What to expect

Send the operation note, date of surgery, current range of motion in degrees, weight-bearing status, complications, and whether you have help at home. A physician replies within 48 hours.

The reply may be that you do not need to come. That is a real possible outcome of the enquiry and not a polite way of declining you.

Range of motion measured with a goniometer, strength tested, gait analysed, swelling and wound checked. Targets are set in numbers against the expected milestones for your week after surgery.

You will be told where you actually are relative to where you should be. Some people find this reassuring and some do not; both are better than not knowing.

Three to five hours a day. Where range is the constraint, mobilisation is frequent and short and measured daily. Where strength is the constraint, progressive loading with aquatic and anti-gravity work to bring it forward.

Pain control is coordinated with sessions rather than left to chance — a mobilisation session done through untreated pain achieves less and teaches the patient to guard.

Re-measurement against day one, a home programme, and a discharge document for your surgeon containing the numbers. If a surgical opinion is needed — for example if range has not moved despite the work — that is stated plainly rather than left for you to discover later.