Richard Haynes: I give them some general exercises. When I say general, I mean basic exercises. Just like fitness is concerned, there are so many wild things out there on the internet now, and you’ll see some of the craziest stuff on what people are doing to get into shape these days. It’s almost gotten to be a circus type of atmosphere.
I send them some general information. I email clients exercises, or they can hire me as an online trainer. I give them general exercises to get not just that lower body stronger, but their entire body stronger. This allows them to get back their quality of life. You’re going to find when somebody’s had a total joint replacement, whether it’s a knee, hip, or shoulder, they’re going to experience a slow digression as far as their conditioning and overall strength. So, I try to give them basic exercises, not to overwhelm people with 67 things to do because that doesn’t help people to remain compliant.
I give them a handful of exercises that I know work, which will get them strong and protect that knee joint. The important thing after knee surgery is getting the surrounding muscles and the structure strong enough to handle that prosthesis if they’re looking to get years and years of enjoyment and pain-free living out of that knee.
I give them exercises, then hold them accountable for what they’re doing and give them some information. I’m a hybrid physical therapy/personal trainer. My goal is helping them get back on their feet as quickly as possible because I want their surgery to be successful for them. I know they want it to be even more successful, but I want it to be a successful experience for them; I want them to get back on their feet, and I want them to be glad that they contacted me and got the correct information, to begin with.
Phil Faris: Richard, if people want to learn more about you and your work, where should they go?
Richard Haynes: They can go to my website, it’s TotalJointFitness.com. You can also email me, which is listed on the website, at richard@totaljointfitness.com. You could also join my Facebook group, Total Joint Fitness, and I post something up there usually daily regarding knee health, exercises, mental fitness, personal development.
I combined a lot of things onto my Facebook group including personal development, mental fitness, along with physical fitness because my passion is helping people our age to live a high quality of life. I’m not interested in prolonging my own life, but I want to have a good quality of life while I’m here. This is what I want everybody to experience. I think life gets tough as we get older. We gain more knowledge, and we gain wisdom, but sometimes the hardware we’ve been blessed with doesn’t hold up as we’d like, so I’m trying to work with people to get stronger mentally and physically to endure and enjoy the years ahead of us.
