According to data from the Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute and the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), the average Albertan waits 13 to 15 months from referral to knee replacement surgery. For hip replacement, the wait runs 11 to 13 months. That’s not a gap in the system. That’s a preparation window.
Most people spend it waiting. A better approach is to use it.
The problem with doing nothing while you wait
Pain makes inactivity feel reasonable. If your knee or hip hurts every time you move, resting seems like the sensible response. But here’s what actually happens when you stop moving in the months before surgery.
Muscle mass declines. Strength drops. Range of motion tightens. By the time you arrive at surgery, your body is in a weaker position than it needs to be. And surgery doesn’t fix that. It fixes the joint. What happens next depends on what you brought to the table going in.
Research published in the Journal of Sport and Health Sciences confirms that pre-operative exercise improves health-related quality of life, pain, and physical function both before and after joint replacement surgery. A separate meta-analysis found that patients who completed prehabilitation before total knee replacement had better post-operative function, greater quadriceps strength, and shorter hospital stays compared to those who did not prepare.
The evidence is clear. The preparation window matters.
What prehabilitation actually is
Prehabilitation is structured exercise programming designed specifically around what your body needs before surgery. It’s not general fitness. It’s not a standard gym program. It’s a targeted plan built around your surgery type, your current movement deficits, and your recovery goals.
At Apex Body Solutions in Edmonton, every prehabilitation program starts with a comprehensive movement assessment.
I’m Rob Appleton, registered kinesiologist (R.Kin) with a BSc in Kinesiology and 15 years of movement science experience. Before I recommend a single exercise, I need to understand how your body moves right now. What’s restricted. What’s weak. What compensation patterns have developed over years of pain-altered movement.
From that assessment, I build a program targeting the specific deficits most relevant to your surgery.
For knee replacement patients, that typically means quad strengthening, full knee extension work, and gait mechanics. For hip replacement patients, we focus on hip stability, reducing compensation patterns in
the lower back and opposite leg, and building the functional strength needed to navigate early post-surgical rehab.
The goal is straightforward. Arrive at surgery stronger and more mobile than you would be if you’d simply waited.
What the research shows about outcomes
The clinical case for prehabilitation is well established.
The Centre for Perioperative Care reports that patients who complete a structured pre-operative exercise program reduce their risk of surgical complications by around 40%. That’s not a marginal benefit. That’s a meaningful reduction in risk that comes entirely from preparation.
For knee replacement specifically, prehabilitation has been shown to improve post-operative strength with a standardized mean difference of 0.72, which represents a large and clinically significant effect. Patients who prepare also demonstrate shorter hospital stays, faster return to daily activities, and better early functional scores in the weeks immediately following surgery.
For ACL reconstruction, a six-week prehabilitation program was shown to improve single-leg hop test performance before surgery. That same group showed significantly higher functional scores at 12 weeks post-operation compared to patients who had no pre-surgical preparation.
The pattern holds across surgery types. The stronger and more mobile you are going in, the better your body responds coming out.
Alberta’s wait times make prehab more important, not less
Here’s the part most people miss.
Alberta’s current joint replacement wait times are among the longer ones in Canada. CIHI data shows that only about 49% of Alberta knee replacement patients receive surgery within 26 weeks of being ready to treat. For hip replacement, that number is approximately 59%, slightly below the national average.
The Fraser Institute reported a provincial median wait of roughly 66 weeks for orthopedic surgery in 2024, when measuring the full pathway from referral to treatment.
That is a long time to sit and wait. It is also a long time to prepare.
If you receive a referral today for knee replacement surgery in Alberta, there is a reasonable probability you have 12 months or more before your surgery date. A structured prehabilitation program at Apex Body Solutions runs 6 to 12 weeks. That means you could complete a full prehab program, maintain your gains, and still arrive at surgery with time to spare.
The system’s backlog, frustrating as it is, gives you something most surgical patients in other countries don’t have. Time to prepare.
What this looks like in practice
One of my clients came to Apex Body Solutions with a knee replacement date four months out. They were in significant pain, had been limiting activity for over a year, and arrived at the first assessment with measurable quad weakness and a pronounced gait compensation.
We spent 10 weeks working on quad strength, restoring full knee extension, and correcting the hip-dominant movement pattern they had developed to protect the painful knee. They arrived at surgery stronger than they had been in two years.
Their surgeon commented after the procedure that their recovery was tracking well ahead of schedule.
That’s not unusual. It’s what preparation does.
How to get started
If you have a surgery referral, or you’re on a waitlist for hip or knee replacement in Edmonton, the best time to start a prehabilitation program is now.
A kinesiology assessment at Apex Body Solutions takes about 60 minutes. It gives you a clear picture of where your body is today, what needs to change before surgery, and a specific program to get there.
You don’t need a doctor’s referral to book an assessment. You just need a surgery date on the calendar, or one coming.
Book a prehabilitation assessment at Apex Body Solutions in Edmonton.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does exercising before joint replacement surgery actually help recovery?
Yes. Research consistently shows that patients who complete structured prehabilitation before joint replacement demonstrate better functional outcomes, shorter hospital stays, and faster return to daily activities. The Centre for Perioperative Care reports a roughly 40% reduction in surgical complication risk for patients who complete a pre-operative exercise program.
How long before surgery should I start prehabilitation in Alberta?
With Alberta’s current wait times averaging 11 to 15 months from referral to surgery for joint replacement, most patients have a meaningful preparation window. Prehabilitation programs at Apex Body Solutions
typically run 6 to 12 weeks. Starting earlier gives you more to work with. Book an assessment as soon as your referral is confirmed.
Do I need a doctor’s referral to see a kinesiologist in Edmonton?
No. You can book directly with Apex Body Solutions without a referral. A registered kinesiologist is not a physician and does not require a referral to perform a movement assessment or build a prehabilitation
program. If you have a surgery date or a referral on file, that’s enough to get started.
