Welcome to The Hip Replacement Podcast, where recovery meets motivation and healing leads to a whole new lifestyle.
I'm Chris Bystriansky, your host. I'm an author, athlete, and double hip replacement patient. I've been through the surgeries, the setbacks, and the comebacks. And I'm here to help you do the same.
Each week, I'll bring you tips, tools, expert advice, and inspiring stories to help you take back your life one step at a time.
Thanks for joining The Hip Replacement Podcast. New hips, new you. Let's go.
Welcome back to The Hip Replacement Podcast. I'm Chris Bystriansky, your host. I'm also a two-time hip replacement patient, one more than 12 years ago and the other more than 10 years ago. And I'm here to share my experiences with you. So, here we go.
Welcome back to another great episode. Today we're going to talk about something that maybe a lot of people feel but don't always say out loud after a hip replacement surgery. That progress and good health, feeling good, being pain-free can feel elusive.
It can feel like we're never going to get there. It can feel out of touch and hopeless possibly.
And I'm not just talking about people who are a few weeks out from surgery. This applies whether you're an hour after surgery, a week, a month, a year, and maybe even years after surgery.
We all go through something that gets us down where we don't feel like we're making progress. And it really doesn't matter the time. It could be any time from right after surgery to years down the road.
Sometimes you're feeling like everything is okay. Everything's right. You're making progress. And then it can feel the next minute, the next day, it can feel like nothing's going right. And you're not making any progress and you feel stuck.
I've been there several times over the last 12 years. Now, the fortunate piece is that as you get farther away from surgery, this gets less and less. But I'll tell you, those first couple years after surgery, they're tough. They're tough. No matter what social media says, no matter the gang buster recoveries you're reading about, you're not getting the full picture.
So it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and to feel frustrated or even hopeless at times. I've been there and I was young when I had my surgeries and in great physical shape otherwise.
Here's the situation that that feeling is certainly real, but the good news is that it's not permanent. We all go through cycles up and down. One day we feel great, the next day not so great. Or maybe it's by the weeks or by the months or by the years.
Maybe something else is going on in our lives and it's pulling us down and we're not really understanding that. We're not aware of that and we're attributing it to maybe our hip isn't doing as great as we thought.
But the good news is once we recognize this that we can pull ourselves out of it. And you can pull yourself out of it. And the way out usually is not some complicated program or a heroic burst of motivation or accomplishing something incredible. walking across the country, deep sea diving to the depths of the ocean. It's none of that.
The way out, the way to start feeling better, the way to get rid of this feeling of hopelessness or that you're not making any progress, the way forward is simplicity and consistency.
It's so it's it it's almost too simple to talk about, but sometimes we're really shooting for the stars. We're thinking it's got to be big and explosive and oh my gosh is a life-changing activity I have to do.
When in actuality, it's simplicity and consistency.
So, I want to give you a simple four-step process that you can start using today for free without any further delay to get you going in the right direction and make you feel like you're making progress and that you have control over the outcome here. So, here we go.
Step one, reset the story. The overwhelm that you may be feeling, the loss of control or the loss of progress isn't a verdict. It isn't a lifetime sentence.
So, tell yourself the right story. This thing may be hard right now, but it won't last forever. That is so key. That is so key.
When things are going wrong, when you feel like you're not making any progress, don't get stuck there. Know that it's only temporary.
Overwhelm has a way of making us think that this is my new normal. I'm not going to get any better and I don't know what to do. I'm just overwhelmed and it feels hopeless.
But that's not a fact. That's just a feeling. And our feelings sometimes pull us into places that we make up in our minds. Feelings can change when actions change.
So simple steps, simple actions can help us get pulled out of this feeling of overwhelmed, feeling of we don't have any control.
So your job is not to solve everything today. isn't to hit a grand slam or score a big goal in your recovery. Your job is to take one small step forward and that will prove to yourself that you're still moving forward.
Not a giant leap, not a massive jump, not a huge step forward, one small step forward. take that next step forward and it'll help pull yourself out of this feeling of overwhelmed.
So that's step one.
Step two, commit to the minimum dose, we don't have to work out for hours a day. If you want to, fantastic. Don't overdo it, though.
How about 10 or 15 minutes a day? Make the decision to commit to 10 or 15 minutes a day. That's it. Simple, inconsistent.
Now, you may get a sense or an objection that, hey, I'm busy. I'm too busy to do that. Well, we're all busy. Everyone's busy. But we can't let busy become the excuse that keeps us back.
And I don't even like the word busy. I don't even like that concept. We are not too busy for what is important to us.
So if you have 50 things you want to do and you only have time for 10, the problem is that you don't have time. The problem is you haven't identified the right 10 things that you need to do. Okay?
So focus on that 10 or 15 minutes and put those into your priorities of things to do.
Let me say this as well. Your 10 or 15 minutes of making progress, of doing the stretches, of exercising, of getting healthier, stronger, more mentally sharp, more positive, they don't have to be perfect.
The actions you take don't have to be perfect. The old saying is perfect is the enemy of the good and done. You don't need a perfect plan, perfect equipment, perfect timing, perfect energy, perfect weather, perfect nutrition, perfect sleep, perfect anything.
Nothing has to be perfect for you to move forward. You just need consistent reps, repetitions like some walking, some gentle mobility exercises, physical therapy, stretches, exercises, basic strength work, whatever your current situation allows.
Now, certainly, if you're one day after surgery, that's a lot different than one year after surgery. You have more limited options when you're closer to surgery.
And if you're farther away and you want to do something more extravagant, have at it. But don't wait for the timing of that extravagant thing stop you from being consistent and from putting in that minimum dose of 10 or 15 minutes a day. Those things will add up.
Step number three, chip away at progress. Don't take huge chunks. Don't Don't feel like you got to do everything all at once. Just chip away.
There's an old saying, old proverb maybe. How do you eat an elephant? You see this big elephant in front of you? Well, how do you eat that guy? One bite at a time.
How do you run a marathon? How do you complete a long endurance event? One step at a time.
You can't take 26 miles or a 10k or a 50k or 100k and tackle that all at once. But you can take one step at a time.
Win today, win tomorrow, and repeat. Chip away and then stack those wins. And over time, you're going to feel that progress.
chip away at the progress and you will see as you look back in time huge progress that you're making.
But if you're looking too far in the future, if you're looking at too big of a goal, it'll feel insurmountable. Look at that little piece. Take that next bite. Take that next step.
And over time, you can look back and realize that you have eaten that elephant, that you have finished that marathon, that you have gotten much better, stronger, faster, healthier, lighter.
Chip away at progress. The goal is to be a little bit better tomorrow than you are today. Not a significant amount of better, just a little bit better.
You're not suddenly going to feel back to normal, I guess you'd say, overnight. It's going to take some time. Add that progress together. Sum it up every day over a period of time and you'll get there.
Progress after a hip replacement is is pretty quiet. There's no there's not really a lot of points where you make significant jumps where in the morning you're feeling on a level of five and then at night you're at a level 10. It doesn't work like that.
I mean, as far as success, you don't you don't go from a five to a 10. You go from a five to a six.
The progress after a hip replacement is usually fewer limps, a little better sleep, slightly more confidence, less stiffness, longer walks, being occupied with other things that take your mind off of the hip replacement because you don't worry about it anymore.
It's little things like that that add up to huge success in the long run.
stacking up small wins and you wake up one day and realize I'm not where I was three months ago or six months ago or a year ago. I'm in a much better place. I didn't even realize that was happening.
I just put in a little bit of time and I was consistent about it and I'm in a much different place than I was a while ago. That's how you make progress.
Step four, protect the environment around you. Fill your mind and surroundings with positives, positive people, positive thoughts, positive decisions. Because what you hear repeatedly becomes what you believe. What you tell yourself becomes what you believe.
I'm never getting better. This is taking too long. I don't know if I'll ever be back to where I want to be. I'll never be healthy again.
All of those types of things that you say to yourself, all of the that type of input that's going into your head, we have to get rid of it.
Fill yourself, fill your mind, fill your thoughts with positives.
I'm doing everything I can. I'm getting a little bit better every day. I'm going to get there. I'm going to be healthier. I can do this. I have the help I need. I'll get the help I need. I want to get better. I want to be healthier. I'm I'm making a little bit of progress every day.
Those are the things that will pull you from a feeling of of not making progress to a place where you feel like your progress is just accelerating.
So, if you're feeling stuck, if you're feeling you're not getting anywhere, if it's feeling hopeless, if you're feeling overwhelmed, all reasonable thoughts, by the way, all reasonable after a hip replacement surgery, come back to this.
Keep it simple, stay consistent, and give yourself credit for showing up. That's how progress happens. That's how you return or get to whatever level of health that you want to get to.
And yes, after a hip replacement surgery, you can be in the best shape of your life, regardless of your age. I believe in you. You can do this.
Thanks so much for tuning in to The Hip Replacement Podcast. Pretty simple episode today. I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, I wish you the best recovery possible. Take care.
