A knee or hip replacement can give you a brand new outlook on life, and we hope that you make the most of this new opportunity. In fact, by making a few lifestyle adjustments following your joint replacement surgery, you can greatly increase your overall physical function and your quality of life. In today’s blog, we discuss some of the lifestyle changes that you should consider making after your joint replacement procedure to get the most out of your new artificial joint.
Lifestyle Changes After Joint Replacement
For a lot of patients who receive a new hip or knee, some of their lifestyle choices and daily habits are factors that led to the need for a new joint. We don’t want to paint with too broad of a brush, but there’s a decent chance that at least one of the following lifestyle factors played a role in the need for your new joint, so if you can work on improving these habits after surgery, you can prolong the life of your new joint and improve other important factors like your independence or overall quality of life. Here are the lifestyle changes to consider after knee or hip replacement.
- Move More – Your new knee or hip should make it easier for you to remain active, and that’s exactly what we want you to do. Movement ensures that the structures that support your new hip or knee develop as expected, and movement is great for your entire body. Staying active keeps muscles strong, regulates hormone production, improves your circulation and can help prevent common health issues like heart disease or high blood pressure. Strive to be more active following your joint replacement procedure.
- Weight Management – Being overweight or obese is one of the leading factors in joint degeneration, so there’s a decent chance that your weight played a role in your need for a new hip or knee. After your joint replacement procedure, we hope that you’ll be a little more cognizant of the foods you’re eating to help you work towards a more ideal weight. This will help to take stress off the new joint, prolonging the life of the artificial insert. Many people find that movement is easier and they have more energy each day when they are able to shed a few pounds, so pay closer attention to your diet after joint replacement.
- Healthy Sleep – Regularly getting enough healthy sleep is important for your new joint and your entire body as it works to recover from the trauma of surgery. Sleep is a restorative process that provides an extended period for tissue repair to take place. While you won’t be able to sleep your way to the strongest recovery possible, improving your sleep habits will certainly help with tissue recovery and help you find more energy to stay active or perform your daily physical therapy exercises.
- Kicking Bad Habits – You’ll also want to take a closer look at some lifestyle habits that could hinder your rehabilitation. Two habits that come to mind are smoking and alcohol consumption. Both of these habits can inhibit tissue development and healthy circulation, both of which are critical in the weeks following your joint replacement procedure. Really try to cut back or eliminate your reliance on alcohol and tobacco, and you’ll find that recovery will be easier and oftentimes quicker.
- Partake In Low-Impact Exercises – As the first point mentioned, we want you to move more throughout the day, but we also hope you’ll consider partaking in some exercises or activities that are specifically designed to strengthen your new knee or hip. These activities will oftentimes be low-impact in nature to help limit the type of stress that it puts on your new joint, but these activities will certainly challenge the area to help it become stronger and more stable. Activities like walking, swimming and cycling are all low impact activities that you may find enjoyable that also serve to improve the health of your new joint and the areas that support it.
If you keep these lifestyle improvements in mind and trust your operation to an experienced surgeon like Dr. Botero, we’re confident that you will be in line for a strong recovery and long-term outlook. For answers to any questions you have about knee or hip replacement, give Dr. Botero’s office a call today at (865) 558-4444.
