Welcome back to The Hip Replacement Podcast. If you're tired of hearing the same vague recycle advice after hip replacement surgery and you don't know where to turn and you want practical guidance from someone who's actually been through it already, this episode is for you.
In the last episode, I explained why the advice, the same vague old advice of listen to your body may be some of the worst hip replacement advice ever. Your body might be giving you inaccurate information. So, listening to your body is not helpful. It might tell you that you feel great, but that could be because the medication is working or that the pain from your old hip is gone, so you feel better, but you still have new hip pain that you're not quite feeling yet.
Your body might also be giving you information way too late. By the time it tells you that you did too much, you may already be exhausted, swollen, dehydrated, sore, or dealing with a setback. Because in the moment when you're doing something, it could feel pretty good. And if you're listening to your body, you're going to keep doing it. It's only until later, next day, next week, next year, that your body's going to tell you you did too much or the wrong stuff.
And sometimes listening to your body is the exact opposite of what your recovery requires. Your body may tell you to stay in bed, avoid moving, skip the exercises, but the surgeon, physical therapist, or your recovery plan may tell you that it's time to get up, go for a walk, and start rebuilding your strength. Time to go be active. So maybe listening to your body is not what you should be doing. And if listening to your body is not the right advice and it's not enough, what should you be doing instead?
Here's my advice after more than a decade with two new hips. You ready for this incredible advice, life-changing advice? Here it is. Stay on plan. Stay on plan. You could also think of it like this. Follow the yellow brick road. You may have heard of that famous guidance somewhere.
People have successfully recovered from hip replacement before you. Many, many hundreds of thousands, millions of people have done an incredible recovery. They've rebuilt their strength, returned to work, traveled, exercised, played with their grandchildren or kids, and lived active lives for many years with their new hips.
And their experiences can help establish a path for you. You don't need to create anything new. The path is there. Your surgeon, the medical team, physical therapists, and anyone on that team, anyone in the medical field relevant to you can also help establish the path for you. You still need to do the work. You still need to walk the path, but you don't need to invent the road from scratch. You don't need to trailblaze alone through the dense forest.
That's why this podcast was created, to provide a plan, to provide a path so that you have something to follow so that you can have an incredible recovery and the absolute best life you can possibly live after a hip replacement surgery.
And I think after my experience, after all this time with two hip replacements, a good hip replacement recovery plan should include three things. And a lot of people unfortunately miss these things.
Number one, set a high goal.
Number two, be consistent.
And number three, think long term.
So, we'll talk about those three in this episode. Set a high goal, be consistent, and think long term. Just three things.
Let's start with the first one. Set a high goal.
What do you actually want from your recovery? People want all different kinds of things. Some people want to go be incredible athletes. Some people just want to walk around the house. There's no right or wrong answer to all of those, but know which one you want because it'll drive what you're willing to do to get there.
So, what do you want from recovery? I don't mean like what you want to accomplish by the end of this week. I mean, what do you want your new hip to help you accomplish over the next several years or the rest of your life?
Who do you want to be? What do you want to be known for? Do you simply want to walk without pain? Do you want to travel again? Do you want to play golf at a high level? Swing hard, swing full, ride a bike, swim, hike as long as you want, return to the gym and do full workouts, or keep up with your kids or people much younger than you or your friends who have not had hip replacements.
Maybe you just want to get through an ordinary day without constantly thinking about your hip pain.
Your goal matters again because it gives your recovery direction. It tells you, it kind of moves you toward doing things or not doing things that would help or hurt you.
But without a meaningful goal, it's easy to treat physical therapy, walking, stretching, and strengthening as a simple list of chores, which you'll eventually stop doing anyway. If it's not important to you, if what you want, what your goal is not that important to you, or if you don't have a goal, it's not going to be important to you.
And all of those things that you should be doing, stretching, walking, staying active, staying hydrated, eating good food, all of that stuff will go to the wayside. But when you connect those actions to something important, they begin to have a purpose.
You're no longer doing an exercise just because someone handed you a sheet of instructions, a sheet of exercises, or someone told you to do it. You're not going through the motions if it's important. You're doing it.
You're doing the exercises, the stretches, the things you're supposed to be doing because you want to walk through an airport without pain or go on a hike regardless of the distance or the incline or the difficulty. You're doing it because you want to climb stairs confidently. You're doing it because you want to return to an active life.
You're driven. You're driven to achieve something. That something doesn't need to be extraordinary, but it needs to be something.
Set a goal that motivates you. Make it personal. Make it meaningful. Make it high enough that it gives you something worth working toward. Something to guide you when you don't want to do an exercise.
Something to fall back on when a year from now, two years from now, you're in a little pain. You have some aches and pains and you're deciding whether or not you should return to doing some of the physical therapy exercises or doing some exercises in general. If you have a goal, you will know the right answer.
Number two. Number two in this have a plan strategy or guidance. Be consistent.
A good plan only works when you follow it. You could have a mediocre plan and if you follow it, it would be better than a great plan that no one follows. So, for example, if you have all of these workouts and all this activity planned, but you don't do it, you just wasted your time on that plan.
A good plan only works when you follow it. Be consistent.
You don't need to have an incredible workout. You don't need to push yourself as hard as possible on one particular day. You need to stay on the path.
Recovery is often built over the long term from day zero of surgery. Recovery is built through small actions repeated over time.
Do the simple exercises your medical team recommends. Complete the stretches that give you more movement and more flexibility and less aches and pains. Walk when you're supposed to walk. Rest when your plan calls for rest. Attend your appointments.
You know, ask questions of the doctors when something doesn't feel right. Maybe posting questions on social media is not the best place to get real advice. Ask the professionals. Ask your medical team. Keep showing up in your recovery.
Consistency is especially important after the initial recovery period ends. You know, that first few months where you're working really hard to get some strength back and to get a little flexibility back, whether that's walking or doing physical therapy.
It's like a honeymoon phase. You know, those first couple months where you're all gung-ho about walking and completing the exercises and you want to make quick stride. You want to make great strides quickly. You want to improve quickly.
Many people are highly focused during those first few weeks and maybe even months after the surgery. They follow the instructions, do the exercises, and they pay close attention to every detail. And of course, they're going to start feeling a little bit better. The pain from the surgery and the movement of the muscles, the pain decreases. Walking becomes a little easier.
But then what happens over time? That honeymoon period ends. That excitement period ends and life gets busy.
That's when it becomes tempting to stop working on strength. Stop working on flexibility. Stop working on balance, stop getting better, stop paying attention to your overall health. But your plan should not end simply because the surgical pain is gone.
You want the surrounding muscles around your hip to not only get strong after surgery, but remain strong so that you can do the things you want to do for the rest of your life.
Before surgery. If you're on a pain level of 10, 10 out of 10 or something up there and your life has restrictions and then you go through surgery, you don't want to reduce your pain from a 10 to an eight following surgery. You want to reduce your pain from a 10 to a one.
You want your activity level to be to go from zero to whatever you want it to be. You want to maintain your flexibility and mobility, don't you? C. Certainly, I wanted everything I possibly could get out of my hips and out of my life after surgery.
And you want to keep your entire body healthy enough to support an active life. It's not just focusing on the hip. It's the whole body because everything's connected. If you neglect your legs, if you neglect the stretching, you're going to feel it in your hips and in your legs and in other places.
If you skip being consistent with your plan, you're two foes. Your two arched enemies are going to eventually overcome you. And your two arched enemies or foes are something that we all have in common.
They're number one, they're the actual act of getting older. We're all getting older, so we have to combat that.
And number two, your new hip. The hip is going to make your body do things feel certain ways if you don't take care of it. If you don't do the exercises, if you're not consistent in the exercises, the stretching, that new hip is going to cause your body to have aches and pains that you don't want.
You don't have to be perfect in your recovery plan. You don't have to do crushing workouts or spend half the day in the gym or half the day walking or anything like that. You just need to be consistent.
Keep the blood flowing. Keep your muscles engaged. Do a little bit every day. Be consistent.
You don't have to be grand consistent. You can be small consistent and that'll work.
Number three in the plan, think long term.
A lot of people want to get out of the surgery, out of the operating room and race home and ditch the walking device and show the world what they can do. But hopefully you're going to live with your new hip for a very long time.
And hopefully you'll never have to go through another hip replacement surgery because who wants to do that again? I didn't have that much fun doing it. I certainly don't want to do it again.
So, my whole recovery has been thinking long term. What does this action today mean for my long-term health of the hip?
Thinking long-term means recognizing that every decision doesn't need to be based on what you can physically do today. It should also consider what's best for your hip in the months and years ahead.
You might be capable of pushing yourself hard during the early stages of recovery or maybe even the first few years, but is that consistent with your plan?
You might be invited to an event shortly after surgery, maybe a wedding, a party, a vacation, but will attending those events, will those put you at risk? And do those support your recovery? Or could it interfere with your rest, your medication, your schedule, your walking, your physical therapy?
Are you moving physical therapy appointments around so you can go and do what may be exciting things?
You might feel like skipping your exercises for several days or weeks or months, but does that decision move you closer to your goal or farther away from it? Are you thinking long term?
And long-term thinking also means considering how your activities may affect the hip components over time. Whatever you do now is going to have an impact years from now.
You should talk to your surgeon about the activities that are appropriate for you, especially if you're considering high impact, stressful, or repetitive movements.
Now, surgeons are generally conservative. Some may tell you, have at it, go live your life. Some may say suggest not doing those things you're considering doing. You have to make those decisions. But just know that thinking long term may give you a better outcome for the rest of your life.
And the question that people ask, one that's often shortsighted, is not the question they ask is, "Can I do this? Can I go run a marathon? Can I pound my hips? Can I do heavy squats?"
And the answer to those things is yeah, absolutely you can. You can go run a marathon. We could probably all go run a marathon next week. Maybe not run, but we could do it. Or certainly if we train for it, we could do it. Whether it's six months or a year from now. Every one of us could do it if we had to. If we really wanted to, no problem.
But should we? What does that marathon today mean for your hip five or 10 years down the road?
And a better question rather than, can I do this? You probably could. A better question may be, does this activity support the long and active life I want with my new hip?
Again, you can do what you want. Some things are risky for some people and not risky for other people. And getting back to that marathon example, someone who's run their whole lives, who knows how to run, that's a different risk than someone who's never run and wants to start running after a hip replacement. Those are two different situations.
So, those are the three things that staying on plan is all about.
When you're unsure about a decision, about doing something or not, return to your plan. Does pushing harder today support your goal? Does skipping your exercises support your goal? Does avoiding movement because you feel nervous, does that support your goal?
Does the activity you're considering help you become stronger, healthier, and more capable? Or does it create unnecessary risk and could take you away from your plan?
Your body of course can provide useful information. And you should listen. You should not ignore the pain, the swelling, the unusual symptoms or the concerns. But your body should not be the only voice making your recovery decisions.
Listening to your body is not complete.
Follow your plan. Listen to your medical team. Pay attention to the experience of people who have successfully traveled this road before you.
Keep in mind the three things for a plan. Set a meaningful goal. Be consistent. Think long term. And stay on plan.
Follow that yellow brick road that has already been laid for you.
So now I have a question for you. What is one thing that is part of your plan to help you recover and be active?
Maybe it's walking every day. Maybe it's completing your exercises. Maybe it's improving your diet, working on your flexibility, getting stronger, getting more sleep, eating better, drinking more water.
Whatever it is, what's in your plan? What's one thing that's in your plan?
If you're watching on YouTube, tell me your answer in the comments below. I'd love to hear it.
And if you're listening on a podcast platform, go to the show notes, click on the link in the podcast to the podcast page, and send me a message through the contact form. I'd really like to hear what's in your plan.
Even if it's only one thing or if you don't have a plan, let me know that, too. I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks so much for tuning in to The Hip Replacement Podcast.
