If you’re thinking about doing hip replacement surgery, you need to be prepared for what comes after the surgery. Hip replacement is a life-changing surgery which substantially improves your quality of life. It helps you get back to your normal routine with no pain. Hip replacement surgery is usually done when any other Conservative treatment hasn’t worked quite well for your hip problems. This procedure completely removes the hip joint and replaces it with an artificial one made up of plastic, metal or ceramic. It is considered a minimally invasive surgery but you still need to take proper care after the surgery to let it heal.

Hip replacement surgery is a successful procedure with more than 90% success rate in India. The road to recovery is a long one but if you follow proper guidelines, there is no need to worry about it. These are some of the tips to recover from hip replacement surgery.

Make preparations at your home

Even before your surgery, prepare your home for your recovery so that you come to a conducive environment. You can take help from your family to rearrange your home to have a proper and easy access to everything. You have to remodel your bathroom in such a way that everything is reachable and the important things like the toothbrush are above waist-level. If possible, install western toilet in your home. Don’t jump into household chores when you arrive home after your surgery. Take some time off and take others help in those daily tasks.

Have a good mix of rest and exercise

It is a thin line to walk between rest and exercise. You would like to be in bed rather than doing exercises but it can be dangerous for you. It is important to rest to give yourself time to recover. But it is also equally important to do light physical movement. If you give yourself too much rest, your hip can become stiff which can hamper your recovery. It might increase the recovery time and raise more problems. Gentle exercises like yoga, short walks and stretches are highly beneficial.

Consult a physiotherapist for exercises

Exercise is very important to recover from hip replacement surgery but you have to be careful as wrong form and movement can be dangerous to your healing hip. You need to take help from a professional physical therapist who can guide you through the whole exercise regime. Physiotherapists are trained professionals who know exactly what kind of exercises would work best for you while monitoring your progress. They help you in exercises and also teach you stretches to do on your own.

Take some time off from work

This goes without saying but you need to take some time off to recover from your hip replacement surgery. You need to allow yourself to recover fully before you get back to your work. If the work demands low physical stress, you can start by doing little things but it is advisable to give yourself rest and rehabilitation as advised by your doctor after your surgery. This period can be stretched longer if your job is physically demanding. One other thing to consider is how you travel to work. An alternate way can be considered if the way to work is too bumpy.

Focus on eating well not more

If you’re sitting down all day, it is understandable to feel bloated. Focus on eating good and wholesome meals rather than junk food. A balanced diet is very important for recovery. Healthy diet improves your overall health and helps your body heal. Eat a wholesome meal having all the important nutrients like protein, carbs, fats, vitamins, and minerals. Do not attempt to lose weight at this stage. You can always lose weight when you’re fully recovered.

The road to recovery might seem long and hard but it is on you to follow it properly. If you follow all the precautions given by your surgeon, you will be back to your normal days in a very short time without having any complications. At Radiance Hospitals, surgeons provide complete pre and post-operative care for all the patients. Contact us for hip replacement surgery now.

Have you ever heard about the medical term called “Sleep Apnea”? If not, you should. Now, why you should know all about Sleep Apnea because there are certain signs that you might come across in your daily routine during the morning or a whole day and in the absence of the awareness about the disease, you may overlook the signs or symptoms which can become life-threatening if not attended and treated in time.

So, let’s begin to learn something about the disease and throw lights on the symptoms, causes, precautions, treatment and care.

Let’s first look at to the common symptoms of Sleep Apnea disease

• Loud snoring
• Episodes in which you stop breathing during sleep — which would be reported by another person
• Gasping for air during sleep
• Awakening with a dry mouth
• A morning headache
• Difficulty staying asleep (insomnia)
• Excessive daytime sleepiness (hypersomnia)
• Difficulty paying attention while awake
• Irritability

The majority of the above symptoms suggest that you might have Sleep Apnea and you should seek the advice of your Doctor and rule out the disease as this will help you out to avoid the risk of heart problems and other associated complications.

There are three types of Sleep Apnea classified following the symptoms and health condition of a person.

• Obstructive sleep apnea, the more common form that occurs when throat muscles relax
• Central sleep apnea, which occurs when your brain doesn’t send proper signals to the muscles that control breathing
• Complex sleep apnea syndrome, also known as treatment-emergent central sleep apnea, which occurs when someone has both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea

Now, let’s bring more understanding to the common cause Obstructive sleep apnea.

While you sleep, the muscles in the back of your throat relax and results in narrowing the airway you breathe in from. In this condition, you cannot get enough air and subsequently it lowers the level of oxygen in your blood. Your brain senses this inability to breathe and rouses you from sleep to reopen your airway. Generally, you don’t remember it at all during the night. However, the deprived sleep symptoms come out during the daytime. Along with a morning headache and irritability, there are incidences reported of road accidents where such person slept during driving.

Now, after knowing all above, it is mandatory for you to know the risk factors which are responsible for the disease called Sleep Apnea. Apart from Nasal congestion, smoking, use of alcohol or sedatives, or family history, there is a common risk factor ‘excess of weight’ is becoming the lead risk factor nowadays.

More than half of people with obstructive sleep apnea are either overweight or obese, which is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25-29.9 or 30.0 or above. Each unit increase in BMI is associated with a 14% increased risk of developing sleep apnea, and a 10% weight gain increases the odds of developing moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea by six times. Compared to normal-weight adults, those who are obese have a sevenfold increased risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea. However, the impact of BMI on obstructive sleep apnea becomes less significant after age 60.

BMI isn’t the sole marker of obesity that’s important. Men with a neck circumference above 17 inches (43 centimetres) and women with a neck circumference above 15 inches (38 centimetres) also have a significantly increased risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea.

So going by the above information, if you know that you are at risk of sleep apnea, immediately consult your doctor. Depending upon the stage, condition and type of sleep apnea, your doctor may suggest lifestyle changes if it is mild or may recommend you the proper therapy or treatment if above mild or severe. Even in the worst cases, your doctor may suggest you to go for Surgery to remove enlarged tonsils or adenoids or weight-loss (Bariatric) Surgery also.

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The term “Orthopaedics” signifies a medical specialty that focuses on the body’s musculoskeletal system. This includes bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and nerves.

Pain that originates in the spine anywhere between the upper and lower back is the “back pain” we refer to in our daily lives, obesity caused ones are:-

1. A herniated disc
2. Spine osteoarthritis

It affects approximately three out of four adults during their lifetime. Many back-pain patients complain about symptoms like numbness and tingling sensations, stiffness, achiness, and weakness.

It is known that obese people are more prone to spinal issues than those who’re not. Deleterious weight stresses almost every organ in the body, so it is no surprise that it also increases the risk of back pain, joint pain, and muscle strain. Every extra inch adds strain to the muscles and ligaments in the back since the spine tends to become tilted and stressed unevenly to an extent that the back may even lose proper support.

Extra weight around the stomach pulls the pelvis forward which in turn strains the lower back thereby causing pain. The vertebral disc as well, of an obese individual, may get weak or damaged sooner. Excess weight is also known to worsen pre-existing spinal issues.

The four common disorders found out by researchers are:-

1. Lower back pain
2. Spondylosis (spine degeneration)
3. Internal disc disruption (IDD)
4. Neck problems unrelated to IDD or spondylosis

Due to Obesity, adipose tissue causes extra pressure on the lumbar spine and knee which exacerbates pain. Bariatric surgeries help weight loss thereby reducing pain intensity to as much as 75% to 80.8%  as cited by an article of Bariatric times. The pain score carried out in the study when compared to preoperative baseline, indicated significant symptomatic pain resolution of the pain of head, neck, shoulder and lower back. Pain relief was observed in day to day physical activities during sports as well as work. Use of Analgesic significantly reduced. An increase in Quality of life within 6 months to 1 year post operation was observed.  

As per UCLA Health article, Retrospective studies showed that after performing Bariatric surgeries, the frequency of back pain decreased in up to 83% of the patients, and lumbar back pain symptoms were reduced in 82–90% patients in a period of 6 months to one year.

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How long do you think you have to wait to resume regular activities after a knee replacement surgery? Is it a week or a month? Truth is there is no universal answer to this question. There are however certain steps that you can follow to have a quicker recovery and get back on the saddle as soon as possible.

Knee replacement surgery is primarily done to relieve pain and restore mobility in patients. There is a road to recovery after the surgery. Let’s see the four stages of recovery after knee replacement surgery.

• Right after surgery: It is surprising to hear but the recovery process starts right after you’re done with your surgery. Patients may require to stay in the hospital for two to five days after surgery (depending upon single or bilateral knee replacement). The hospital staff will manage with proper medication and initial physiotherapy. This phase kick starts the recovery process.
• Physiotherapy: Your doctor will refer you to a physiotherapist during the hospital stay and after discharge. The physiotherapist has in-depth knowledge of rehabilitation and recovery after surgery. He will work with you to increase your mobility. He might also give you some exercises to do at home so you can do as much as you’re comfortable with.
• At home: Majority of the recovery process will be done at your own home. You are supposed to physiotherapy/exercises in the beginning. You need to focus on balance and stability first. Then you can do simple movements like standing up, sitting down, walking between rooms, etc. You need to ease into your routine life.
• Normal exercise routine: This is the final phase of the recovery process. In this phase, you need to get into a regular exercise regimen and normal physical activity. This phase is recommended after about 8-12 weeks of the surgery. But it is advisable that you do it at your speed. Your joint might not be fully recovered for up to a year after surgery.

These four phases of recovery are not stringent by time. You can stretch or shorten the phase by your comfort level. You need to be prepared after your knee replacement surgery for what to expect afterward. Radiance hospitals not only do the surgery with expertise but also helps patients get back into a normal routine after the surgery with the guidance of a Joint replacement surgeon and physiotherapist. Trust the experts of Radiance hospital for your knee replacement surgery. Contact us to book an appointment.

According to the article in mint by Michelle Fay Cortez, Bloomberg, 40% is the reduction in risk of death and heart complications for patients with diabetes and obesity who have undergone weight-loss surgery.

The various kinds of weight-loss surgeries help you lose weight and lower your risk of medical problems associated with obesity.

Let’s take a quick insight into the types of weight loss surgery and its benefits:

Sleeve Gastrectomy

In this procedure, the surgeon removes approx. 60 to 70% of the stomach and what remains is a narrow sleeve which connects to the intestines.

Since this procedure does not affect intestines, the body absorbs food due to which the person does not fall short of nutrients.

Gastric Bypass surgery

In this procedure the stomach is divided into two parts by the surgeon. The upper stomach is then connected directly to the lower section of the small intestine. In short, a shortcut is created for the food, bypassing part of the stomach and small intestine.

Weight loss in Gastric Bypass surgery is quick and almost 50% of the weight is lost after the first 6 months of the surgery.

Gastric Balloon/Intra-gastric Balloon System

In this procedure, a deflated balloon is placed in the stomach through the mouth. Once it is placed properly, it is filled with saline solution that provides a sense of fullness thereby curbing the hunger.

Gastric balloon/Intra-gastric balloon system does not require more hospital stay. The balloon is temporary, stays for 6 months to 1 year (2 types of balloon available – for 6 months and for 1 year) months and a person loses approx 12 to 17 kg of the body weight in the first 6 months.

Which Weight Loss surgery is the best?

A person should opt for a weight loss surgery depending on his/her BMI, Medical condition, comorbidities, and body type.

The best advice and guidance can be given by an expert and we at Radiance Hospitals are equipped to make sure you do not face any hassles while going for a weight loss surgery.