Lumbar spinal fusion also has one of the longest surgical recovery times. This surgery takes 3 to 4 hours to complete and the average recovery time is 3 to 6 months. The recovery time if you have a sedentary job or lifestyle is approximately 4 to 6 weeks. However, if you have a job or a mobile lifestyle, such as one that involves heavy lifting, walking and traveling, expect recovery time to be up to three months.
About 600,000 women undergo hysterectomies each year, usually for non-cancerous conditions, such as uterine fibroids. Hysterectomies can be done in a variety of ways, with different recovery times. Abdominal hysterectomy, the most common type, is performed as “open surgery” with a recovery time of 6 to 8 weeks. A vaginal hysterectomy, in which the uterus is removed through the vagina, has an initial recovery time of 3 to 4 weeks; it's another 6 weeks before you can lift more than 20 pounds and resume sexual intercourse.
Robot-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy is minimally invasive and you can resume normal activities within a week. Shoulder replacement is considered major surgery and can have a long recovery period. However, you can expect a successful recovery if you participate in physical therapy, take medications as prescribed, and follow the guidelines given to you by your surgeon. The longest surgery in history known to date was performed in 1951 at the Chicago hospital. It lasted four days, no more and no less than 96 hours of surgery in which the health professionals involved had to stay awake and alert to make sure everything went well.
While some surgeries still require it, there are several minimally invasive cardiac procedures that don't require hospitalization. It's important to keep in mind that some surgeries are harder to recover than others, but your symptoms will ease if you can make it through the recovery period. Recovering from anterior cruciate ligament surgery presents several challenges for patients, such as post-operative pain, swelling, muscle weakness, limited mobility, and problems with balance and proprioception. Knee replacement surgery or total knee replacement (TCA) is becoming more common due to the aging of the population and the increase in degenerative joint diseases, such as osteoarthritis.
Any surgery that takes many hours under general anesthesia will have a much longer recovery time than a quick surgery you can recover from at home. In these surgeries, the surgeon uses metal rods and screws to correct the curvature of the spine or make it more stable. Recovery from surgery may take at least six to nine months, depending on the patient's health and rehabilitation progress. Emergency surgeries may need to be done together, while elective surgeries should generally be spaced out so you have time to recover. Recovering from shoulder replacement is difficult because the shoulder joint is inherently complex and involves several movements and activities.
Today, hysterectomy and other minimally invasive gynecologic surgeries are performed through small incisions, and patients can go home the same day. Recovery from the procedure may be more painful than other orthopedic surgeries because of the large number of nerves in the spine. People who undergo a dozen or more surgeries within a month tend to be the sickest people in the hospital.
