How Early Ambulation Affects the Incidence of Postoperative Complications

Surgery, whether elective or not, will almost guarantee some alteration to an individual's activities of daily living acutely and at times chronically. Most non-elective operations and some elective operations will require an inpatient stay at a hospital, meaning that the patient will be required to stay on bed rest for a prolonged period of time. The first law of thermodynamics states that objects, or in this case people, in motion stay in motion and those who do not, do not. Our bodies rely on movement and ambulation to maintain healthy and vital circulation of venous blood from the lower extremities back to the heart. Our bodies also have a mechanism of expansion and compression of the rib cage to ensure adequate oxygenation of blood from the lungs. Research has shown that in order to heal we need oxygenated blood at the site of trauma to start the repair process of the tissues. Also, in cases of procedures on the lower extremities, the longer the joint or limb is isolated, the greater risk for flexion contractures. Through research we have concluded that early ambulation after surgery has many long term benefits that affect every system in the body such as gastrointestinal, pulmonary, and cardiovascular. All of these systems play a role in how well the patient is able to recover after surgery and the biggest impact to these systems is circulation. There are many other reasons that the absence of ambulation can detrimentally affect a patient's health, but this is some of the many reasons that early ambulation postoperatively will help in achieving proper patient healing and ensure quicker rehabilitation times.