For those that have gone through hip replacement I am sure that there are times that you do some reflecting on how you got there. That is what I was doing the other day. Even though it has been 5 years since my surgery I sometimes drift back to wondering. Why me? I am a healthy guy…live healthy, promote health…it’s even my business.
Reflecting back on it all I can see it is all about choices.
In my case I chose to drive an ATV and bomb around the sand hills. I drove up too slowly which caused the ATV to flip over on me! Bad news! Yet the good news is I lived! I was the maker of my own demise. Hate to admit it but it is true. Some of you may not have a story that is so obvious. Perhaps it is a genetic condition that caused the hip to degenerate, however for most people if they are honest with themselves can say their choices contributed to the need to have hip replacement surgery.
Being overweight is one of main contributors to hip degeneration. In most cases this is all about our choices. In the link highlighted here you can see that what we put in our bodies has a direct impact on the health of our joints. The lifestyle we choose when it comes to what eat will have a direct impact on our joints lifelong. So if you are lucky to still have all your body parts then work hard to be at your ideal weight. Your joints will thank you for it.
Sports are another major contributor to hip degeneration. I love sports! I have participated in pretty much anything from baseball, football, soccer and on and on. Like it or not they are hard on the joints. Extreme sports, competitive sports, contact sports, and even recreational sports all contribute to hip degeneration. See the reference here. Again it is our choices. The equipment used in sports makes us perform at higher levels yet our hip can only take so much before it begins to become affected.
The choices we made in the past have made for the life we have today. Accepting that will allow us to get on with the next part of our lives…because it is fantastic!
So what choices will we make today?
For me I am still very active. I work out at the gym 4-5 times a week. It includes weight training and cardio. Check out my video library at www.onehipguy.com to see some of the exercises I do to maintain my health as well as keeping my new hip strong. I golf during the summer and curl in the winter. I go hiking and biking with my wife.
I don’t do any high impact sports. No long distance running as well. This is a choice. I know some people with hip replacements who continue to run and be involved with high impact sports. I have weighed the pros and cons for me personally of doing sports that could have a negative impact on the replaced hip and have chosen to stay away from them. This doesn’t make me right or wrong compared to anyone else. It is just right for me and my lifestyle.
I watch my diet so that I maintain a healthy weight. I supplement to fill in the missing pieces like a joint product to protect the rest of the joints in my body.
Being healthy even after hip replacement is very important to me. There is so much to do, be and have and I intend to pursue it all!
I think you would agree that life is fantastic on the “other side” of hip pain.
Onehipguy