and how a therapist uses best-practice timelines to decide whether you should be seen four to five days after surgery, one week after, or two weeks after. The goal is not speed for speed’s sake, but the right timing for tissue healing and safe progress.

We also dig into why this timing matters for real-life outcomes. When therapy starts late, excessive stiffness can set in, swelling can become harder to resolve, and pain can ramp up. Early hand therapy focuses on optimal healing, safe range of motion, clear wound care education, and often a custom orthosis that replaces a bulky dressing and helps you feel better right away.

If you’re planning hand surgery, wrist surgery, or post-op rehab, this is your reminder to treat scheduling as part of the treatment plan. Subscribe, share this with someone facing surgery, and leave a review with your best post-op recovery question.

Transcript

Meet Carl And His Setting

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Oh good, I'm glad we're here. You must know who I am. You found me. I'm Carl Petito with the Hand to Shoulder Solution with a quick tip. I practice in an orthopedic office. The orthopedic surgeons and the orthopedic PAs are right in the rooms next door, and we have a close working relationship.

Book Therapy When You Book Surgery

SPEAKER_00 0:17

I'm here to say the best thing is to schedule your post-operative therapy at the time you're scheduling your surgery. So what we do in the office is a surgery is scheduled, the surgeon explains the needs of the patient to the patient, say, recommend that we do this procedure, and we're going to fix your wrist, for example. And the patient agrees and understands and they schedule surgery.

How The Referral And Timeline Works

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Well, I get an order from the surgeon, the surgeon, that day, and this the order will say something along the lines of you know, uh scaphoid repair, date of surgery, whatever the date is, and then I know the best practices as uh a hand therapist for their therapy. I should see them two weeks after surgery, or some surgeries four days after their surgery, or five days after their surgery. Other surgeries I should start them a week after surgery, something along those lines. So I communicate to my team, please book this patient for this date, which is five days post-operative, and then they're already on my schedule. The patient has the appointment, then they they're it's off their mind, they go to surgery, they go home, and they know that their appointment is such and such a date and time, it's all set up in advance.

Prevent Stiffness Swelling And Pain

SPEAKER_00 1:43

It's very crucial that patients get in in the correct timing postoperatively so that excessive stiffness does not set in. So swelling doesn't get so thick that it's hard to come out of there. That pain doesn't build and increase terribly.

What Hand Therapy Delivers Early

SPEAKER_00 2:03

My job as a hand therapist is to get things healing optimally and start range of motion within safe limits, and educate the patient on optimal wound care, and most often fabricate a custom orthosis so the patient can get out of that bulky, very compressive dressing and immediately feel better on day one of their hand therapy. So set it up all in advance and you'll be happy that you did. Thank you for watching.