Rod Hunt, 61 years old from Gloucestershire had been experiencing knee problems for around 10 years.
"My knee pain was making it increasingly difficult for me to stay active. I found this really frustrating being a sporty and active person and even walking my dogs was becoming a problem. My surgeon had done several ‘maintenance’ operations over the previous few years but after the last one he told me that knee replacement for both knees was the only option left.
In order to prepare myself for the knee replacement surgery and to give myself the best chance of a speedy recovery, I started an intensive two month prehab programme. As most activities caused knee pain, my programme was based around my passion of cycling and focused on losing weight, building leg muscle up and general cardiovascular fitness.
The same level of hard work was put into my rehab programme following the surgery, which consisted of about 3-4 hours of daily exercises and icing at home and visits to the physio 3 or 4 times a week within a week of being discharged from hospital. The surgery, combined with the rehab effort worked incredibly well and just 10 weeks post op, I was in Scotland for Christmas and back to doing 3 hours of dog walking with my wife each day.
I’ll admit that the work involved in both the prehab, but especially in the rehab, was hard and at times quite painful, but the results achieved speak volumes to the benefits of both. I was lucky to be helped through the whole process by a supportive wife and the fact that if somebody tells me I can’t do something it’s like a red rag to a bull and makes me try that much harder. All the hard work and effort has definitely paid off, I have been active all my life – whether it was surfing, playing rugby or cycling – and I didn’t want to lose that important part of my life.
Over the past five to ten years both my wife and I have taken the view that the more active we are now, the more we will be able to do as we grow older, so we try to maintain a good level of physical activity. Hopefully this means that we will be able to enjoy our life to the full, as opposed to if we just sat down and did nothing."