Prehabilitation before surgery: turning the wait into recovery

Prehabilitation — or 'prehab' — is structured preparation before surgery. Instead of waiting passively for an operation, a patient builds strength, fitness and confidence in the weeks or months beforehand, so they go into surgery in the best possible condition.

Why does prehabilitation help?

Published evidence indicates that improving a patient's fitness before surgery can support better outcomes — including reduced complications and shorter length of stay (see, for example, research in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders). The principle is simple: patients who start stronger tend to recover better.

Turning waiting-list time into productive time

With elective waiting lists among the largest pressures on the NHS — trauma and orthopaedics is one of the biggest (The King's Fund) — the wait is often months long. Prehab reframes that time as an opportunity rather than dead time, and in some cases supported self-management during the wait can reduce the need for surgery altogether.

How do you deliver prehab at scale?

Delivering prehab to every waiting patient in person is not realistic for most services. Remote, clinically-led prehab — with motion-capture guidance and progress visible to clinicians — makes it possible to offer structured preparation at scale, including to patients in rural areas far from the nearest physiotherapy service.

ReVive delivers remote, clinically-led prehabilitation with objective movement feedback, so boards can turn waiting-list time into recovery time without adding clinical headcount. It supports and assists clinicians.