Your Strongest Self
Prehabilitation for a Better Surgery and a Stronger Recovery
Dr. Mathew Silvaggio MD FRCPC
About the Book
Facing a major surgery can feel overwhelming—but what if you could take back some control?
Your Strongest Self is a practical, science-informed guide designed to help you prepare your body and mind before surgery so you can recover stronger, faster, and with greater confidence. Built around the four essential pillars of prehabilitation—Nutrition, Physical Fitness, Respiratory Fitness, and Psychological Preparedness—this book translates medical insight into clear, actionable steps that anyone can follow.
Rather than focusing only on what happens in the operating room, Your Strongest Self empowers you to take an active role in your own outcome. Inside, you’ll find simple strategies to improve strength and endurance, optimize your nutrition, train your breathing, and build the mental resilience needed to navigate surgery and recovery.
Whether you have weeks or just days to prepare, this guide meets you where you are. No complicated jargon. No unrealistic expectations. Just a focused, accessible plan to help you show up to surgery in your best possible condition—and give yourself the strongest chance at a smooth recovery.
Because the best outcomes don’t start in the operating room—they start with preparation.
About the Author
Dr. Mathew Silvaggio is an anesthesiologist and pain physician who has spent over 15 years caring for patients through major surgery. Throughout his career, he’s seen firsthand how much preparation can influence recovery—but it wasn’t until his own cancer diagnosis that this became deeply personal.
After undergoing chemotherapy and major surgery himself, Dr. Silvaggio turned to the same principles he had seen in the medical literature—focusing on nutrition, physical fitness, respiratory strength, and mental resilience—to prepare for treatment and recovery. Experiencing the process from the patient’s side gave him a new perspective on what truly helps, and what people actually need in order to follow through.
He wrote Your Strongest Self to make prehabilitation simple, practical, and accessible to anyone facing surgery. His goal is to empower patients to take an active role in their care, and to help both individuals and healthcare systems recognize that better outcomes often start well before the operating room.
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