What We Treat

Pre & Post Surgery treatment in Virginia Beach.

Surgery’s on the calendar, or it already happened. Either way, you don’t have to figure out the recovery alone. Go in stronger, come out with a real plan.

Prehab before surgery Post-op recovery Return to activity Talk to a Specialist

Sound Familiar?

Does this sound like you?

  • Counting down the weeks to surgery and wondering if you should be doing something now
  • Being handed a folder of exercises after surgery with no one to check your form
  • Not quite trusting the joint yet, even though the surgeon cleared you
  • Wondering if that twinge after surgery is normal healing or a real problem
  • Missing the version of you that could do stairs without thinking about it
  • Being told “you’ll know when you’re ready” and just not feeling it yet

Two or more? Keep reading.

Why It Matters

Surgery fixes the structure. Recovery still needs a plan.

Surgery repairs or replaces what was damaged, but it doesn’t rebuild the strength, motion, and confidence you lose getting there and healing afterward. That part is physical therapy’s job, not your surgeon’s.

Going in stronger, called prehab, tends to make the whole recovery easier. Coming out with a clear, staged plan tells you exactly what you’re allowed to do and when. A cause-first evaluation maps exactly where you are right now, so your plan starts at the right phase instead of a generic timeline.

Pre & post surgery rehabilitation

The Honest Truth

Recovery doesn’t wait for you to feel ready.

If you keep waiting

  • Stiffness and weakness set in while you wait to “feel ready”
  • You lose ground that took real work to build before surgery
  • Compensating movements become habits that are harder to undo later

If you start on schedule

  • You go into surgery stronger, which tends to make recovery easier
  • You get a staged plan the moment your surgeon clears you to start
  • You get a plan with an endpoint: a real one, not an open tab of visits

Nobody regrets starting too early.

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 surgery.

Weeks 1–2

Pain

Protect the repair.

Early hands-on care and gentle movement calm pain and swelling while protecting the surgical site, exactly within your surgeon’s guidelines.

Weeks 2–6

Prime

Get your motion back.

Guided mobility work restores the range of motion that surgery and healing time took away.

Weeks 6–10

Perform

Rebuild real strength.

Progressive strengthening rebuilds what deconditioned while you healed, so the joint can trust itself again.

Weeks 10+

Prevent

Return cleared and confident.

The specific movements your life or sport demands get tested under real load before you’re cleared to go all-in: that’s the endpoint, not just another appointment.

I had total right hip replacement surgery 7 weeks ago, I’ve been working with my physical therapy team at Direct Performance Physical therapy for the same amount of time. I can’t recommend Direct Performance enough - they got me two days out of surgery and with an aggressive plan for therapy I have hiking and biking after 2 weeks post surgery. Thank you so much for getting me through this part of my recovery with my new titanium hip 🙌 I’m traveling back to Colorado Springs in mid May - thanks again!

Sean G. · Google review, Town Center

“My initial visit with Jenn showed significant deficits with DF flexibilty and ROM due to achilles tendonopathy and post op haglunds excision.”

“I am now able to run, box jump, squat with decreased pain.”

Achilles tendinopathy Linda B., Google

Related Conditions

Pain rarely stays in one place.

Compensation patterns often show up nearby. Here’s what else we treat.

1

Neck Pain

Neck and spine procedures need the same staged recovery plan.

Learn More 2

Hip Pain

Hip replacements are one of the most common surgeries we help recover from.

Learn More 3

Knee Pain

Knee replacements and meniscus repairs both need a clear return-to-activity plan.

Learn More

Questions, Answered

What people ask before booking around surgery.

Not to get started. In Virginia, you can begin physical therapy without a referral, including prehab before surgery, for the first 30 days. If you’re recovering post-op, we’ll coordinate directly with your surgeon’s protocol so nothing conflicts with their plan.

No. We follow your surgeon’s specific protocol and precautions exactly, especially in the early weeks. Our job is to work within those guidelines, not around them, and we’ll never take you further than your surgeon has cleared.

It depends on the surgery, since some protocols call for a longer staged timeline than others. Either way, you get a plan with an endpoint: you’ll move through Pain, Prime, Perform, and Prevent, and always know which phase you’re in and what’s left.

Book Your Visit

Ready when you are.

Request a time and a real person will call or message you back, not an automated queue. No phone tree. Our expert team of administrators is ready to help.

  • Hours Listed below for each clinic in the Visit Us section
  • (757) 742-3778 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
  • Same-week appointments available

5.0 · 1232+ Google reviews

Typical response: under 2 business hours

Step 1 of 5

So we know who to look for when you walk in.

Visit Us

Five clinics. One phone number.

Great Neck, Town Center, Kempsville/Greenbrier, Norfolk and Redmill. Same team, same standard, whichever door you walk through.

Great Neck

Connect with Us at Great Neck Directions (opens in a new tab)