How many patients really need pre-surgery fitness boosts?

Many people facing major surgery could walk into the operating room in better shape if they got the right preparation. But who actually gets this help? Doctors call this "prehabilitation" – training before surgery to build strength and stamina. Yet new research shows that the patients who need it most often don’t even get it.A recent study dug into medical records to find out how common poor fitness levels are in adults right before surgery. The results were surprising. More than half of patients had trouble with basic activities like walking or climbing stairs. These are the same people who would gain the most from pre-surgery training. Without this boost, their recovery could take longer and complications might rise. The study didn’t just look at one hospital. It combined data from many places to get a bigger picture. That makes the findings more reliable. Still, the big question remains: Why aren’t more at-risk patients getting this simple but powerful help?