Richard Haynes, Owner of Total Joint Fitness: Keys to Successfully Recovering from Total Knee Replacement Surgery

You’ve got to want to get it done. We must dig in deep and find out what people’s internal motivation is, and then I set the physical goals of what we’re going to try to achieve with each exercise, what we’re doing, and what this exercise will do to get them to where they want to be. I’ve got to make sure that the patient understands the importance of what this exercise does. I’m just not going to throw you a sheet of paper and say, “Do this and do that.” You’ve got to understand why you’re working it, what it’s doing for you, and what it’s doing to get you one-day closer to your goal.

I don’t know if that answered your question or not but that’s what it is: getting it on paper, discussing it with the patient, and then holding them accountable for getting that done. Meanwhile, they’re holding me accountable to do my job, as well, so it’s a two-way street here, holding each other accountable to get this work done and being mentally tough and sticking with the program until we get it. Most of the time, we will get it if they do that.

Phil Faris: That makes a lot of sense because I had back surgery and they told me that I wouldn’t be able to play basketball or tennis again. I said, “Well, I don’t accept that. What do I have to do to be able to do play?” Then I worked with my physical therapist, and we developed a plan. He said, ‘Here’s what you have to be able to do. This is how much flexibility you must have. This is how far you have to run.’ All these things became objectives or hurdles for me to overcome to do the things that I wanted to do.

I just kept on going through the list. It was like I was going to my job. I had to accomplish these objectives today, and we would talk about what we did. They helped me get through it. Within a year, I was playing basketball and tennis again. That was something they said I wouldn’t be able to do. It took me a year. Not just the physical therapy, but the ongoing rehabilitation that I did on my own. If I hadn’t had that goal, I probably wouldn’t have done all the things I did. Ten years after the surgery I’m still playing tennis and basketball. I’m grateful that I invested that time.

Richard, when it comes to health and fitness, there’s a lot of information out there. There’s also a lot of misinformation. What are some of the misconceptions that people may have about recovering from total knee replacement surgery?

Richard Haynes:  Some of them, for instance, think that it’s going to be quick. Some of them believe it’s going to be quicker than it is. Again, most patients will go through a knee replacement class at the hospital before they have surgery, and a lot of this is explained to them but, again, a lot of it I find doesn’t stick with some of the patients.

Let’s go back to this linear recovery where patients think every day gets better and better. They don’t understand you’re going to have those ups and downs in that healing process. Also, they know how important rehabilitation is because everybody, including their friends down the street, has told them how important rehabilitation is. A lot of patients are from the old school, thinking ‘the more I do, the better I’ll get, and the quicker I’ll return to what I want to do.’

I see this down in Florida a lot where I’ll go into a home after somebody’s had a knee replacement. We ask them to do the exercises twice a day. Now, sometimes, we’ll push three times a day, but that’s only if they can do it without telling me or reporting down the road in a couple of days that they’re experiencing a lot of chronic pain, but two times a day. A lot of them will look at that and say, “Well, let’s see. If Richard said two times a day, I’m going to do it four times a day, and I’m going to heal faster, and I’m going to get out on that golf course before I have to leave to go back to Ohio this winter.” I see this with a lot of my male patients.

More is not better when it comes to knee surgery. I let people know that the knee is a very temperamental joint. It will not let you know you’ve overdone something until you know what. That night and the next day, you learn you’ve overdone something. No matter how many times I explain to a patient not to overdo something, they do it anyway. It’s hard to tell a patient what they can and cannot do because everybody’s different. Patients will find out what overdoing it is. I find that a lot of patients don’t understand what overdoing it is until they’ve overdone it.

Phil Faris: Besides the in-home PT, you also do online coaching to help people with rehab and fitness. There are a lot of people that may not know if they can benefit from working with an online coach. What are some of the fears or uncertainties people may have about working with an online coach to continue their rehab or fitness?

Richard Haynes: Online coaching or personal training is rather new. It’s best for patients that are motivated and have some background with exercise, to begin with. They know how to hold themselves accountable. But they’re fearful that, with online coaching, there’s not going to be enough hands-on teaching for them to be able to do the exercises as they should.

Phil Faris

Phil Faris is a Best-Selling Author, business consultant, radio host for Never Too Late for Fitness Radio, and contributing writer for Business Innovators Magazine covering Influencers, Innovators, and Trendsetters in Business, Health, Fitness, and Leadership.