PREHAB vs. REHAB

Prehab is a foreign concept to the typical healthcare setting because it’s not how insurance is set up. In Pennsylvania, insurance companies do not want anything to do with preventative care when it comes to the musculoskeletal system. You have to have an active issue and if it is chronic or anything like that, insurance companies will not cover it. The situation has to be one that falls under rehabilitation, which is what is done after a person has injury or recovering from something.

I find it shortsighted that even managing people’s symptoms from chronic issues like autoimmune disorders get capped out by insurance companies for “not curing” someone from their Rheumatoid Arthritis, but they will cover medications to manage their chronic symptoms that can have side effects. 

My Journey With Prehab Exercises

In my practice, I do not want my patients to be coming back all the time. I would rather give the patients the tools to change their habits and help prevent them from injury. 

What that looks like for myself is trying to work on keeping my working posture balanced. I am bent over patients ALLL day Tuesday - Thursday and chained to a desk a lot of the other days of the week.  I have little routines to balance that out.  I also drive a lot with my office commute.  Because I know my activities and what they do to my body, I know where my weak spots are at and I try my best to incorporate exercises into my daily routine to help prevent long-term problems from happening.

However, I am not perfect. I am not immune to falling behind.  I ate humble pie last year when I let my routines slip.  We moved to a new house and so many things happened that I got away from my prehab routine that brings stability to my hips because I have danced my entire life all the way through college. I also did a lot of “crazy” yoga as my husband calls it with arm balances and intense flexibility poses. When you rely more on your flexibility rather than your strength to do advanced moves or postures, you can have some ligament laxity. So, I do prehab exercises to counterbalance the ligament laxity I have created for myself over the decades.  I do this to centrate my joints. Centration of joints is about keeping the joints nice and lined up so that it is not rubbing and causing issues.  It also prevents deterioration.

I had and am prone to a lot of clunking in my hip and I knew I needed stability so that I would not be injured down the road. Nobody wants a hip replacement at a young age. I’ve been doing things to help keep my hips centrated for a few years now, but I got lazy. Six months later, I had excruciating and sharp pains that I kept waking up when I moved a certain way and I could not even sit at the head of my treatment table to treat patients. It was affirmation that my prehab exercises work and it was definitely a wake-up call. Having to rehab that issue was much harder than just doing a ten or fifteen-minute routine to keep my hips centrated every day.

I have been working at it and I am 90 percent back and it was a long road. It took a lot more effort than the time it would have taken me to just avoid it happening in the first place. This is my cautionary tale of the importance of prehab so you don’t end up getting injured.

How Can You Know The Prehab Exercises You Can Do

If you do not know your body and your weaknesses, it will be difficult to know the prehab exercises that are best for you. You can talk to your chiropractor, physical therapist, or a very knowledgeable Pilates or Yoga instructor.  You can tell them about your movement patterns. They can help you identify your weak spots and what can be your problems later. 

What Happens When It Becomes A Rehab Issue

When you have an injury it becomes a rehab issue, you usually have to stop doing the things you like doing. I want you to be able to avoid that scenario if possible. I want you to get back to the things you love doing. 

Prehab for Moms and Kids

Prehab is important when you are pregnant to help you make your pregnancy as comfortable as possible, make delivery easier, and make recovery postnatally optimal. 

I work with people of all ages. I work with children who do sports. Many of the sports that I see kids do are a little imbalanced and you do not want to wait until you have an injury as it could result in you being out for the season or not be able to play a few games.

It’s going to be difficult to rehab it once it has already occurred. Prehab is a good way to prevent injuries and to let children know what they can do for the specific sports that they play. For example, if you are a pitcher, I can give you stuff to counterbalance the asymmetry created in the body by doing the one-sided activity. For swimmers, they tend to have shoulder rounding and tightening through the front-side of the body. I give them exercises to open their chest and create the balance that is necessary to prevent injuries and to have the ability to be mobile and move fluidly.

Conclusion

I wish the concept of prehab would become the norm so that people can continue doing the things they love and pinpoint some of their weak spots so that it can be addressed before it becomes an issue. The insurance companies addresses our “health” in a broken system.  That is why I decided to create courses that can help people take ownership of their health. If you want to be active, pain-free, and mobile, it’s kind of on you to search about it and try to incorporate it into your lifestyle.

I am creating a pelvic floor, C-section, and diastasis recti courses for people who want to address stuff through an easily accessible and digestible format on your own. These will be released by October and it will help you defeat the insurance mindset so you do not wait until something is terribly wrong with you before you address it. You can check out more about it here (link to the programs).

If you have any questions, you can drop it in the comment section or you send me a message through Facebook or Instagram. I’d be happy to do another podcast about your questions. Also, if you want me to talk about something specific, let me know!

You can also check my TikTok account as I use the platform to educate viewers about movement, chiropractic education, yoga, pregnancy, and more! 

Thank you for listening and see you next week!