Is it wise to take a body that's already weak
into the stress of surgery?
Most operations are scheduled, not emergencies. That waiting time is an opening: get stronger, better fueled, and more resilient before the incision, so the body has more in reserve when stress arrives. That is what we do.
1st
Non-hospital CORF in Maryland
~6,000
Sq. ft. facility in Columbia, MD
Same-Day
Sick calls & acute care access
WHY PREHABILITATION
If you knew a hard season was coming, would you walk in tired, or trained?
A weakened body has less to spend when surgery, illness, or recovery starts drawing down its reserves. Building strength, capacity, and nutrition first is not a luxury. The data says it changes what happens after.
Shorter hospital stays, by procedure
Cardiac Surgery
Up to 4 days
Shorter hospital stay after lung surgery
−4.23 days with preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation; Li et al. meta-analysis. Postoperative pulmonary complications cut by more than half (OR 0.44).
Thoracic / Lung Resection
Up to 2.5 days
Shorter stay with multimodal prehabilitation
−2.47 days across 14 studies, 2,314 patients; meta-analysis,
J Am Geriatr Soc, 2025. Complication odds down roughly a quarter.
Colorectal Surgery
1.5 to 3 days
Shorter stay across multiple reviews
Range reported across systematic reviews; pneumonia risk down roughly 55 to 67% with inspiratory muscle training. Largest pooled analysis: 44 RCTs, 3,925 patients.
Orthopedic (Knee / Hip)
Less pain
Better pain control and earlier readiness to discharge
For joint replacement the strongest signal is pain relief and faster functional recovery rather than raw length of stay; RCT meta-analysis, 2025. We set expectations honestly by procedure.
Abdominal Surgery
Up to 44%
Fewer severe postoperative complications
Frail, high-risk abdominal surgery patients; meta-analysis,
Clinical Nutrition, 2024.
What a Complication Costs
$26K–$48K
Typical cost of a single pulmonary complication
Cost range cited in Scientific Reports, 2024. Each stay avoided is a complication that did not have to be paid for.
Evidence is strongest for multimodal programs that combine exercise, nutrition, and breathing training in older, frailer, and higher-risk patients. Results vary by procedure and individual, and prehabilitation is not a guarantee of any specific outcome. Your care team will tell you honestly whether it fits your situation.
CORE CLINICAL PILLARS
What if readiness were a service you could schedule?
Four lines of high-acuity outpatient care under one roof, coordinated by physicians who built the model around getting patients ready and getting them back.
REHABILITATION
Prehabilitation & Pre-Optimization
Integrated therapies that prepare the body before surgery and accelerate functional recovery afterward.
Core Program Platform
Prehabilitation Centers of America
A subsidiary of AthleticsMD®
- PREOOP™ surgical pre-optimization
- Physical & occupational therapy
- Speech-language pathology
- Respiratory therapy
- Rehab nursing & psychotherapy
Longevity
Functional & Preventive Medicine
Medical strategies that extend healthspan and sustain performance over time.
- Clinically-guided hormone optimization
- Medical weight loss & disease prevention
- Advanced longevity optimization
- Physician counseling
- Clinical nutrition planning
ACUTE CARE
Infusion, Diagnostics & Same-Day Care
Rapid-response interventions and lab work for stabilization and ongoing health tracking.
- Same-day sick calls & resuscitation
- IV therapy & hydration
- IV vitamins and infusions
- Rapid diagnostic labs
- Comprehensive medical evaluations
CONCEIRGE
Restorative & Concierge Services
Advanced pain management and personalized navigation for complex or international cases.
- Chronic pain management
- Medical disability evaluations
- International medical concierge
- Access liaison services
- Expert physician consultations
MEDICAL WEIGHT LOSS · GLP-1 THERAPY
What would change if you met your next health challenge lighter and stronger?
Excess weight is a load your heart, lungs, and joints carry into every surgery and every illness. Our program is built on tirzepatide, the dual-action GLP-1 medication that delivers greater weight loss with fewer side effects than older options for most patients. Medication alone rarely holds, so we wrap it in physician oversight and a team that tracks your progress week to week.
Pay
weekly
instead of fronting a large monthly cost, and
bill insurance when coverage applies. Available in person at our Laurel and Columbia locations, or by telehealth across Maryland.
98.8%
of our patients stay on the program
Two locations:
Laurel
&
Columbia
Telehealth available statewide
🩺
Tirzepatide-first
Better weight-loss efficacy and fewer side effects than first-generation GLP-1s for most patients.
📅
Weekly check-ins
Face-to-face meetings, virtual or in person, with your accountability team every week.
🧑⚕️
Physician-guided
Dosing and safety managed by physicians, not a vending-machine prescription service.
🍽️
Nutrition & exercise
A nutritional guide and an exercise prescription tuned to your body and your goals.
Insurance billable when applicable
We're in network with several payers and bill your benefits whenever your plan covers care:
Simple weekly payments · insurance billed when applicable.
The AthleticsMD® Difference
What happens when a critical care anesthesiologist and a general surgeon build a company around one question?
The question is simple: how do you get patients ready, and how do you keep them well? Answering it produced Maryland's first independent Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facility, bringing high-value care under one umbrella in the ambulatory setting.
Two clinicians who see patients at their most vulnerable, before the incision and in the unit afterward, designed a model that moves that level of attention out of the hospital. The result is direct access to advanced care, from preventive health and clinically-guided hormone optimization to same-day sick calls and complex IV vitamins and infusions.
1st
Non-hospital-affiliated CORF in Maryland
A new category of coordinated outpatient rehabilitation.
~6,000
Square feet in Columbia, MD
A purpose-built clinical facility at the center of the DMV.
Our Non-Profit Arm
What happens to readiness in a place with almost no surgeons?
AthleticsMD® serves as a principal sponsor of medical infrastructure development worldwide, delivered through our IRS-approved 501(c)(3), Healing Vessels International (HVI).
HVI is anchored in the implementation science of high-impact interventions in low-resource settings, connecting world-class clinical expertise to places that lack it.
Cornerstone Initiative
Global Surgery University (GSU)
A five-year integrated surgical training program for Africa. Grounded in the 2015 Lancet Commission on Global Surgery and evidence from the técnicos de cirurgia model in Mozambique, GSU builds sustainable, life-saving surgical capacity at the point of greatest need.
When stress comes for your body, will it find you ready?
New patients and referring providers are welcome at our Columbia, MD facility.
AthleticsMD® Main
844-FIT-MD4U
(844-348-6348) · care@athleticsmd.org
prehabilitation centers of america
443-393-6343
Referrals · prehab@athleticsmd.org