Sir Tom Jones is enjoying his “bionic” new hip after undergoing replacement surgery.
Tom Jones went under the knife in September after his doctors discovered his cartilage had disappeared.
“I did a summer tour all over Europe and I was gradually seeing physiotherapists in different countries and they were stretching me out,” he tells U.K. newspaper The Mirror. “Years ago my sciatic nerve was giving me trouble in my hip and it felt like the same thing. It was a pain you couldn’t get rid of, like a dull ache. I thought it was that.
“So the physiotherapists I was seeing over the summer were all working on it. I was feeling OK, but they said I needed to get it scanned to see what’s going on. I said I would once I got back to London. I didn’t miss a show because I was leaning more on my right leg. It was getting on and off the stage that was giving me trouble. You can’t limp onto the stage, you have to try and make an entrance.
“So I knew I had to do something about it. I got back to London and my surgeon said the cartilage is gone in my left hip, the bones are just crunching together.”
Tom, 77, is recovering well following the surgery and is focused on his healing while keeping his body active.
“I’m doing alright,” he says, “It’s been a month now so I’m doing better each day. You have to keep walking, just two days afterwards and you’re up walking, in the pool. I was at the London Clinic and they’ve got a rehab facility there. I was in the pool everyday (for three weeks), on the bike, they’ve got all the gear there.”
Jones admits his role as a returning judge on British TV singing competition is also helping him rehabilitate.
“When you’re stuck in hospital and not feeling good after an operation, you need something and The Voice is perfect for that because it’s not like going back to a full blown tour, travelling and all that business,” he explains. “I’m coping great, all I need to do is get up and stretch it a little bit.
“Walking these corridors is like rehab, there’s a lot of them here (at The Voice studio). There’s a long walk from the dressing room to the stage, it’s good. It’s a new hip, it’s bionic, it’s like starting again.”
