Getting Ready for the Big Surgery: Boosting Health Before Colorectal Surgery

Colorectal cancer typically involves surgery as the main treatment. The idea of prehabilitation is to boost a patient's physical abilities before surgery. This helps lower the chances of problems during and after the operation. The big question is, what exactly should prehabilitation involve? Should it be just exercise, or should it include nutrition and mental support too? Prehabilitation is like giving your body a head start before the big event. It's about making sure you're as fit as possible. This can mean different things for different people. For some, it might be about eating better. For others, it might be about getting more active. And for many, it's about both. But what about the mind? Mental health is just as important as physical health. So, should prehabilitation include mental support too? Some experts suggest that a mix of all these things might work best. But there's a catch. We don't have enough evidence yet to say for sure. This is where more research comes in. We need to figure out the best way to combine these elements. And we need to figure out how long prehabilitation should last. Is a few weeks enough? Or do we need months? Think about it this way. If you're training for a marathon, you don't just start running the day before. You build up your fitness over time. The same logic applies here. Prehabilitation is about building up your health before surgery. But we need more data to know exactly how to do that. And here's another thing to consider. Colorectal cancer surgery can be tough on the body. So, anything we can do to make the recovery process easier is a good thing. This is where prehabilitation comes in. It's all about setting yourself up for the best possible outcome. But remember, it's not just about the surgery. It's about the whole journey. From diagnosis to recovery and beyond.