d_thomas02 wrote: »

UncleMac wrote: »

Nice to get back to the smithy. Not too much time on your feet tho, right?

Right. I'll have to limit myself to one iron in the fire at a time so I can pace back and forth (keeps the blood flowing and swelling down) while its soaking up the heat.

Normally I work two or three at a time so I can always be working one on the anvil while the others are soaking. Gonna slow things down a bit but it is a hobby, not a race.

What a great hobby! Creative, energetic and fun!!

Glad to hear your recovery continues well, @d_thomas02!

How are others doing who've reported plans to try various things for this sort of stiffness or pain?

@BBee5064, since you started this discussion, are you seeing any improvement from your changes in activities and eating, personal trainer, or other strategies?

@nikkib0103, any results from the PT?

Others?

I've kind of backslid lately. Had been doing quite well (despite diagnosis a few years back of meniscus tear in left knee, some OA in both), until very recently. I think the trigger was a brisk walk (!) I took right before Christmas, on a rare day that got into the 40s F, so I took advantage of the (relative ) warmth to get some fresh air.

Usually, I do limited walking for exercise, really just enough to stay somewhat conditioned to it so I can enjoy walking-intensive things like art fairs and music festivals and such, because I know my knees tolerate impact poorly. I should know that I need to condition my way up in distance!

It wasn't like I walked far/fast, only about 4 miles/3.8mph as I'd been doing periodically in summer, but it had been a couple of months, probably, since I'd done anything more than casual walking in daily life, and I should know better.

Bottom line is that my "bad" knee, the left one, is a tiny bit tweaked, but the right one has gone full-bore evil on me, limiting ease of movement quite a bit, and uncomfortable to the point of waking me at night sometimes (this is one of my indicators that I need to face facts and get to the doc). Then, yesterday, as I was carrying some groceries upstairs, the bad knee helped me ( ) lose balance and tumble down a couple of steps, putting a good scrape on my upper lip as well as a nice goose-egg above my eyebrow, and some general bruise/stiffness stuff.

No broken bones or sprains, thankfully, but I'm limping around kinda uncomfortably. I'm going to give it a few days, and see how it nets out (the few days coincidentally includes appointments with my massage therapist and a university-based osteopath I see regularly for back nonsense, so I will be getting some assistance and knowledgeable input).

Sigh!

Paying attention to this thread. I ruined my right knee @ 42. Doc said if I was older at the time, would have done a total knee replacement then. Back then (12 years ago), I was considered too young to do a full knee replacement. Knees only lasted 15 years then. Now they last 30! Amazing how far things have come.

My right knee, now, is crap. I workout a LOT on it and most of the time I have no pain, but I'm only 54. Doc told me that arthritis would slowly creep in and since I've been bone on bone for years, it's only a matter of time.

Now, I did take my wife to an unconventional doc a few years ago for a shoulder tear. He injected her with rich platelets and ozone along with vitamins and she felt better within weeks. He said he can do the same for knees. I've ran into HOF baseball and BB players in his office that go there (guys that could afford any treatment). I might try something like that first before I do the replacement to hopefully make my knee last a bit longer (at least until my mid 60s).

Well aging just sucks sometimes.

I get some joint stiffness here and there, but nothing too bad or that really slows me down. But lately I've discovered that I can hardly put any pressure directly on my knees (kneeling down on my knees) without a sharp pain. I can't think of anything I did, other than spend some time kneeling on some framing up in the attic while wiring for a ceiling fan. And though that wasn't comfortable, it didn't hurt. I'm at a loss what changed or happened.

I'm going to talk to my doctor in a couple weeks when I have an appointment.

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Glad to hear your recovery continues well, @d_thomas02!

How are others doing who've reported plans to try various things for this sort of stiffness or pain?

@BBee5064, since you started this discussion, are you seeing any improvement from your changes in activities and eating, personal trainer, or other strategies?

@nikkib0103, any results from the PT?

Others?

I've kind of backslid lately. Had been doing quite well (despite diagnosis a few years back of meniscus tear in left knee, some OA in both), until very recently. I think the trigger was a brisk walk (!) I took right before Christmas, on a rare day that got into the 40s F, so I took advantage of the (relative ) warmth to get some fresh air.

Usually, I do limited walking for exercise, really just enough to stay somewhat conditioned to it so I can enjoy walking-intensive things like art fairs and music festivals and such, because I know my knees tolerate impact poorly. I should know that I need to condition my way up in distance!

It wasn't like I walked far/fast, only about 4 miles/3.8mph as I'd been doing periodically in summer, but it had been a couple of months, probably, since I'd done anything more than casual walking in daily life, and I should know better.

Bottom line is that my "bad" knee, the left one, is a tiny bit tweaked, but the right one has gone full-bore evil on me, limiting ease of movement quite a bit, and uncomfortable to the point of waking me at night sometimes (this is one of my indicators that I need to face facts and get to the doc). Then, yesterday, as I was carrying some groceries upstairs, the bad knee helped me ( ) lose balance and tumble down a couple of steps, putting a good scrape on my upper lip as well as a nice goose-egg above my eyebrow, and some general bruise/stiffness stuff.

No broken bones or sprains, thankfully, but I'm limping around kinda uncomfortably. I'm going to give it a few days, and see how it nets out (the few days coincidentally includes appointments with my massage therapist and a university-based osteopath I see regularly for back nonsense, so I will be getting some assistance and knowledgeable input).

Sigh!

Well, yes and no on improvement from PT. Going up stairs better. Going down, no. Pain management better and overall small reduction in pain. However, next week I start PT for my back. It hurts more than my knees. Live past 50, they said. It will be fun, they said. 😊

I have started wearing a fitness tracker that can be set to remind me to move every hour. Just getting off my chair and taking a short walk added to my regular walks and swimming has helped a lot.

Now that I'm over 50, stiffness and inflexibility is definitely my enemy number one. I took a friend's advice and tried yoga last week, which I've never done before because I never really viewed it as "real" exercise. Holy smokes, was I wrong! I have tremendous respect for all the strong ladies in that class (embarrassingly, I was the only male). I could not come close to being able to do what the women in that class did. Very humbling for me.

My problem was that some of the poses and stretches were excruciating! I am just not very flexible. Someone please tell me that this gets easier over time!

version50 wrote: »

Now that I'm over 50, stiffness and inflexibility is definitely my enemy number one. I took a friend's advice and tried yoga last week, which I've never done before because I never really viewed it as "real" exercise. Holy smokes, was I wrong! I have tremendous respect for all the strong ladies in that class (embarrassingly, I was the only male). I could not come close to being able to do what the women in that class did. Very humbling for me.

My problem was that some of the poses and stretches were excruciating! I am just not very flexible. Someone please tell me that this gets easier over time!

I've been doing yoga for several years. Both stiffness & inflexibility have improved but I've reached the point where if I'm going to enhance either more, I need to start doing yoga daily. Twice per week can only do so much.

version50 wrote: »

Now that I'm over 50, stiffness and inflexibility is definitely my enemy number one. I took a friend's advice and tried yoga last week, which I've never done before because I never really viewed it as "real" exercise. Holy smokes, was I wrong! I have tremendous respect for all the strong ladies in that class (embarrassingly, I was the only male). I could not come close to being able to do what the women in that class did. Very humbling for me.

My problem was that some of the poses and stretches were excruciating! I am just not very flexible. Someone please tell me that this gets easier over time!

I did a Tony Horton bodyweight tape last night that my 29 year old daughter said she'd do with me. I'm 55. It had a lot of Barre type moves in it. No weights but 30 minutes and I was so sore this morning. Now, I do row (on a rowing machine) 50 MPW, but I've done Pilates, Yoga and some Barre. I won't do Pilates again. I'd rather have a root canal. 1 hour of ab work and leg lifts, no thanks.

There are also muscle work classes at gyms that I've seen women kill it in. I'm fairly strong, but I'm not too arrogant to take breaks if I have to or bow out. 100s of reps of the same (or similar) move can be killer. High rep, low weight is exactly what rowing is. There's a reason that most only last five minutes on a rowing machine.