Recovery protocol

Post-surgery recovery — how to sequence lymphatic drainage, red light, and hyperbaric oxygen

Post-surgical recovery is one of the highest-intent areas in the recovery modality world, and one of the most misguided. The right modalities used in the right sequence can support swelling reduction, tissue repair, and faster functional return. The wrong ones, used too early, can cause harm. This guide covers general principles; always follow your surgeon's specific instructions and get clearance before starting any modality.

Lymphatic compressionHyperbaric oxygenRed light therapyInfrared sauna

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The visit

Run it as a studio visit

Arrival to departure — every duration is a range plus the rule that moves you within it, never a fixed clock.

Visit envelope · every stop taken

95–145 min

Skipping the optional stops finishes sooner.

Cadence

Most members run this 2–3 times a week in the first month after clearance, tapering as swelling settles. The layers arrive over weeks, not in one visit: compression first, red light once the skin is fully closed and your surgeon has cleared light, hyperbaric only with its own physician sign-off. Each addition is your care team's call, never the calendar's.

Member checklist

Before your visit

Bring your surgeon's written clearance. We ask for it every time for post-surgical visits, and there's no session without it.
Know your procedure type, surgery date, and where every incision, drain site, or implant sits; the practitioner positions the garment and any panel around them.
Wear loose, comfortable clothing that's easy to change out of, and keep any garment your surgeon has you wearing on until the practitioner says otherwise.
If anything has changed since your last visit, whether new redness, warmth, fever, or sudden swelling, call your surgeon instead of coming in.

Member checklist

After your visit

Drink water and take a short, gentle walk later in the day — easy movement helps keep fluid moving between sessions.
Keep an eye on your incision sites: new redness, warmth, fever, or sudden one-sided swelling is a call to your surgeon, not to us.
Tell us where your swelling changes between visits, when it changes, and whether it's one side or both, so sessions can taper as it settles.
No saunas, hot tubs, or other heat until your surgeon explicitly clears heat exposure; that conversation happens with them, not at our front desk.

Station by station

01
Lymphatic compression
20–30 min
Where you land in the range
20 minutes at gentle pressure for the first post-surgical session; toward 30 as sessions become familiar and the practitioner tailors zones to the swelling pattern. The stage of healing, not the clock, decides where in the range a session lands.
Operator · staff-facing
Staff cue
Clearance note first — no note, no session, said warmly. Ask the procedure, the date, and every incision and drain site, and set the garment zones around them. Pressure starts gentle; post-surgical work is never gritted-teeth. Check in five minutes in.
Screen for — route away if
- history of blood clots or DVT not cleared for compression
- surgical drains still in place
- open or unhealed incisions in the garment zone
- active infection or fever
- new, unexplained calf pain or one-sided swelling
~3 min changeover to the next station
02
Red light around the incision
5–15 minOptional — skip if busy
Where you land in the range
5 minutes over a small area around the incision on the first cleared visit; toward 15 once skin response is confirmed across visits. Always on intact, fully closed skin around the incision, never over it, and always within the panel's own distance and time guidance.
Wavelength
Red ≈ 630–680 nm; near-infrared ≈ 800–850 nm
Settings basis: published commercial practice
Operator · staff-facing
Staff cue
Only on fully closed skin around the incision, never over open wounds or fresh sutures. Look, don't assume, and confirm the surgeon has cleared light-based sessions. Keep the panel at the device card's distance; healing tissue and warmth don't mix.
Screen for — route away if
- incision not fully closed, or sutures still in place in the area
- no surgeon clearance yet for light-based sessions
- photosensitising medication (some antibiotics, retinoids, St John's wort)
- active skin infection near the area
~2 min changeover to the next station
03
Hyperbaric chamber
60–90 minOptional — skip if busy
Where you land in the range
Session length is set by the operator's chamber protocol and the member's physician clearance, not by member preference — the range exists because chamber protocols differ, not because members choose within it.
Pressure
1.3–1.5 ATA
Settings basis: published commercial practice
Operator · staff-facing
Staff cue
Physician clearance for hyperbaric specifically, on file, before this is even booked — a surgeon's general OK for compression is not the same note. Walk them through equalizing their ears before the door closes, and agree the hand signal for 'slow down' during pressurization.
Screen for — route away if
- no written physician clearance for hyperbaric sessions
- history of collapsed lung
- current cold, sinus congestion, or trouble equalizing ears
- recent ear surgery
- certain chemotherapy medications (per the clearing physician)
- claustrophobia
- fever or active illness
~5 min to change and head out

Operator · running this on the floor

Stations at peak

running concurrently

When a member asks what this is

“It's our gentle post-surgical circuit — compression to help move swelling, then red light and hyperbaric sessions added one at a time as your surgeon clears each. Bring your clearance note and we'll build the visit around where you are in healing.”

This visit is a template a studio reviews and adapts — ranges, order, and screening flex to the equipment and staff on the floor. It is goal-based recovery guidance, not medical advice.

The sequence

The protocol, step by step

Week 1–2
Lymphatic drainage only (when surgically cleared)
Lymphatic drainage (manual or via pneumatic compression garment) is often the earliest modality appropriate after surgery. It directly targets the edema and fluid accumulation that follows any surgical procedure. Many plastic surgeons and orthopedic surgeons recommend starting within days once incisions are stable and drains are removed (if applicable). A small systematic review of manual lymphatic drainage for musculoskeletal injury found reduced swelling, pain and better range of motion across eight studies, though evidence quality was mixed and the specific post-surgical application varies by procedure: get explicit clearance from your surgeon first, and stop and seek medical evaluation for red-flag swelling such as suspected DVT, acute infection, or heart-failure symptoms, which are outside the scope of a wellness lymphatic session. This is the one non-negotiable step before any post-surgical studio visit.
Weeks 2–4
Red light therapy on intact skin around the incision
Red and near-infrared light supports tissue repair and may reduce inflammation when applied to the peri-incisional area on intact, healed skin, not directly over open wounds or fresh sutures. The evidence for photobiomodulation and wound healing is real but indication-specific (documented for burns and pressure ulcers, for example) rather than a general 'speeds any incision' claim, so keep expectations narrow. Once wounds are closed and the surgeon has cleared light-based treatments, 5–15 minute sessions 3–5x/week over the area can be incorporated. Keep the device at the recommended distance to avoid thermal effects on sensitive healing tissue.
Weeks 2–6
Hyperbaric oxygen (if accessible and cleared)
HBOT increases oxygen delivery to tissues. A Cochrane review of HBOT for acute surgical and traumatic wounds, including compromised skin grafts and flaps, found the evidence base small and dominated by animal and observational data, but it is enough to support HBOT as an accepted salvage option for a compromised graft or flap in medical settings. That clinical use runs at higher pressures than wellness-grade sessions (typically 1.5-2.0 ATA, 60-90 minutes, in a series) offered in a recovery studio, so do not assume the two are interchangeable. Require physician clearance before starting, and confirm with your surgical team whether your situation calls for medical-grade HBOT rather than a wellness protocol.
4–8 weeks and beyond
Gradual return to thermal modalities
Infrared sauna and contrast therapy are typically not appropriate until wounds are fully healed and the body is past the acute surgical stress response. The timeline varies widely by procedure type and individual healing. Confirm with your surgeon before returning to heat-based modalities: some procedures carry specific restrictions on core temperature elevation.

The nuance

Why lymphatic drainage is the anchor modality post-surgery

Surgical procedures, particularly plastic surgery, liposuction, joint replacements, and oncological surgeries, disrupt lymphatic pathways. The resulting edema is not just uncomfortable; it slows healing and increases fibrosis risk. Manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) and pneumatic compression devices designed for lymphatic flow move stagnant fluid into functional lymphatic channels and toward drainage nodes.

The key window is early: starting lymphatic support within the first week or two post-surgery, when the lymphatic disruption is most active, produces better outcomes than starting later. Studios that offer lymphatic compression are typically experienced with post-surgical clients and will adjust protocols for your specific procedure and healing stage.

What to tell the studio when booking post-surgical sessions

Bring your surgeon's clearance: reputable studios will ask for it for post-surgical clients. Don't book without it.
Specify your procedure type, date, and any drainage sites, implants, or wound locations that might affect modality choice or device positioning.
Describe your swelling pattern (location, timing, bilateral vs. unilateral) so the practitioner can tailor compression zones.
Ask about frequency: most post-surgical lymphatic protocols run 2–3 sessions per week in the first month, tapering as swelling resolves.

What's evidence and what's convention

Be clear-eyed about what's proven and what's a wellness overlay on top of clinical practice. HBOT's role in salvaging a compromised graft or flap is a real, medically accepted indication, but it runs at higher pressures than the wellness-grade sessions described here, and the underlying evidence base is thin and mostly non-human. Photobiomodulation's wound-healing evidence is genuine but narrow: it applies to specific wound types studied in trials, not to incisions generally. The sequencing and timing windows on this page (lymphatic first, light on healed skin next, heat last) reflect surgical and physiological reasoning and general practitioner convention. They are not the output of a trial that tested this exact stack against another order; treat the order as a sensible default to discuss with your surgeon, not a validated protocol in itself.

Goal-based recovery sequencing, not medical advice — check contraindications with a professional before starting any modality.

The evidence

The evidence behind this protocol

1 approved claim in the Praxium evidence graph bear on this sequence — graded by how strong the research is and which way it points, with the sources each one rests on. Claims still under review are not shown.

Limited evidence· Points toward a benefit

In eight small and methodologically mixed studies of musculoskeletal injury, manual lymphatic drainage was associated with reduced swelling and pain and improved range of motion, but only half the studies rated strong on quality assessment.

Studied in Adults with musculoskeletal injuries including sprains, strains, and post-injury swellingclinical studies

How strong the finding is

A 2021 systematic review in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice included eight articles and reported reduced edema and pain along with better range of motion, quality of life, and patient satisfaction. Half the included studies achieved a strong quality assessment, and the authors called for further investigation before extending the conclusion to other injury types.

What complicates this

A 2024 meta-analysis of seven randomized trials after total knee replacement found no benefit for swelling, range of motion, or pain, so the positive injury-population signal does not generalize to post-arthroplasty rehabilitation.

Source

Manual lymphatic drainage for musculoskeletal injuries: systematic review — Provencher AM, Giguère-Lemieux É, Croteau É, Ruchat SM, Corbin-Berrigan LA · 2021

Where to run it

Where to find these modalities

Studios offering the modalities in this sequence — check each menu for the full stack.

2220

studios with these modalities

Verified partner

DOC's

Wall, NJ

5.0· 1 review

DOC's is a Wall, NJ recovery facility offering innovative holistic therapies for athletic performance and life extension — whole-body cryotherapy, hyperbaric oxygen, Normatec compression, Sunlighten infrared sauna, and Theralight red light.

CryotherapyHyperbaric oxygenCompression therapyInfrared sauna+1

Website ↗

Next Health West Hollywood

Sunset Strip · West Hollywood, CA

5.0· 2250 reviews

West Hollywood wellness center for NAD+, IV drips, hormone therapy, infrared therapy, hyperbaric oxygen, EBOO ozone & plasma exchange on the Sunset Strip.

CryotherapyHyperbaric oxygenInfrared saunaRed light therapy+1

Website ↗

Next Health

Century City · Los Angeles, CA

5.0· 1493 reviews

Wellness center in Century City with IV drips, NAD+ infusions, hormone optimization, hyperbaric oxygen, infrared therapy, EBOO ozone & plasma exchange.

CryotherapyIV & hydrationHyperbaric oxygenRed light therapy

Website ↗

Next Health Studio City

Studio City Los Angeles, CA

5.0· 1432 reviews

Next Health identifies its Studio City location as a health and wellness center at The Shops at Sportsmen's Lodge.

CryotherapyHyperbaric oxygenIV & hydrationNAD+ IV Infusion+2

Website ↗

Next Health

West Hollywood · Century City, CA

5.0· 1429 reviews

Next Health is a wellness and longevity center at Westfield Century City Mall in Los Angeles.

CryotherapyHyperbaric oxygenIV & hydrationNAD+ IV Infusion

Website ↗

Questions

Frequently asked questions

How soon after surgery should I get lymphatic drainage?

This depends on your procedure and surgeon's instructions. Many surgeons recommend starting within the first few days to a week post-surgery once incisions are stable and drains are removed (if applicable). A small systematic review of manual lymphatic drainage after musculoskeletal injury (eight studies, mixed quality, about half rated strong) reported reduced swelling and pain and better range of motion, which is the basis for using it early, though the review's authors called for more research before generalizing it broadly. Always get explicit surgical clearance first: do not start any post-surgical recovery modality without it.

Can I use red light therapy on a surgical incision?

Not directly on open wounds or fresh sutures. Red light on intact skin around a healed incision, once wounds are closed, is a different matter and generally considered low-risk at appropriate distances. Keep the claim narrow: supportive photobiomodulation wound-healing studies are indication-specific (burns, pressure ulcers, certain grafts) rather than proof that red light speeds any incision. Wait until your surgeon clears light-based treatments, then apply red or near-infrared light to the area around the incision rather than directly over the suture line.

When can I return to infrared sauna after surgery?

Typically 4–8 weeks or more, depending on the procedure and your individual healing trajectory. Infrared sauna raises core body temperature and drives significant sweating, both of which impose physiological demands on a body managing a surgical recovery response. Conservative guidance: wait until wounds are fully healed and your surgeon has explicitly cleared heat exposure. Ask directly: 'Is it safe for me to use an infrared sauna at this stage of healing?'

For studio operators

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Keep exploring around this protocol

Modalities in this protocol

Hyperbaric oxygen →Lymphatic compression →Infrared sauna →Red light therapy →

Other protocols

The post-workout recovery protocol →The sleep optimization protocol →The longevity stack →The contrast therapy protocol →The athlete recovery protocol →The biohacker starter stack →The inflammation protocol →The morning routine protocol →The jet lag recovery protocol →The desk worker recovery protocol →The immune support protocol →The stress and burnout protocol →

Build this protocol into your routine

Take the Protocol Match and get a personalized version with local studios that offer each modality.

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Post-surgery recoveryhow to sequence lymphatic drainage, red light, and hyperbaric oxygen

Why lymphatic drainage is the anchor modality post-surgery

What to tell the studio when booking post-surgical sessions

Bring your surgeon's clearance: reputable studios will ask for it for post-surgical clients. Don't book without it.

Specify your procedure type, date, and any drainage sites, implants, or wound locations that might affect modality choice or device positioning.

Describe your swelling pattern (location, timing, bilateral vs. unilateral) so the practitioner can tailor compression zones.

Ask about frequency: most post-surgical lymphatic protocols run 2–3 sessions per week in the first month, tapering as swelling resolves.

What's evidence and what's convention

Frequently asked questions

How soon after surgery should I get lymphatic drainage?

Can I use red light therapy on a surgical incision?

When can I return to infrared sauna after surgery?

Post-surgery recovery — how to sequence lymphatic drainage, red light, and hyperbaric oxygen