Surgery is a major step but the way you prepare for it can shape everything that follows. That’s what prehabilitation is for.
Not just getting ready for the operation, but priming your body to recover faster, stronger, and with fewer complications. At Sports & Spines Physiotherapy, we offer personalised prehab programmes that help you enter surgery at your strongest and come out ahead.
And it’s not just for surgery. Prehab is just as critical for athletes or active people who want to prevent injury, not just react to it. Whether you’re building strength before an ACL reconstruction or reinforcing your shoulders before surf season, prehab is the silent foundation that keeps everything else from falling apart.
The Stronger You Go In, the Better You Come Out
It’s easy to think that rehab starts after the operation but research and our clinical experience, say otherwise. Clients who build strength, mobility, and awareness before surgery often recover faster, need less intervention afterward and return to normal life with fewer setbacks.
That’s because surgery doesn’t hit a blank slate, it hits a system. When that system is strong, prepared and adaptable, the body bounces back. When it’s weak or overloaded, recovery is longer and harder. Prehab helps shift the odds in your favour.
For athletes, the principle is the same: the injury that didn’t happen is always the best kind. Targeted prehabilitation can reinforce vulnerable areas like hamstrings in footballers, rotator cuffs in swimmers, or core stability in runners. If we know what tends to break, we can build it up before the season demands too much from it.
You Don’t Have to Guess What to Work On
Every prehab programme at Sports & Spines Physiotherapy is designed around the person in front of us. We don’t use stock routines or generic checklists. We assess your current strength, movement patterns, past injuries, and upcoming stressors then create a targeted progression that supports your body’s specific demands.
We educate you throughout. You’ll learn why you’re doing what you’re doing - how it fits your surgery or sport, what it protects, and how it sets you up for success. Because when people understand the “why,” they’re far more likely to follow through.
All exercises are clearly demonstrated, so you can practise confidently at home without second-guessing your technique. Your programme may include strength training, mobility drills, balance work, and neuromuscular control - whatever your situation calls for.
How Prehabilitation Can Help You
- Faster Post-Surgery Recovery: A strong, mobile system handles surgical stress better and rebounds more efficiently.
- Reduced Risk of Re-Injury: For athletes, prehab builds the durability that training alone doesn’t always address.
- Customised to You: We tailor your programme to your surgery, sport, body type, and baseline condition.
- Clear Guidance, Video Support: Every exercise comes with a visual guide so you can keep progressing safely between sessions.
- Integrated with Your Rehab: In many cases, your prehab evolves naturally into post-op rehab ensuring continuity and familiarity.
Trust the Foundation You’re Building
One of the most powerful benefits of prehab is psychological. When clients walk into surgery knowing they’ve done the work they’re stronger, more aware, more prepared, they carry that confidence into recovery. And that confidence matters. We see it every week: people who trust their body recover better than those who don’t.
The same goes for sport. Athletes who’ve trained their weaknesses, balanced their imbalances, and committed to prevention move differently. They don’t hesitate. They don’t hold back. They play with trust and that changes everything.
Learn more about our physio services from your trusted Northern Beaches physiotherapist
Book your prehab assessment with Sports & Spines Physiotherapy today.
Let’s build the strength that carries you through surgery (or keeps you out of it).
Sports and Spines Physiotherapy Brookvale
Unit 8 Winbourne Estate
9 - 13 Winbourne Rd
Brookvale NSW 2100
