06/09/2026
Something that doesn’t get talked about enough before joint replacement surgery:
What you believe about your pain going in matters.
Studies have found that higher pre-surgical fear and catastrophizing about pain is an independent predictor of poorer outcomes after knee replacement — separate from the surgery itself.
This connects to what OA pain researcher Tasha Stanton has shown consistently: the nervous system’s response to threat, shaped by our beliefs about pain and movement, doesn’t automatically reset after an operation.
Addressing those beliefs before surgery — alongside building strength and fitness — is part of what prehab is for.
We’ve written about what that preparation looks like and where massage therapy fits in.
đź”— wellandable.ca/resources/blog/preparing-for-knee-hip-replacement-kamloops