Through PREHABILITATION, we want to prepare our patients for surgical procedures or other strenuous therapies (e.g. chemotherapy for tumours) in the best possible way - physically, mentally and emotionally. Performance is considered a key prognostic factor for the complication rate and rehabilitation of such invasive and non-invasive therapy procedures, which are associated with stress for the body and mind.

Within Ulm University Hospital (UKU), we are the interdisciplinary point of contact when it comes to optimising physical performance prior to the actual therapy. We focus primarily on the pillars of lifestyle, nutrition and training.

We are also involved in pilot projects to utilise this promising approach even more effectively - for the benefit of our patients!

If you are interested in a co-operation, please contact us!

After an injury or before and after surgery, the question quickly arises as to when you can do what, where and how much.

In order to answer this question together with you and to optimise your rehabilitation process, our team of sports scientists and doctors will carry out extensive tests depending on your goals, your individual professional or sporting requirements profile and the time of the examination. Various functions such as mobility and movement quality, strength, posture control, speed and your mental readiness are analysed using modern methods in order to obtain as comprehensive a picture as possible of your current condition.

Our aim is to help you regain your old strength, achieve new peak performances and at the same time minimise the risk of re-injury or permanent complaints!

Typical milestones of the rehabilitation process using the example of a surgically treated cruciate ligament injury in a football player:

• Prehab (before the operation): Prehabilitation covers the time up to the planned operation and can already be used specifically for therapeutic measures in order to start the rehabilitation after the operation as well prepared as possible.
• Return-to-activity/RTA (approx. 6 weeks after surgery): end of clinical care (e.g. crutches, orthoses with limited movement), return to everyday working life with physical activities, transition to general rehabilitation training in sports
• Return-to-sports/RTS (approx. 3 months after surgery): transition to sport-specific training, running (jogging)
• Return-to-play/RTP (approx. 9-12 months after surgery): transition to unrestricted team training, in paid sport End of incapacity for work

We will be happy to advise you whether and when such an examination makes sense in your case!

If you are interested, please call us or send an e-mail to leistungsdiagnostik@uniklinik-ulm.de!

We currently offer six training groups (heart failure, oncological diseases, weight management, prehabilitation and return-to-sports for professional and amateur athletes after sportsinjuries/overuse injuries and before and after operations), which are supervised by our highly qualified physiotherapists, sports scientists and doctors.

Admission to one of the groups can take place after a detailed medical examination in our consultation hours for the following indications:

• Heart valve & other heart and vascular operations (e.g. aneurysmectomy, defibrillator cardiomyopathies, heart failure)
• inflammatory heart disease
• pulmonary embolism
• arterial hypertension that is difficult to control
• metabolic disorders / metabolic syndrome
• cancer
• pneumological diseases
• Sports injuries (treated conservatively and/or surgically) & sports-associated overuse injuries/disorders (e.g. throwing shoulder, tendon disorders)

Our tasks also include the medical care of the cardiac sports groups of the two major Ulm clubs SSV Ulm 1846 e.V. and TSG Söflingen 1864 e.V. These are open to all patients with heart disease (e.g. after a heart attack). The prerequisite for participation is a sports cardiological examination in our consultation hours. We will allocate you to a group.

Complaints of the musculoskeletal system often exist without a serious structural cause. Our quality of movement in work, leisure and sport is impaired by pain and can itself cause or maintain pain and dysfunction.

We therefore use modern wireless microtechnological wearables such as surface electromyography (EMG) and sensor inserts as individualised biofeedback training to improve posture and movement - in prevention, therapy and (p)rehabilitation.