New publications
A method of express rehabilitation after surgery was developed
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
One of the most important components of modern treatment has become the so-called accelerated rehabilitation, that is, the restoration of the normal rhythm of life after surgery as quickly as possible.
A patient who has undergone a major operation may not stay in the hospital for long. If for decades a surgical operation was a long process of staying in the hospital: several weeks before the operation and the same amount of time after, for the body to rehabilitate, now everything is much simpler.
Accelerated rehabilitation is now "in fashion". It is worth noting that many experts do not find this method optimal for restoring the body after surgery, but this system also has fans, and there are many of them.
It is safe to say that the new approach to treatment and care of patients has made a real revolution in medical practice. And the Danish professor Henrik Kehlet, who developed the system in 1997, “turned the doctors’ ideas upside down”. In his opinion, traditional methods that force patients to fast before and after surgery cannot provide a person with the energy and strength necessary for recovery.
Accelerated rehabilitation involves intensive feeding of the patient with high-calorie foods and drinks immediately before surgery and immediately after it, as soon as the patient can recover a little.
Returning to the opponents of accelerated rehabilitation, statistics show that the level of postoperative complications has significantly decreased due to the use of this system, and the duration of the patient's stay in the hospital has been reduced by 50%.
The developers of the method relied on the fact that with prolonged inactivity of a patient, lying day and night in a hospital bed, muscle mass is lost and excess weight is gained. According to their theory, the faster a person gets on his feet, the more resilient his body reacts to all sorts of viruses, infections and complications.
Some British hospitals have been using this rapid recovery method for about three years.
"Of course, this method should not be regarded as a tool for quickly getting rid of patients," says the UK's chief oncologist, Professor Mike Richards. "Patients who have undergone accelerated rehabilitation are as healthy as those who spent the full term in hospital and were discharged later. It's just that the recovery processes in the body of such patients occur twice as quickly, and the level of rehospitalizations does not increase. Moreover, the patients themselves are delighted with the results. How could a person prefer a hospital ward to a quick recovery?"