Weeks 1–2
Pain
Calm the swelling down.
Hands-on techniques and gentle movement control post-op pain and swelling from your very first visit.
What We Treat
Pre and post-surgery rehab in Cupertino.
You’ve got an operation coming up, or you’re already home from one. Either way, your body needs a real plan, not a photocopied handout. It starts with a cause-first evaluation, not a guess.
Sound Familiar?
Does this sound like you?
- A surgery date circled on the calendar, and no plan yet for the body that has to show up for it
- Practicing stairs with a walker in your own kitchen before the operation’s even happened
- Six weeks out from surgery, still working off the same photocopied exercise sheet
- Asking your surgeon when you’ll drive again and getting a shrug instead of a real answer
- Setting an alarm for pain medication because gritting your teeth through it stopped working
- Watching the date get closer and realizing nobody actually prepped your body for what’s coming
Two or more? Keep reading.
Why It Happens
Surgery fixes the joint. It doesn’t rebuild the body around it.
An operation repairs what’s broken. It doesn’t rebuild the strength you lost getting there, or retrain the muscles that spent months quietly guarding the pain. You’re the one who scheduled this surgery around everyone else’s calendar: work deadlines, a spouse’s trip, a kid’s season. Which is exactly why your recovery needs a real plan now, not a handout you’re expected to figure out alone.
That’s where a cause-first evaluation comes in: priming the muscles around the joint before surgery, and rebuilding what months of compensating wore down after it. A generic sheet treats every operation the same. Your plan won’t.
The Honest Truth
The clock starts at surgery, whether your body’s ready or not.
If you keep waiting
- The muscles around the joint keep weakening while you wait, making the recovery harder before it even starts
- Scar tissue and stiffness set in after the operation, and get tougher to break up every week you delay
- You start favoring the other side, and now two joints hurt instead of one
If you start this week
- Your body walks into the operating room stronger, not weaker
- You know exactly what week six is supposed to feel like, instead of guessing
- You get a plan with an endpoint: a real one, not an open tab of visits
Nobody regrets starting too early. Every week, someone in our clinic says they regret waiting.
How We Fix It
The same four phases. Built around your surgery.
Every plan has an endpoint. Here’s what the four phases look like before and after an operation.
Weeks 2–6
Prime
Get your motion back.
Targeted mobility work breaks up scar tissue and restores the range surgery and guarding took away.
Weeks 6–10
Perform
Rebuild real strength.
Progressive strengthening rebuilds the muscle that weakened before surgery and during recovery.
Weeks 10+
Prevent
Return to your normal life.
Your surgeon cleared the joint. We clear you for the rest, tested under real load before you’re done.
Whether you’re preparing for surgery or recovering from it, I build a structured plan with clear milestones, so you know exactly what progress looks like at every stage.
Dr. Stacy Alvares · Pre & Post-Surgery Rehab
Questions, Answered
What people ask before booking for surgery rehab.
No, and starting earlier almost always pays off. Prehab works best when it begins as soon as surgery is even a possibility, sometimes weeks or months out, not the day before. If you’re already home from your operation, the same rule applies: the sooner we start a cause-first evaluation, the sooner we know exactly what your body needs next. You don’t need a date on the calendar to get moving.
Yes, when it’s dosed correctly for where you are in healing. Movement done right doesn’t damage a healing joint, it’s what teaches the muscles around it how to support it again. Total rest for weeks on end tends to leave more stiffness and weakness than the surgery itself. A Doctor of Physical Therapy sorts out exactly how much your body can safely handle at each stage, then progresses it as you heal.
Most surgical recoveries move through all four phases, Pain, Prime, Perform, and Prevent, over roughly 10–12 weeks, depending on the operation and how you’re healing. You’ll always know which phase you’re in and what’s left, not an open-ended string of appointments. That’s a plan with an endpoint, not a subscription.
Book Your Visit
Ready when you are.
Request a time and a real person calls you back, usually within two business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.
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Hours
Mon - Fri: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Sat - Sun: Closed - (408) 873-8188 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
- Same-week appointments available
4.8 · 115+ Google reviews
Typical response: under 2 business hours
Step 1 of 5
Request sent.
That’s the hard part done. We’ll call during business hours to lock in your time. Most people are on the schedule same week.
Visit Us
Care this good, this close.
Cupertino Physical Therapy
- 1054 S De Anza Blvd, #120, San Jose, CA 95129 (opens in a new tab)
- (408) 873-8188
- Fax: (408) 873-8138
- cpt95129@gmail.com
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Mon - Fri: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Sat - Sun: Closed