If you’ve had surgery, the foods you eat in the days, weeks, and months after your operation can affect your healing and shoulder surgery recovery. Most of the patients after shoulder surgery temporarily loses interest in food. On the other hand, shoulder surgeon constantly reminds you regarding the importance of proper food intake after surgery. Seemingly simple thing becomes a headache for the patient as such. This problem is faced by almost all the patients. Let us discuss a few tips which can help your come out of the problem.
6 Tips to Increase Appetite After Your Shoulder Surgery
(1) Small Frequent Meals
As you have no appetite and are under constant pressure to have food, best is to have small frequent meals. Forcing yourself for full diet can actually result in vomiting. Vomiting can take away the nutrients that were due to digest and in fact cause more damage than having nil food intake. Food items of choice, homemade food can actually help in speeding the whole process.
(2) Keep Yourself Hydrated
Adequate water intake is equally important as food intake. It washes away all the waste particles from the body, helps in speeding up the energy release from the food you eat as well as balances all the cycles of the body including digestive cycle. Around 2 to 3 litres of water consumption give good results.
(3) Be Active
Shoulder surgeries, unlike knee surgeries gives unique advantage of independent mobility from the second day. This advantage, available to the shoulder surgery patients, is to be utilized optimally. Walk as much as you can from the very next day. More you walk, more the food progresses in the digestive system and more empty your belly is. This in turn makes you feel hungry and aids to increase food intake directly.
(4) Eat High Fiber Diet
Constipation has been enemy of good appetite after any shoulder surgery. Time tested homely available high fiber food intake can clear the gut faster and thus help in restoring the appetite cycle.
(5) Divert Yourself
Constantly thinking about the surgery and its problems gives negative feedback to the brain and increases the problems. It is in your best interest to think positive about the surgery and in fact think and discuss about topics other than shoulder surgery.
(6) Supplements Like Psyllium Husk (Isabgul)
There are few natural supplements available which has been used since ages. A scoop of Psyllium husk powder in a glass of water before sleeping can relieve the problem to a great extent.
These are a few among many tips to help you after your shoulder replacement or shoulder arthroscopic surgery. In case of any other doubt, feel free to contact Dr Vijay Bang, senior consultant shoulder surgeon at Ahmedabad.
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