Welcome to The Hip Replacement Podcast, where healing and recovery lead to a whole new lifestyle. I'm Chris Bystriansky, your host. I'm an author, athlete, and double hip replacement patient. One more than 12 years ago, and the other more than 10 years ago. 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. Whether you're preparing for surgery, in recovery, or just looking to move and live better, you're in the right place. Thanks for joining The Hip Replacement Podcast. New hips, new you. Let's go.
Welcome back to The Hip Replacement Podcast. We've been off for a few weeks here and it's good to be back. So, thank you very much for tuning in and thanks for everybody who's been paying attention to these episodes, to the podcast. It really means a lot. I see the numbers. I can see that we're getting downloads. People are watching this and listening to this in many different countries around the world. And it's very inspirational to me to see that people are finding these inspirational, if that makes any sense. So, I'm glad these are helpful and hopefully they're bringing a smile to your face or a little hope for you when things don't seem so great for you.
I know going through a hip replacement surgery or your second hip replacement surgery is not fun. It's not easy. You just want to get back to doing the things that you used to do or go and live the life that you want to live. And I get that and it just seems at times when that life may be on hold.
So, I get that. And hopefully this podcast gives you a little light, gives you a little hope, and helps you see that there is something more positive, something better once you're able to get back on your feet and you're doing things that you want to do again after a hip replacement surgery.
So, off for a few weeks.
And I'll get into more why in another episode, but I've been traveling a lot more. And just a little teaser, I've been golfing more. And I will tell you why I've been golfing more in another episode soon. Maybe the next episode. Yeah, maybe the next episode because it's relevant. Anyway, today I'm going to talk about being bored or better yet not getting bored after a hip replacement surgery.
Maybe you're sitting around. I was sitting around for several weeks after my hip replacement surgery just wanting to do things and then even months, years later I was trying to do things to make me feel alive again if that makes sense because I felt like I was put into this bucket or this category of not necessarily being handicapped but of having limitations. And I wanted to get the hell out of that bucket as quickly as possible or as effectively as possible.
But when most people think about getting active after a hip replacement, they think about the usual activity, walking. Maybe your surgeon tells you to walk. Maybe the physical therapists tell you to walk. Maybe social media tells you to walk. Maybe the internet tells you to walk. Maybe your intuition tells you to walk. But honestly, how much walking can you possibly do before you just can't take it anymore?
At some point, you got to be getting bored with that if you're not doing anything else. But if you are doing something else, great.
And listen, most activities that you could possibly be doing are great. So, whatever else you may be doing, keep doing it. It's great for you. But what I'm saying is this.
Life after a hip replacement surgery does not have to be limited to the same two or three activities over and over again. We're not sentenced to what I guess you would call a prison of the same activity. Whether that's walking or swimming or going to the gym or yoga, we have so much more available to us that we can do.
And let's make sure we get out of the mindset of this is what I've done or this is what I do and this is all I'm ever going to do. Okay?
We need to get out of that.
So maybe it's time to try some new things or some new activities so that we can not feel as bored as we may otherwise feel or we may feel alive again or a higher level of being alive than we have in the past.
I have to take a pause here. If you're watching on video, you may notice that I'm sinking. My chair is sinking. And there's an explanation for that.
My office chair that I'm using now, I've had for years, and it's a really good chair.
But my daughters, when they were younger, thought it was a carnival ride, and they would sit in it and spin like crazy. And they would do this when I wasn't around.
And I would catch them, though.
And what they did is I think they broke the cylinder that holds the chair up. So every once in a while when I'm sitting in the chair, it just slowly starts to sink. So I have to take a pause now and raise the seat so you can actually see me because if you're looking on YouTube, you're going to see me just sink.
And I'm still here, don't worry. But all I got to do is pull this little magical handle and I'm back up to where I should be. Okay, now back to where we were. Maybe it's time to try some new activities. And I don't mean sitting in a chair that treats you like it's an elevator and it goes down. We're not going to do that.
Other things after a hip replacement surgery that are helpful. And maybe a smart way to think about this is to mix activities from three different buckets, if you will. Consider physical activities, social activities, and mental activities.
A combination of these three. So after hip replacement surgery, it doesn't all have to be physical therapy because there's other things that we need. By that I mean social activities. We should be around other people who help us and support us or that make us feel alive and mental activities to keep our mind sharp so that we don't go down a path of negativity which is relatively easy to do.
I mean, it's easy to fall into the trap of going down negative mental holes, if you will. And using a mix of these three types of activities, physical, social, and mental, that's where the magic happens.
It's not just exercise, but a bigger life that includes variety.
I don't know if you've ever heard the famous saying or cliche that variety is the spice of life.
Well, I believe in that because I get bored relatively easily and I cannot possibly be the only one. I need to do a lot of different things. Even things that I enjoy doing, I get bored quickly and I need to change how I'm doing them, where I'm doing them, who I'm doing them with, or I need to completely change the activity.
And you can do these things. You can do a lot of different things than what you're doing now because you're capable of so much more than what you've been doing. I've mentioned this in previous episodes that my life is so much more fulfilled, so much more fulfilling. I've been doing so many more different things because of the hip replacement surgery than I would have done had it not been for the hip replacement surgery because it almost gave me an excuse to go out and experiment with different things and to put myself out there.
And the reason you would want to do different things is because the goal is not just to survive after surgery, not to get back to whatever you were doing before surgery.
That's not good enough.
That's not fulfilling the things that we can do with our lives. The goal after a hip replacement surgery or any type of life-changing event like that is to get stronger, move better, have more fun, challenge your mind to keep it sharp, meet people, and build a bigger life. How fun does that sound? Building a bigger life. It's something we can all do. So, if you're sitting in a room by yourself and you're typically by yourself or if you have a support group all around you, big family, spouse, networking that you do all the time, there's still something more and bigger for even you.
All we have to do is let it happen and look for a few opportunities.
And I'll get into those in a minute. But just a few guardrails before we jump into these activities.
Just be careful you don't get too cute with them. All right. If an activity involves repeated hard impact or maybe deep forced position like a deep stretch or quick pivoting, which I highly discourage, or a high fall risk, you don't want to slip. Okay? It may still be possible for you to do, but build into it gradually and take into consideration your surgical history, what type of surgery you had, your ability in that activity before the surgery, your fitness, of course, your balance, and we should all be working on our balance because it's going to help us through the rest of our lives.
And a surgeon's guidance. What does a surgeon think you should or should not do? Of course, their opinion counts, but it may not be the only thing that counts.
So, the bottom line is let's not overdo it with any of these activities. So, start small.
If you see something online, some type of activity online, and you're thinking, "Wow, that would be great to do that, but you're afraid to do that because it looks so big and so dangerous." There are ways to modify almost anything so that you can go and start and do those things.
So, the point of this episode is to look at life as if it's a big buffet or as one of my old friends would say, a buffet or some type of basket of different activities that you have unlimited access to. And you can select this activity and that activity and this activity or whatever activity to make yourself feel alive like you have never done before and live the biggest fullest life that you possibly can.
And let me give you a little backstory on this. And I'll give you the backstory while I adjust my seat again. Today it just seems to be like a down elevator or lift as some people would say in the world. I'm just thinking.
Anyway, the backstory of or the inspiration for this is my friend Alice.
And I met Alice about six years ago. And I talked to her. We were in a mastermind. People come for business.
And there was about 20 people there and you develop relationships or friendships with all these different incredible people. Well, I've kept in touch with Alice and I see her social media posts every once in a while and I talk to her a couple times a year and actually I'll see her in a few weeks because I'm going to the state where she lives and we're going to go golf. All right. But anyway, I get her social feeds every once in a while and when I talk to her, she's telling me about all these different incredible things that she does. And you'd look at her and you would say like, "Oh, okay. She probably doesn't have a very exciting life because she's very dedicated to her work and she looks like a very serious person and she's very intelligent."
But then the stories that she has, the social media stories that come through.
She's traveling around the world, acting classes, karaoke, art classes, cooking classes, and I could go on and on and on. And I'm thinking to myself, how exciting is that? Because I see her as almost no limitations, almost no fear of doing something new.
And that to me is inspirational because it just opens up so many different things, so many different opportunities to experience something that we have not done before and to meet different people.
And by the way, not having the fear of doing something new is quite a superpower.
So just be careful.
Well, number one, we could all be more like Alice. And I strive to be more like Alice.
But I want to give a warning because some people may be putting up walls or barriers.
I'm suggesting to you to try to avoid this trap of believing that I can't do that or oh my gosh, I can't do that.
And please just give it some thought.
All right? It's okay if we get out of our comfort zone.
Hip replacement may be a wakeup call or an excuse to try something new and exciting that maybe you were afraid or nervous about speaking up before. Maybe you have this group of friends or family or spouse and you've always done X and you've been afraid to say, "Hey, let's try Y or Z or whatever it is."
So, possibly there's a silver lining to this hip replacement stuff. Maybe, it certainly was for me. Maybe going through the hip replacement is the excuse, the fire that we need to go do other things.
And if this isn't for you, if you're not at the point yet, you can always come back to this episode later.
So, here are 20ish 21-ish unexpected activities after a hip replacement that can help you physically, socially, and mentally.
Remember, the point here is that we need more fun in our lives, not less.
Just because we've had hip replacements does not mean we are not allowed to go have fun, to go do diverse things, to feel like a kid again, to feel alive again. All right, so number one, jump rope. Yeah, jump rope. I started jumping rope again several months ago.
And I used to jump rope in my teens and 20s because it was part of the conditioning for baseball and the hockey that I played. And I actually still have my old rope and it's a beaded rope and I used to beat it up. I used to jump rope for about 30 minutes a day when I was in my teens and 20s. And now I just go out in the back on a concrete patio we have and I'll jump for five or 10 minutes. Am I great at it anymore? No. Do I mess up? Yes. But you can go at your own pace. And how do I do this and keep it safe for my hips? Well, I land on the balls of my feet.
And that is the front part of your foot.
Like the front part of your foot towards your toe. I don't land on my heels.
There's no pounding on my hips. All right. So, consider that. And it's great to improve coordination, timing, fitness, footwork, and confidence. Great for all these things, but start small.
We're not trying to win any Rocky montage contest on day one. All right?
But just get out there. It improves the heart rate. A lot of fun. Jumping rope.
Feel like a kid again. Avoid jumping on one leg. I used to do that all the time.
Use two legs. Soften the blow on those hips.
Use the knees. Use the front part of your foot to soften the jumps.
Number two, hula hooping. My daughters love to hula hoop and I promised to them that I would start to learn hula hooping and I have and I'm terrible at it.
But I promise you one day I will be on a stage somewhere for something or I will be in front of people or I will have the opportunity to do a hula hoop thing. I don't even know what it's called. Hula hooping and I will rock it. Okay, I'm nowhere near that now.
To me, it was something growing up that I, you know, obviously wouldn't do. I'm a man. I don't do those kind of things. But now, I think it's a great activity, and probably great for the hips, great for rhythm, coordination, core engagement, getting those muscles stronger, and frankly, fun. My daughters don't have a bad time when they're hula hooping. I've never seen anyone have a bad time when they're hula hooping.
It feels playful, which is important because a lot of people forget that movement is supposed to be enjoyable, too. We can do this. So, grab that hula hoop, start moving those hips.
Number three, yoga. Yoga is a surprisingly great exercise. And again, it's one of those things growing up for me, I looked down on it. I lifted weights. I went to the gym. I played all these sports. And yoga to me was something that nah, it wasn't for me. Now I cannot get enough of yoga.
It improves mobility, balance, body awareness, strength. I'm like dripping in sweat when I'm getting done with yoga. Now, I'm a big guy. I hold up a lot of weight. So, it's a big workout for me. I had no idea it was like that. Most importantly, too, it increases my flexibility.
And just doing simple yoga, you can find yoga all over the internet. You can buy yoga videos.
There's great— You can go to a yoga class.
It teaches you how to move with more control instead of just throwing your body around like in a gym or doing some other activity. Plus, it's well-rounded.
All right, so you're getting good mobility and strength all around your body.
All right, this next one, I'm going to dedicate a whole episode to, but I just want to mention it here.
And it's sort of like yoga, but it is ballet fitness. Like ballet.
Okay. My daughters like to dance. So I got them this membership. I bought them this membership, this online membership to a yoga or a ballet fitness course.
And there's hundreds of hundreds of courses, some between 10 minutes and some 30 or 40 minutes. And it's two ballet instructors, and they take you through ballet exercises. And it's not just go to this position, go to that position, whatever they're called.
It is a lot of body movements. It's like faster paced yoga, but it's smooth. It's very stretching.
And this is absolutely outstanding for posture, for butt or glute exercises, and strength, which is what I need, balance, stability, and frankly, grace.
We could all move with better balance and grace. And you don't need to become a professional ballet dancer. That's not what this is for. This is for safe movements to increase our strength and flexibility.
You just need to move after hip replacement. You just need to move with control and build strength in positions that frankly most people ignore.
But because of the hip replacement, it's almost as if it gives us a license to do things that we wouldn't do otherwise.
And I got that for my daughters. I got the membership, the annual membership for my daughters. They love it. And then my wife started doing it.
And then I started doing it. And it crushes me. It crushes me like in a good way. I love it. I feel stronger, more flexible. And somehow I feel cleaner, like more refreshed when I'm doing that.
So try that. Something sort of related, Tai Chi. Taichi is a very slow moving martial art. Think about it like cramming together martial arts in yoga. And there's no punches, kicks, throws, joint locks, or anything like that. It's slow, graceful movement.
It really helps with flexibility and strength in a slow motion way. And it may look slow and easy, but don't let that fool you. Again, you can get this online or internet. You can even take classes for it. And the Tai Chi builds balance, coordination, weight transfer as you shift from left to right and back and forward, focus, body control is important, and a mental focus to get to the positions and control over your body.
It's one of the best things for people who want to move better and feel steadier and better balanced and it'll make you surprisingly strong.
Okay, here's one. Dance classes.
Yeah, dance classes. You can dance after a hip replacement.
Ballroom, salsa, line dancing. Any country western fans? I spent a long time in Texas. Absolutely had to do it.
And there's also low impact dance fitness. And this is great for cardio, memory to remember the moves, the rhythm. It builds great confidence. And it is a huge social connection builder. You're dancing with other people.
Frankly, it's way better than staring at a treadmill or walking around the park.
I go and swim at YMCA.
They have an outdoor pool and they have these big exercise rooms.
All day long they have dance classes and the music is pumping in there and a lot of times the lights are a little bit dimmer and they're doing salsa dancing or they're doing line dancing or they're doing I don't know what it's called dancing but they look like they're having a good time.
I bought these videos, it was like a 10 pack of videos a few years after my hip replacements and it was like salsa booty burn from South America. Yeah. Booty burn like your butt. And I did them.
I learned a lot. It helped my legs. It helped my booty, I guess, get stronger.
And I tell you, it was a lot of fun. The music, the people in the videos. I very much enjoyed it.
Again, I implore you, avoid the initial reaction of that's not for me.
Just consider it. Okay? Maybe put on the back burner. Think about it. Okay?
All right. Here's something entirely different. What about drumming or music? Maybe taking music lessons. There are drumming fitness classes where you're really banging on different types of drums, learning rhythm, learning some music skills, getting a lot of exercise. Drumming is hard, but what about just basic music lessons or learning music? And if you already play music, what about playing more?
What about playing in front of people?
And if you want to learn music, the classes that you can take, whether in person, online, whatever, are great for rhythm, coordination, mental ability, upper body movement, brain engagement, and improving your energy. They're also very different. So if you learn music, one of the cool things about music is that it is one of the few universal languages. Music and math, but there's no math in the music. Okay, I just brought that up as a universal type of language. But music translates to everybody. It's all the same in every different country.
But this is something that is just so different and it may help you stay engaged and around other people and moving forward and developing and something that you can be proud of.
Number eight, getting in the pool. And I don't mean swimming laps. I mean like aqua boxing or aqua dance or aqua aerobics. This is very low impact and way more interesting than just swimming laps. And also the water reduces stress on the joints while giving you some freedom of movement and resistance at the same time. And where I go swim, it's a big pool. They have lanes for swimming and then they have a big area for aerobics in the water.
There are classes there in the morning, 10, 20, 30 people in the water doing water aerobics. And it's about four feet of water. So you don't have to worry about drowning because you could stand there.
But there's an instructor on the side of the pool going through different motions and the people in the water go through those motions.
And it's way more interesting for me to be swimming when one of those classes is going on because there's just so much more energy and the people are excited to be there. They're having fun. The music's going, the instructor's fun, so don't shy away from water. If you have the opportunity for a water aerobics class, give it a shot.
I enjoy swimming way more when the class is going on. And by the way, nobody really cares what you look like in a swimsuit. So if you're thinking that, oh, I don't, you know, I've got a little extra on me. I don't want to put a swimsuit on. Nobody cares. Everyone's like that there anyway.
Just put your suit on and go have fun. Also, in the water, paddle boarding.
I don't know if you've ever seen people standing up on a big like it looks like a big surfboard and they have a paddle.
This activity is excellent for balance, core stability, mental focus, and confidence. Plus, if you fall, you're falling into water, so it's relatively safe. And even if you fall on the board, it's still relatively soft because the board will give way to the water. And if you're not comfortable standing, you could do it kneeling or sitting.
It also gets you outside, which can do a lot for your mood and your mental health. So, if you go out to the water somewhere, maybe you go on vacation if you don't live anywhere near water, and you see people on these paddle boards, maybe in a pool, maybe in a lake, maybe in the ocean, maybe think about it.
Number 10, and this might put you back into a gym, or maybe you have one of these at home, but what about a rowing machine workout? Okay, this is where you sit down and you pull some type of cable and as you slide back, imagine like you're rowing a boat, but it's not on a boat. This is great for conditioning.
Rhythm and total body coordination when it's done in proper form. All right, controlled movement is the key. And this is excellent for your legs, your back, your shoulders, and cardio. Excellent for all those.
Number 11.
I don't know if you've ever been on a trampoline.
I would skip that. I have been on a diving board. I jump off diving boards as often as possible.
But this number 11, what I'm talking about is a mini trampoline called a rebounder. And it's, I don't know, maybe like 3 feet across. And it's like a or maybe four feet across. And it's a trampoline. And you don't jump very high, but you're doing exercises or just bouncing on it very gently.
It's a very controlled bouncing. And there are classes for this. So people bounce on a mini on this mini trampoline. And it's fun. It's energizing.
I've done it. My kids have done it. It's not for everyone, but for the right person, I think it's great. It can improve circulation, coordination, and confidence. And where we used to go and do this, they had bars that you could hold on to for balance. And I thought that was a great idea.
But they're pretty safe. You get a great workout. Your body's moving around.
You're moving different muscles. You're bouncing. Your legs are getting a very good workout.
And you're not jumping high. You're only jumping like a couple inches. You don't even have to jump. You can literally just stay on the trampoline. Your feet can stay connected to the trampoline as you go up and down or rebounder. I don't want to say trampoline because when I say trampoline, I envision something big like the Olympics where they're bouncing 10 20 feet in the air. That's not this.
All right. This you're either staying connected to that rebounder or maybe only an inch or two off.
What about number 12? Gardening. Yeah, gardening counts. Getting outside, squatting, lifting, carrying, reaching, standing, walking, just being outdoors. All that adds up.
Plus, there's a tangible result. You get to look at the plants.
Maybe you get to bear the fruit of the plants. But both of those are great.
It's physical. It's mentally calming. And frankly, it's deeply satisfying.
My wife and I used to have a garden at one of the houses we had previously.
We need to do that again because I loved it. I loved growing food or growing these big colorful plants that made the whole backyard look beautiful and seem to be a great place to hang out. Love gardening.
All right, this next one a little bit controversial for me and I'll explain why.
Number 13, pickle ball. Pickle ball seems to be a huge rage in the US now, maybe around the world.
I'm not really sure. I had the opportunity several years ago to invest in pickle ball courts, in pickle ball businesses, and I passed, but pickle ball has grown substantially. And if you don't know what pickle ball is, think of tennis, but miniature tennis. Not so miniature like table tennis, but kind of like that.
It's not necessarily a full speed competitive play right away. You don't need to be competitive to go out and have fun at pickle ball. And this same YMCA that I go swim at, they have indoor pickle ball and it's packed. People love it. It's very social. You get great footwork in. It's a lot of fun, competitive, helps you move, increases your reaction time, your reflexes, and it's just such a great social interaction. There are pickle ball courts going up everywhere.
And the reason that I said it's controversial for me is because I like tennis.
I love pingpong or table tennis.
I'm interested in bad mitten. I used to play a lot of raetball and I've seen people I knew people who played squash. So, there's a lot of similar sports and pickle ball was just one too many racket sport for me.
As I say that, I will probably be on a pickle ball court at some point in my life and absolutely love it. But it's also the noise issue too where it's that clanging noise of the ball on the wooden paddle. I'm wondering why no one ever put a rubber surface on that paddle to basically make it like a bigger pingpong paddle.
But that being said, I have a lot of friends who play.
It's a lot of fun. It's very popular.
And I will one day find myself on a pickle ball court as I know that will happen.
Even though right now it's a bridge too far for me. But a lot of people love it. I will be there one day.
Number 14. What about helping somebody else? Maybe your neighbor, someone down the street, or an animal shelter, walk dogs or go volunteer. Volunteering gives us a sense of purpose. It gives us a sense of joy and it gives us something to do. And it also adds movement, routine, and connection to others. It plus it gets you out of the house and focused on something beyond yourself. It gives you social interaction because you have to get the dogs from someone and also creates accountability.
You have to put it on your schedule. You have to work it in.
You may skip your own walk. Your own walk may be boring. Your own walk may get repetitive. You don't want to go.
But it's harder to not go if you have a purpose like walking a dog. Plus, being around an animal who is full of energy may some of that energy may transfer over to you. All right? So, if you don't have a dog or you don't have another animal to walk, maybe consider helping someone else out.
Take their animal for a walk. All right.
This may be very scary for some folks. What about acting classes? Yeah.
Learn, train, and participate in performances. I took acting classes several years ago after my hip replacement surgeries, and I wish I had done it 30 years earlier. My daughters are in acting classes now, and I wish I would have done that when I was their age, because it lets you build your character. It lets you feel alive. It teaches you new skills. It helps you to talk. It's socially effective because you're around other people. And there may be community theaters near you that may need some performers and who knows, maybe you love it.
I didn't go to my first theater show until I was forced to when I was in college, and I loved it. I wish I had done it a lot earlier, but it just wasn't something that was in my family. It just wasn't something that was in my community. It wasn't until I went to college that other people were doing that and I had to take a class on theater. It was a requirement. And then, oh, the light bulb went off. Hey, this is kind of interesting. I would love to do more of this. So, there you go.
Consider acting classes.
What about a choir? It puts you into a group. It helps you be more social, helps you build rhythm, and plus there's an excitement of performing. Or what about karaoke?
Getting out in front of people. That'll make you feel alive.
No one cares what your voice sounds like. Go out there and have fun.
Number 17. What about indoor climbing?
All right. I'm not talking about going to climb a mountain. I'm not talking about free climbing El Capitan or going up to Mount Everest. That's not what I'm talking about. There are climbing gyms popping up everywhere. You could climb five feet. You could climb 10 feet.
You're on a rope. Not much of a risk of falling.
And this is not hard bouldering hero stuff.
You can easily traverse these walls.
And beginning climbing can improve your hip mobility because you have to move your legs.
It builds your strength, your arm strength, your leg strength. It helps you plan. It helps with coordination.
And it certainly helps with confidence.
It also forces mental engagement because you have to solve movement problems in real time. Again, you can go very low.
You can go a relatively easy wall with plenty of places to hang on to.
Okay, the next one may seem way out there, but this is a way out there episode.
Number 18, circus arts basics. There are places where you can go and learn how to become a circus performer. I'm not saying you have to join the circus. I'm just saying there are places to go where you can learn different skills. So, there are things called circus schools.
If you were to go online and look for circus schools near me, there are probably some incredibly close to you that you did not realize were there.
Now, hear me out on this.
It could be things like scarf juggling or beginner flow arts, some type of coordination activity, timing. It improves your timing, it improves your posture, it improves your brain function, and it could be a whole lot of fun. Think maybe creating balloon animals. If you don't, I'm not saying you should go on a trapeze and swing around, but maybe you could learn to create balloon animals. Maybe you could learn some axe to be a clown or whatever it is. There's a lot of different activities that these circus schools offer, and some of them may be interesting to you. Think about it. They be playful, social, and mentally fresh and give you something to talk about among your other friends or family.
Remember, I've said this several times and I'll probably say it several more.
As hip patients, we don't need less fun in our lives. We need more fun.
Just because we've had a hip replacement does not mean we're not allowed to have fun.
What about group yoga or mobility classes? You can get into these classes and they're social. You get to meet people and it's not just flexibility.
These classes would add balance, breath control, body awareness that would help you reduce stress and you'd build confidence getting up and down from the floor.
So, think about, you know, a group fitness class that maybe was not on your radar before.
Again, the hip replacement may be a license or give you permission to do things that were not important to you before or I mean, let's be honest and say it that maybe you thought were beneath you before and maybe now you're thinking, "Oh, I'm going to try something different. My life is different now. I'm going to go do something different." What about cooking classes?
Learn some new skills around the kitchen. We all have to eat.
My wife and daughter love cooking classes. I mean, watching cooking on TV. I cannot do that because I would just sit there and get hungry and then go eat. But my wife has taken cooking classes.
She's a great cook. I've been cooking since I was about six years old, believe it or not. So, we both cook.
My older daughter is starting to cook.
So, there's probably some cooking classes near you. And there's a lot of different things you could learn how to do in the kitchen that would be helpful to you.
All right, next one. What about travel? And this doesn't have to be travel around the world or travel to a different country. What about just exploring your city? Instead of just going for that walk in your neighborhood, maybe walking around a museum would be good. Maybe walking around art exhibits or exploring coffee shops or festivals. How about just going out and exploring things that you would not have tried otherwise?
One of the things I recently did and this was an Alice idea.
I went to the Scottish Highland Games as it came through my town and I took my older daughter the Scottish Highland Games.
This is Scottish festival where they had lots of booths set up, lots of music and they had games going on that were representative of the Scottish games centuries ago.
Uh, am I Scottish? Is my daughter Scottish? I don't think so. But we still went. We had a great time.
We got to see something new. Something new for her. She didn't want to try haggus, though. Haggus is the I guess you call it the traditional Scottish meal. Look it up. I'm not going to get into it here. I told her that when we go back next year, she's going to try haggus.
All right, last one. What about looking into some adult sports leagues in your area? Now, adult sports leagues covers a lot of different sports.
Some may be safe for you, some may not. But consider things like maybe bowling, maybe darts, maybe cornhole, maybe golf.
There's a lot of different sports that these adult leagues put on that you can join. Very social.
They'll get you moving, meet a lot of people. By the way, that's how I met my wife in an adult sport league many, many years ago.
So whether you're looking for love or not, I wasn't. I was just out for a good time. That's what happened. But it was fun. Got to meet some great people. Got to get some exercise in a different way.
But here's the bigger point. After a hip replacement, don't just ask, "What exercise should I do?" and settle for walking or the simple exercises from the physical therapist.
The real question is this. What kind of life do I want to build?
And that question gets more and more important the farther you get away from surgery. The more time that passes after surgery, the more capable you are.
And at that point, you have the ability to go and do new and different and exciting things and not just fall into the same two or three activities that you used to do or you feel most comfortable with.
Because the best activity is not always the one you've always done or the one that burns the most calories.
Sometimes the best activity is the one that makes you feel alive again or the one that gets you around other people. Or the one that challenges your brain.
Or the one that makes you laugh. Or the one that gives you confidence. Or the one that reminds you that you are still athletic, still capable, still growing, and still enjoy having fun. That's the real win.
Not just walking, but feeling alive again. I hope this was helpful.
Come back to this episode, try different things, open up your mind to the possibilities that are out there.
Thanks so much for tuning into The Hip Replacement Podcast, and until next time, I wish you the best recovery possible. Take care.
