A group of Canadian anesthesiologists conducted a study to find the answer to this question and presented their data at the 2008 annual meeting of the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society. They studied 95 male patients who were scheduled for colorectal resection. The men were divided into two groups based on their exercise plan. The simple exercise group walked and performed breathing and leg exercises. The complex exercise group added weight training and stationary cycling to their regimen. The exercise time period ranged from three to six weeks. After surgery, the men who showed improved physical conditioning from their exercise regimen were able to walk an average of 7.8% farther after surgery than they did at baseline. The surprising finding of the study was that no differences were found in terms of results between patients in the complex and simple exercise programs. This is encouraging news for those who want to participate in "prehabilitation" but fear that they cannot fully engage in a rigorous exercise program.

The study findings were in accordance with the general notion that the better physical condition, one is in; the better one does after surgery. Walking is an important part of postoperative recovery. It is important for patients to get out of bed as early as possible to prevent the formation of blood clots in the legs and to be in an upright position to better cough and clear out secretions that could lead to pneumonia.  With joint replacement surgery and open heart surgery, rehab and physical therapy is often begun while the patient is still in the hospital. But as with all things, how well a person recovers after surgery is predicated on a number of factors as well. One thing the researchers did not factor in was how exercise in conjunction with nutrition impacted patient's postoperative recovery. With abdominal surgery, where patients often cannot eat for up to one week post surgery, adequate nutritional stores and protein reserves are necessary to maintain the patient during this fasting state. Even if allowed regular food post surgery, many patients often complain of decreased appetite and eat little. Studies have shown that malnourished patients do not do as well after surgery as those with good nutrition stores.

Interestingly, the study showed that  patients over 75 years of age experienced less benefit from the exercise program than those under the age of 50, as did those with a body mass index (BMI) above 30, considered the threshold for obesity, compared with patients whose BMI was below 25. More study is needed to determine how those groups can best benefit from a presurgery exercise program.