‘I was doing yoga poses as I was being wheeled back to the ward’

A yoga teacher who walked out of hospital just a few hours after a total knee replacement believes her fitness and preparation were key to her swift discharge.

Liz Richardson, 69, from Canterbury, teaches yoga and seated yoga at the Kings School Recreation Centre in the city, and had spent a year working on her strength ahead of the operation, which took place at the elective orthopaedic centre at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital last Wednesday, 7 February. The centre is dedicated to planned orthopaedic operations such as hip and knee replacements and is one of just 24 nationwide to be accredited for delivering high standards in clinical and operational practice.

As well as yoga, she maintained her routine of swimming a kilometre three times a week, and worked with a personal trainer on specific exercises so she would be in the best possible shape for the procedure.

Less than one in every 100 total knee replacement patients are able to leave hospital the same day, and Mrs Richardson was the first to do so in east Kent.

She said: “I had read about Stephen Wall, who went home the same day as a partial knee replacement but the team explained my procedure was different as it was a total replacement.

“I had no expectations; I was happy to stay in hospital for as long as they felt I needed to.

“But I was able to do everything they needed me to do, such as walking with crutches and tackling stairs, and I was happy to go home to continue recuperating.

“I had done a lot of research and I knew what to expect and what would happen, and I think my experience of teaching yoga mindfully and listening to my body was a definite help.”

Mrs Richardson’s knee issues started after an accident in her 20s, and worsened to the point where she had to take an hour’s rest after every hour of activity.

She was determined to continue exercising and teaching, but modified her practice to avoid putting additional stress on her knee.

She said: “With the help of my personal trainer I worked out what I needed to do to keep mobile and strong.

“I am passionate about inclusive fitness, and focusing on what you can do rather than what you can’t.

“There are people who are older than me who are fitter than me but it’s not a competition; I just wanted to be as fit as I could be for the operation.”

The procedure was done using a spinal anaesthetic and nerve blocks with sedation rather than a general anaesthetic, but Mrs Richardson only remembers being taken to and from theatre.

She said: “I remember being completely confident nothing was going to go wrong, and I was doing yoga poses as I was being wheeled back to the ward.

“I was starving, and the porter who took me back went and found me some cake, which was very welcome.

“There wasn’t anyone who wasn’t helpful, cheerful, friendly, and checking on how I was. It was seamless.”

Mrs Richardson has been practising seated yoga at home, alongside her physiotherapy exercises.

She said: “I can see progress already, but I accept it will take as long as it takes.

“Anyone who thinks you can have this without pain is delusional, and there have been a few moments where I’ve Googled to see if something was normal, and it always is.

“From pre-assessment to discharge, it was all pretty textbook and I am very grateful to the surgeon and his team.”