How can I get f it again after hip op?

QI USED to exercise daily, but earlier this year I broke my left hip and had it replaced. I’m of the opinion that if you don’t use it, you lose it – so what should I be doing now that I’m starting to recover? I am in my 70s.

A INJURIES can sometimes cause a rapid decline in fitness and health levels. And certain injuries are more closely linked to that decline than others.

Hip fractures – and replacements – are commonly associated with raised rates of illness and increased mortality, particularly as we get older.

Now, if you are reading that and contemplating only the doomsday side of it, don’t. There are solutions.

Being active and maintaining good circulation and cardiovascular fitness, as well as building stability around the joint again, are very effective ways of getting you back to full health again and mitigate the risk and downside.

Redeveloping strength in the gluteal muscles – the buttocks – is critical to successful recovery. And yes, it really is a case of use it or lose it.

Fortunately, this is one of the easiest things to do, even when you are in the very early stages of rehabilitation, as you can even do exercises while lying in bed.

In the very simple first stages of rebuilding, the glute bridge exercise is very effective. This involves lying on your back with your knees bent, then raising your body and backside off the ground, pushing your pelvis towards the ceiling.

Do this for as many reps as you can before your glutes feel the workload – a bit of a burn – then rest for one minute and repeat for three to six sets, every day.

This is a real starting point and once you have established some basic strength again, you need to get back into some cardiovascular exercise as soon as you possibly can.

If walking is not an option, you would benefit enormously from working on a stationary cycle.

The workload on the quads, hamstrings and glutes is exactly what is needed to really build back up your lower body strength, as well as making your circulation increase and your heart become stronger. Spending some time at one speed and some time doing interval training – in which you go at a very fast pace for spells of 30 to 60 seconds before lowering the level again – will all help to keep your body fitter and healthier.

If all of this is achievable, integrate squats and step-ups into this routine to really build strength.

The trick is to use the muscles regularly and not to be scared of doing so.

Q

HOW do I get rid of extra weight around the waist? Dieticians and doctors tell us to avoid this, but no one explains how it can be achieved. I am not overweight, I exercise regularly and I eat a balanced diet, but I still feel I need to slim down round the middle.

A LOSING fat can be a frustrating process sometimes. The body is indiscriminate in where it burns it from – it just takes it from wherever it can get hold of it and use it within the bloodstream.

That means that for some people who have greater fat deposits around certain areas, you can be the appropriate weight but still carry fat around the waist.

Abdominal fat is most closely linked to heart disease, so that is why, ideally, it should be reduced.

While there is some evidence that cutting sugar and alcohol intake might specifically help slim the waist, it is still inconclusive.

That is not to say that doing this is a bad idea – far from it. Diets don’t need to be lowcalorie but they do need to be high-quality.

Along with reducing the amount of refined sugar consumed, my advice is to limit starchy foods, cut alcohol to fewer than seven units per week (that’s two pints of standard-strength beer, or a couple of large glasses of wine) and eat lean protein such as fish, tofu or nuts.

You could also think about eating foods that promote good hormone balance – ginger, fenugreek, peppers and turmeric all help circulation and hormone regulation.

A good exercise routine and healthy eating will keep burning fat from everywhere so you start to see the changes.