John, Thanksgiving 2014 at the age of 65, a few weeks after shoulder rotator cuff surgery.
No matter how well we take care of our bodies, injuries, illnesses, and physical deterioration are a part of life. For example, mine seem to come in bunches.
At the age of 12, it was stitches in the mouth from a flying baseball bat. Then, I suffered a concussion and a lasting eye injury from a football collision. Then it was more stitches after stopping a baseball with my mouth.
At the age of 65, I had my right hip replaced due to inherited arthritis and too much heavy lifting over the years. Then a few months later, I had surgery to repair a 95% tear to the rotator cuff in my right shoulder while trying to lift myself during recovery from the hip replacement. Then, just a few months later, the left hip had to be replaced.
This year, at the age of 74, I have had prostate surgery for an inherited condition, hernia surgery to fix an injury from heavy lifting, and nasal surgery to repair an injury from my college basketball playing days. Today, I walk around with inherited arthritis and bone spurs in my lower back which surgeons are salivating to operate on, but only in their dreams.
The older we get, the slower and harder it is to recover from injuries, illnesses, and surgeries. While we may have exercised over the years, the lack of the “right exercise” makes it more difficult to overcome surgeries and setbacks.
Full shoulder extension only a few months after shoulder rotator cuff surgery.
Yes, I have been blessed to be able to do so. For example, I was walking without crutches within 48 hours after both hip replacements. I was standing on my head only a few days after the shoulder rotator cuff surgery. The picture above shows the recovery of full shoulder extension after only a few months of surgery.
What I relearned during those surgeries at 64 and again this year at 74 is that the power to overcome injuries and heal more quickly comes from the stomach and its proper breathing. For example, even though I was hooked up to IVs and machines, I would still do Tai Chi Yoga in my mind in rhythm with powerful stomach breathing.
When I say powerful, I am talking about squeezing the stomach in on the exhale forcefully and expanding it outward on the inhale. As I am doing that, I walk my mind through stretching yoga movements and then the flowing tai chi movements.
Once I was disconnected from machines and catheters, I practiced with very limited movements combined with the powerful stomach breathing. I was careful to adhere to the Tai Chi Yoga principle of “only stretching as far as the body is comfortable.”
I discovered and rediscovered that the power from the stomach seemed to send out healing and faster recovery to the ailing parts of the body. Moreover, employing the power of stomach breathing, I have been able to mostly avoid triggering painful spasms from the arthritis and bone spurs in my lower back, thereby keeping my trips to the chiropractor and acupuncturist to just a few times a year.
Consistent daily practice of Tai Chi Yoga, I found, was the best preparation for surgery, as the flexibility and relaxation from doing so helped facilitate faster recovery time and healing.
In the case of my hip replacements and shoulder surgery, I have lost no flexibility, although I have had to make a few minor adjustments to accommodate the invasiveness of surgery. Sometimes though, that invasiveness can leave lasting changes to our bodies. For example, in 1983, my stomach blew a hole from the inside from a perforated ulcer. It required major surgery to repair the hole with a 6-inch incision through stomach muscles as laser surgery was not available then. The result from my stomach muscles being cut was an immediate change to my waist from a size 32 to a size 36 where it has been since. While I could not alter the lasting impact on the stomach muscles being cut, Tai Chi Yoga has made it possible to maintain powerful stomach muscles around the incision. The consistent daily practice of Tai Chi Yoga can provide you too with the power to overcome and recover from injuries.