I have, over the past month, attempted to recommit myself to some sort of exercise program. Since my knees pretty much suck at doing anything, walking is about my only option. (Yes, I know swimming is good, but I, a) don't have access to a free swimming pool, b) would have to drive to a pool where I would have to pay to swim, and c)ever share a pool in the summer?)
I've been making very good progress, up to a two mile loop around the 'hood and about to kick it up a notch.
Until a day like today comes along. I have to work tonight, so I slept late. And I'm up now, but the heat index is 104. And I'm just not feeling it. So I shall get on my knee friendly Gazelle and do my time there.
I'm good at exercising if I keep doing it, problem comes when I start skipping and the routine falls apart. And my routine falls apart a lot. I work 12 hour night shifts in which I am on my feet and walking just about the entire night. I once wore a pedometer to work and took it off after one hour when it said I'd already walked a mile and I thought it was defective. When I get home in the morning, my feet hurt and my knees are generally swollen up to the size of grapefruits. When I wake up, I have to get ready to go back and the swelling in my knees isn't fully resolved so I don't want to go for a long walk and then go in to do another 12 hours.
This wouldn't be so much of a problem if I worked the same nights and just knew I'd not be exercising those days, but my schedule skips around a lot.
So I do very well for a while, then I don't, then I do better. I guess I just need to understand that is how my working out will be.
In related news, my knee doc is sending me for an MRI of my left knee because it has a new weird pain. Maybe a small meniscus tear. If so, fixing it won't cure the problem because the main problem is all the arthritis in my knees (More than someone 20 years older, says Knee Doc. Thanks, I say.). But if it will make the knee a little more stable so I can do stuff like, uh, walk up steps or stand up or hike the Italian Amalfi coast, we may have to go for it.
Loki sez: Nose-touch promise we'll take care of you if you have an operation!
2 comments:
Oh, no, can't they do shots of something for that?
I say this as I sit here with an ace bandage on my right knee and crutches by the door, since I tore the cartilage completely away from my patella at the end of April. In tai chi class. (Long story.)
Anyway, I'm seeing yet another doctor on Thursday so I can get Synvisc or something like that (I'm allergic to cortisone). So I've just been sitting around getting fatter and I envy you getting any exercise at all. Keep it up, it's worth it!
But what's a "gazelle"? Besides an animal in Africa, I mean.
Sharon - I do get cortisone shots and do very well with them. I get about 6-7 months pretty much pain free.
This new pain has my knee physically unstable (as opposed to pain avoidance) I can't stand up from a low seat and stairs are getting impossible. If I'm going to get back into hiking shape, I must be able to walk up a mountain.
The Gazelle is a type of treadmill that the part where you stand is suspended so there is little impact on the joints. That annoying fake tan guy with the long ponytail and extra loud voice used to do infomercials about them all the time.
I hope your knee gets better. Knee pain sucks.
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