A patient recently posted the following comment on our Facebook page:
“For the first time in almost 3 years I woke up without any ankle pain! And it was all thanks to your care, Dr. Silverman. It’s amazing how well the surgeries and my recommended diet came together to fix my ankle!”
This patient brings up an often overlooked part of surgery – weight loss.
As an orthopedic surgeon my job is to fix mechanical problems, reconstruct deformities, and replace things as needed to get patients back on their feet. But any surgery requires hard work from the patient as well as the surgeon. One way patients can improve recovery following surgery is weight loss.
I always take the time to offer dietary recommendations to patients in order to decrease inflammation in the body, and limit pain in both the pre-op period and post-op periods. I recommend my patients adhere to a Paleo diet.
Weight loss leads to less stress on the repaired area, greater function, and less breakdown on other areas of the body.