Welcome back to The Hip Replacement Podcast. I'm Chris Bystriansky, your host.
And let me tell you about something that has been going on in my life lately. And this is all relevant. All right? But bear with me for a second. And I've mentioned some of these things in previous episodes, so I'm going to touch up on some of those and wrap some things up.
Now, I'm a regular golfer. If you've listened to this podcast before, you probably were aware of that because I've mentioned it many times. And I golf because I enjoy it. I find it relaxing to be outside and to walk and give myself a break from screens or the constant bombardment of news if you turn on any media whatsoever or even taking a break from some of the projects I'm working on.
And I used to golf in high school and in college. And I was pretty good. And then in my 20s, my late 20s, I was playing really great golf because I was around other really great golfers and we would play pretty consistently. So just being around other great golfers was very helpful to me.
But because of my hips since then, my golf game has really fallen off and it's always been a goal of mine to return to competition.
But my peak of my golfing scores or my ability, not of my ability, more of my scores or my results was probably over 20 years ago. Again, because of my hips, I wasn't very mobile. It was just painful to be out there.
So, there was a lot of time before my hip surgeries and even after my hip surgeries where I just wasn't able to play golf at the level that I wanted to play in. So, I want to find another peak for me.
I want to enter into what I would consider my golden age of playing great golf. And I don't mean more golf. I don't mean screw around with my friends on a golf course type golf. I mean competitive golf. I want to know how good I can get, how well I can play because I'm just curious.
I have no dreams or aspirations of winning a major golf tournament, but I can still play a lot better and have more fun than I'm currently playing and having fun at this level right now. I hope that makes sense. I just want to see what my potential is.
So golf for me is not just about getting out on the course with friends. And that's all well and good and I have fun doing that as well, but I want to return to some serious competition as the highest level as I can because it's through competition that I'm able to focus and push myself to get a little bit better.
I just want to play at the highest level that I can possibly play. I don't ever want to wonder. I don't want to have regrets later in life about wondering how good I could have been if I just would have taken the chance to get there to find out.
I made a decision a few months ago to return to competition as best I could. I don't really know why it's taken me this long to do that. Certainly the hips were a big road bump, but it's been 11 years since my last hip replacement surgery. So, I don't know why it's taken me so long, but here we are.
And I finally decided that I was going to enter into some tournaments. And this past week, or this week, actually. Yeah, this past week, I guess you'd say, I had the opportunity to play in a golf tournament to try to qualify for the senior US Open in the United States, obviously.
And my thought process was I'm going to go out there even though that's mostly pros, mostly professionals also trying to qualify and I'm not a professional. But my thought process was that I would rather go out there and play in a tournament with these great golfers and get my ass kicked and learn something and get better than just to sit back in my own golf little bubble and accept the mediocrity that I was accustomed to over the past 10 years in my golf life.
I guess you'd say I wanted to see what I could do if I surrounded myself with really good golfers again because before I was surrounded by great golfers and I was playing really well and then that dropped off and my golf game, I wasn't around those people anymore because I moved and everyone just kind of scattered and then my hips were impacting me so I stopped playing.
So that initial golden age of golf was just gone. But I want to see what I could do if I were surrounded by great golfers again. And this is golf for me, but this could mean whatever you want it to mean for yourself. Whatever activity or thing that you do.
Once we are past this life interruption of our hips, it gives us an opportunity to return to something that we love to do at a high level or to try something new and try to achieve a high level.
Okay, golf for me could be anything for you. Whatever is important in your life or whatever you want to try, whatever might be exciting for you or maybe something you don't know about yet, but whatever activity it is for you, don't be afraid to try and reach a high level.
So, this past week, I traveled to Tennessee. I got on a plane and flew to Tennessee to play in the qualifier. And the result was I didn't play very well and I missed the cut to advance to the next round. But that's okay because I still learned. I still got better. I still was around great golfers and I accepted the opportunity to go and find out what I needed to work on because without the pressure, without the scrutiny of a serious competition, it's really hard to determine, really hard to know what I would have to work on or what anyone would have to work on, where we have to get better, where our holes are.
So, it was just great to be in the competition to give me the opportunity to really reflect and understand where I'm good, where I need work so that next time I can be better.
But this is not an episode or this is not even a podcast about golf. It's a podcast about hip replacements.
And this episode is about reaching for your greatness, whatever that may be for you, and not letting your hip dictate your limits.
It's very hard when we're going through the hip replacement surgery and the recovery or maybe even look, it's in front of us. It's hard to look past that, years past that, and really think about, I could return to doing something at a high level. I could return to greatness. I can achieve greatness.
It's hard when you can't walk to think about something else. It's hard to think about doing something that you love or doing something in a competition when you can't even move around your house or you can't even walk around the grocery store. I get that.
But there will come a time in your life after hip replacement surgeries when that is a possibility. If you want that opportunity, it'll be there for you. So, we're not going to let our hips dictate our limits.
And when I was out there, when I was out there on the golf course with these professional golfers or with these high-end amateurs, was I competing with other hip replacement patients? No, of course not.
Was I competing with other people who've had major hip surgeries or major surgeries? No.
Was I competing with people who may have had a handicap? No, I was out there as someone who was competing. That's it. I was just competing with other people. I was just a person with all my strengths and weaknesses and I was just competing.
It doesn't matter what limitations the participants, the other golfers may have had at one point in their lives. It doesn't matter. We have to look past our hip replacement surgeries and live our lives to the best of our abilities. And maybe those abilities are good or sometimes they're great. Let's get back to that.
So anyway, how did the hips hold up? And why is golf even stressful on the hips?
So did my hips hold up? Did they give me any issues? Well, when you golf, there's a lot of torque that's put on the back and the hips. So, yes, golf is a serious activity for the hips.
If you play at a high level and you swing quick and you create a lot of torque and you're using a lot of power in your legs and your back and your hips, yes, there's a lot of pressure that can be put on the hips. So, how did they hold up?
Well, let me tell you a little bit about the week. First, there was one round of tournament golf, 18 holes, but then I also played two practice rounds. So, that's where you get the opportunity to go out and see the course, to go and play the course so that you're used to it or that you know where things are.
You get a feel for the grass, for the greens, for just different elements that are out there on the course before the actual tournament. So, I did two practice rounds and then the tournament round. So, that's three rounds of golf over four days.
That's more golf in a short stretch of time than I've played in over 15 years. I just simply don't play golf that much. And when I do play, it's usually nine holes, sometimes 18, but certainly not three rounds, three 18-hole rounds in four days.
So that was a challenge for me, and I'll get into that in a second. But the tournament round, everyone had to walk. Now walking is fine. I normally walk, but I normally walk nine holes, sometimes 18, and it's relatively flat.
This was a hilly walk in Tennessee, up and down side hills, and that was something that I wouldn't say it caught me by surprise because I had been walking a lot and training for that and I was relatively ready for that but still it can take some out of the body if you're not used to doing that.
So, how did the hips hold up playing that much golf and walking that final round over eight miles in the hills?
I will tell you that my hips were not the limiting factor for me at all. They held up great and that's because it's been years since my surgery. And not only has it been some time, but all the exercises, all the physical therapy, all the everything I've done over the years helped me get to the point where I could go and do that, play in this tournament without having my hips be a factor for me.
So, while my hips were not a limiting factor for me during the tournament, they were a limiting factor for me around the time of my surgery, for years before my surgery and years after the surgery.
But that time in my life has passed. And that time in your life can pass too.
So if you're facing a surgery, if you're right around surgery, if you've recently had a surgery and you're going through the initial recovery, the first three months, the first six months, the first few years, that time will pass and you'll be able to do whatever you want to do later.
You might have to put in a little work. You might have to test your patience a little bit, but that will pass.
But on this golf tournament, my body, actually the rest of my body was more the limiting factor. My body was more stiff than my hips, which I suppose would be an issue for all golfers if they're not ready for that.
So, the problem I had was the rest of my body. I'm a big guy with a lot of mass and I get sore muscles and I get stiff. And over that much golf in such short amount of time, my hands were really sore. My legs and back were a little stiff because this was really just a lot for me.
And I will be ready for it next time. But none of this had anything to do with my hips. None of it had anything to do with my hip replacements, which is incredibly satisfying.
I know it's been some time, but it still makes me proud to have gone through the surgery and gone through all the physical therapy to get me to a point where I could even participate in these types of events.
Now, when I was out there and not doing as best as I could, I still learned a lot. I learned I need to focus on stretching different areas of my body and I need to build up my golf endurance so that I can be in better golf shape for the next opportunity that comes along.
I'm developing my plan. So, I'll be ready. I'll be more prepared the next time. And will I do this again? Will there be a next time? Absolutely.
It was one of the best times I've had on a golf course to be able to go out there and do that. Even though I got my ass kicked, even though things didn't go the way I wanted to, it was great to have that opportunity.
And especially having come through those hip replacement surgeries so long ago, there's a great deal of freedom and satisfaction knowing that something that was once a significant restriction in my life, my hips, I mean, no longer has an impact on my goals and whatever I want to do with my life.
Once there's been some time after your surgery and you've rebuilt your strength and your mobility, put that hip surgery behind you and go and be the best you can be at whatever it is you want to do.
Don't classify yourself as someone with a hip replacement. That's going to pass. You're just like everyone else with strengths and limitations.
And you pretty much can set those with how well you take care of yourself and what your plan is, what your strategy, whatever your activity of preference is, gather up the courage and go set a goal that you can be proud of.
Something that even if you don't reach your ultimate goal, the process of preparing for it and reaching for it makes you better off.
I didn't reach my goal with this golf tournament, but I'm way better off because it put my mindset back into a mindset of competition, of more focus, of realizing what I need to work on, what I need to get better at, what I could have done better.
Just follow the path.
Do your exercises. Get stronger. Get more flexible. Go out and be the best version of yourself that you can be. And if you take care of your hips, your hips can hold up to your biggest goals.
I hope this was helpful for today.
Thanks so much for tuning into The Hip Replacement Podcast. Until next time, I wish you the best recovery possible.
Take care.
