E29 - Why Rehab Matters More Than Surgery (And My Thoughts on Wearables)

Strong After 50 — Episode 29 SummaryFirst up, I talk about wearable tech and some recent studies comparing devices like Whoop, Oura, Garmin, Fitbit, and Apple Watch. The big takeaway? They all have strengths depending on what you actually want to track. For me, Garmin still wins for running and interval work, while Whoop and Oura seem to lead the way for sleep tracking.I also touch on the downside of becoming too obsessed with the data. Sometimes the numbers say you slept terribly even when you feel great. I share my own experience after having just one glass of red wine recently and how badly it affected my sleep, heart rate, HRV, and recovery.I then get into a concept I’ve been thinking more about lately: the difference between lifespan, health span, and what my friend Chris calls “performance span.” Living longer is one thing, but staying physically capable, energetic, and independent deep into older age is the real goal.The second half of the episode focuses on injury rehab and surgery decisions, inspired by a listener question about knee pain and knee replacement surgery.I share my own experiences with shoulder injuries, Achilles rehab, and working with specialists over the years. One thing I strongly believe is find the right practitioner for the specific injury.Not all physios or rehab approaches are equal. The best results often come from people who work with that exact injury every single day, runners, contact sport athletes, knee specialists, tendon rehab experts, and so on.I also talk about the importance of progression in rehab. Sometimes the difference between staying injured and improving is finding the right step in between, not doing too much too soon, but not doing too little either.Chris Deavin joins me again next week and we’ll dive deeper into performance span, training over 50, and how to stay capable for life.Stay ConsistentRod Get full access to Strong After 50 at strongafter50.substack.com/subscribe