Are you ready for your surgery? When that dreadful morning comes and your family is taking you to the hospital at dawn for that long awaited surgery, are you ready for it all? Some may think this is a strange question. What do I have to prepare for? Isn’t that what my doctor needs to prepare for? Don’t I just need to lie down on the operating table? On the contrary, you do need to prepare a lot for your surgery. Because what is about to take place is one of the most important battles of your life. It is a battle between pain and comfort, between sickness and health, between joy and sorrow. Imagine that surgery is indeed a battle. The surgeon changes clothes, first scouts to familiarize himself with the condition (the disease scanned by CT and MRI) and then, with the help of a team of professionals, uses various technical means to fight it (the disease that forces you into the operating room). Obviously you are at the center of this battle and you must be ready for this moment and shuffle the cards the way you like. Without adequate preparation and perseverance, the surgery will not be successful. How should you prepare? First, you need to adjust your body to the upcoming surgery. Not everyone has the opportunity to prepare, of course, because some surgeries are temporary or emergency situations. If you have such an opportunity, then make sure you don’t waste it. Eat right Good nutrition is quite important to keep your immune system healthy. Maintaining a well-balanced food structure and timely vitamin supplementation in the weeks leading up to surgery will help your wound heal and reduce the risk of wound infection. A healthy and balanced diet structure is more than enough to keep your body nourished. As for health supplements, they are still medically controversial. The effects of various supplements on health and nutrition are still being studied and will be summarized in the future. If you are overweight, it is best to lose weight gradually by making reasonable dietary changes before surgery. If you want to lose a lot of weight at once (e.g., 25 pounds or more), it is best to have the guidance of a professional nutritionist or doctor. In particular, for spinal surgery, an overweight body will increase the burden on the spine. If you compare the spine to a flagpole, the muscles in the front and back of the body are the strings that hold the flagpole in place, so the extra load on the front can put too much stress on the spine. This stress is greatly detrimental to post-operative healing and can increase post-operative wound pain. I have asked patients with back pain if carrying a gallon of milk (about 8 pounds) or a similarly heavy bag of groceries would increase their back pain, and they often answer “yes”. The effect of extra weight on a patient’s spine is exactly the same situation. While drastic weight changes should be avoided for a short period of time prior to surgery, planned weight loss becomes better for surgical outcomes. In addition, these good eating habits that patients develop prior to surgery will generally continue to be increasingly healthy after surgery. Staying in shape Staying in shape may not be important to you, but it is important to your body. The weaker your muscles and cardiovascular system are at the time of surgery, the slower your recovery will be afterwards. Why is it that professional athletes can get back on the field a month or two after major surgery? The answer is that outstanding physical condition allows them to have a short recovery period. They may not be able to work on their knee, but they can do other sports like swimming or bench pressing. This allows them to maintain a high level of muscle while undergoing surgery, making the impact of the surgery less severe. I have seen many athletes even the day before the surgery doing various exercises to work their uninjured muscles. Age is not a barrier. You can find the right way to make yourself healthier at any point in your life. No matter how old you are, there are ways to improve your body to increase your chances of success with surgery. Of course in the beginning, you may need the guidance of a professional trainer. There is evidence that for older adults, maintaining an appropriate body weight coupled with targeted exercise for cardiovascular endurance can be beneficial for lung function. This means less dependence on oxygen and faster recovery times. Walking is also a very good exercise to prepare for surgery if illness does not interfere. Exercise also boosts your body’s immune system and eliminates depression, which is common before surgery. I often encourage my patients to exercise to stay in shape as much as possible prior to surgery. Quit Smoking This bad habit change will be one of the most important actions you will take in your life. If you have a plan to quit smoking, then the best opportunity to take action will be during surgery. Smoking greatly increases the chances of surgical failure and complications. Smoking doubles the damage to lung function from anesthesia. Smokers have a greater chance of developing pneumonia after surgery than non-smokers. Smoking is also known to increase joint pain in the spine. Smoking significantly increases the failure rate of spinal fusion surgery. In fact, many surgeons refuse to perform spinal fusion surgery on smokers. There is evidence that even temporary smoking cessation before and after surgery can make the surgery more successful and reduce the chance of complications. You should stop smoking at least one month prior to your surgery. This will help improve your lung function, reduce lung fluid production and clear your body of nicotine and carbon monoxide (yes, smoking comes with a small amount of the deadly poisonous gas carbon monoxide). In summary, although you may not be able to quit smoking, lose weight or exercise in advance in an emergency situation, a non-emergency procedure may not be possible. But before a non-emergency procedure is performed, you should understand what you need to do to prepare. Following the advice above will allow you to make the best possible recovery after surgery.