Hip replacement exercises?  Your face registers disbelief that I would be talking about hip replacement exercises at a time like this, when you’ve just had your hip, well, replaced.  You’re not planning to do any hip replacement exercises anytime soon, thank you very much.  You’re planning to move as little as possible.  

Sure, sure, there are those physical therapy things your doctor’s making you do.  But you have no intention of going beyond that; why should you?

Well, I’ll tell you why!  Because one of the reasons you got a hip replacement in the first place was so that you could move more easily and without pain—right?  Before, exercise, even the most basic, just hurt too much.  So you got surgery.  

You’re not doing your body—or your soul—any favors if you don’t put the results of that surgery to good use.  Taking charge of your body in this way will help you to not only heal, but to surpass your physical condition prior to your hip replacement—which, again, was the whole idea of the surgery, was it not?  

You do, of course, want to avoid activities that place high-impact stress on the implant, have a high injury rate, or may entail falling and getting tangled up with opponents (or teammates).  So, you know, don’t play tackle football, and you may want to avoid skydiving and bungee-jumping.  

But there’s no real reason not to do things that don’t put a lot of stress on the body but still provide that all-important movement and the raising of the heart rate.   Walking, hiking, biking, swimming, and golf are all approved forms of exercise for hip replacement patients, but there are also short workouts available that you can do everyday to improve your strength, endurance, and mental state.  

Our bodies were made for motion, and our minds reap the benefits, too.  Physical health leads to mental health.  So come on, what are you waiting for?  Get those endorphins going!