Knee Recovery After Surgery & The Importance Of Water

Hey Guys,

I just got done reading a book that has same very important information regarding the importance of water intake for the body.

The name of the book is: Your Not Sick You're Thirsty! by F. Batmanghelidj, MD

Now most people know how important it is to drink water. However, it became all that more apparent after reading this book. The doctor who wrote the book attributes a huge number of issues that we deal with on a daily basis and are treated with prescriptions are the result of chronic dehydration. Many of these signs of chronic dehydration are misinterpreted as pain in the body due to an overly acidic state the body is left in as a result of being dehydrated.

By regularly re-hydrating ourselves you give your body the fluid it needs to flush these toxins out and allow the body the ability to begin to heal itself much easier. A good analogy you could use in nature would be a stream that begins to dry up. You will get pockets of water that will begin to grow algae and then mosquitoes will begin to breed and multiply. The stagnant water may even begin to smell bad. After a rain, the stream gets flushed out and washes the algae and mosquitoes away and there will be a new fresh smell in the stream. The body works the very same way which is why it is so crucial to drink lots of water.

So how do you figure out how much water to drink?

Well Dr. B suggests that you use your urine as an indicator. If you are properly hydrated your urine should be clear. Anything darker than clear means you need to drink more water. Now there are some exceptions. Taking vitamins or consume beets or beet juice will naturally alter the color of your urine so you may take that into consideration.

The book points out that is does take a few days for the body to get up to speed in absorbing the increase in water. The analogy which was given was a very dry sponge. You can get it wet however, it will take a little bit before the sponge will be able to absorb the maximum amount of water. Take this into consideration if you decide drink a little more water.

One of the things that I have run into especially when it gets hot is after a while my body just gets sick of drinking water. Dr. B. attributes this to the depletion of minerals in the body from flushing them out. He suggests adding a little sea salt to your diet. I have been doing that this week and I have to admit things have significantly changed for me. I am not feeling as hungry as I usually do, my energy level has been much higher, and I have been sleeping better. All from increasing my intake of water.

So what does this have to do with knee pain, you ask?

A perfectly logical question.....

After knee surgery the body is trying to clean out all of the toxins left in the body from the drugs needed for the surgery as well as an acidic state the body is left in as a result of the sympathetic nervous system being on high alert. This is the part of what the nervous system does in a fight, flight, or freeze state when it feels danger. It makes your adrenal glands work overtime and you end up feeling overly anxious with the inability to sleep well.

With the increased intake of water the body is going to be able to "flush" itself of the impurities more easily. This will promote the body's ability to healing itself more quickly creating a state that is better suited for your body to recover.

Drinking more water allows for a more restful nights sleep. Getting better sleep will allow your body to do the work it needs to do to get your knee back where to how it felt before the injury.....

Of course we are all made up of 80% water so this seems to make logical sense...

Bill

PS - I would suggest reading the book for it gives a different perspective of how the body works.