Surgery + (Smoking or Obesity) = Potential Hazards

I usually tell my patients about the problems presented by smoking when doing rehab. Namly the dehydration. However, Forbes magazine looks into an interesting study. The article points out some alarming statistics about surgical candidates and how smoking and obesity may affect them.

Smoking greatly increases the risk of needing spinal surgery to treat low back pain and being overweight boosts the likelihood of having postoperative pain and complications after such surgery, U.S. researchers say.

The study of 185 patients who had surgery for non-traumatic back pain found that smokers were 148 percent more likely than nonsmokers to require the surgery.

Startling numbers when you think about it.

Love of the game helped with his physical therapy

HS basketball player Cody Holme loved the game and credited it with his quick recovery from a serious auto accident.

His love of sports was definitely the main motivating factor in his recovery, according to Holm.

“I’ve put a lot of time into my sports throughout life and my high school career here,” the 18-year-old said in an interview at the high school last week.

“It means a lot to me, so I’ve lifted weights and worked out.”

He also had some good things to say about his physical therapist!!

He credits Hudson physical therapist Rich Larsen with prescribing an exercise program that got him back into athletic competition as quickly as possible. It involved daily workouts in friends’ swimming pools and applying heat to his neck twice a day.

“It kind of stunk because I had to miss a lot of time with my friends because I had to go to my physical therapy appointments,” Holm recalled. “It was tough because it was summertime and I wanted to be with my friends.”

He also missed out on the summer league and tournament competition he was counting on to get him ready for the 2006-07 hoops season.

But the therapy regimen made him even more disciplined, he said. He had to work harder at it than most people realize.

He has a good story. Do something you like when rehabbing.

Senator gets physical therapy

Senator Johnson was elected last november to represent the state of South Dakota. Then, during a radio interview last fall, Senator Tim Johnson began having trouble speaking and responding to questions. He was rushed to the hospital where it was discovered that he had experienced bleeding into his brain. It was not cause by a stroke, but by the malformation of blood vessels. After undergoing surgery and a lengthy ICU stay, the Senator is now participating in the rehabilitation process that will help him regain many of the abilities that have been impaired by his health incident and by deconditioning.
His son shares something of this from the Keloland.com TV news site.

Johnson says the majority of the Senator's time is taken up by physical therapy as he works to regain strength in his muscles and his speaking ability.
“Long and hard days really, doing physical therapy and speech therapy so he doesn't really have a lot of free time,” he said.

Its a short read.