I'm going to keep this short, as I'm really tired this weekend. The usual rules apply: you can choose to answer the question I pose, or you can talk about whatever you want to.
It's an open comment forum. All of you are driving the bus.
Anyway, I thought it might be useful to start with this question: What does your knee like the most? Is it half an hour in the sauna, a short and slow walk, a massage, a meditation session, or what?
By sharing what personally works and what doesn't, I think we can all help each other.
All fine with my knees by the way (no, I don't say that to gloat, but rather as a perfunctory update, as sometimes people do ask how much knee pain I still have). Both knees feel good. It's like a rebirth!
Cheers.
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Saturday, February 9, 2019
How Long Will It Take for You to Heal?
I received a comment recently, the first part of which went:
So if we continue to walk for 2-3 miles a day and bicycle 20-30 minutes every day, are we going to heal in 2-3 years?
First of all, if I could answer this question, I would not be wasting my time with a blog. I would be making billions of dollars trading stocks and futures contracts.
The truth is, I can’t answer this question. Neither can anyone else.
If you are in the presence of someone who tells you, with great conviction and vehemence, that he can answer this question, I would advise you (and God knows, I try not to give advice) to check to make sure that your wallet is still on your person, and intact, then to make your way quickly toward the closest exit.
Knee pain can be a terrible place of fear and uncertainty. And part of that uncertainty, sadly, revolves around how long it will take to get better. Honestly, I can’t even tell you for sure that if you do all the right things, you will emerge from this nightmare with pain-free knees.
I have a large, abiding faith that many bad knees can be healed, over a time period that can vary greatly by individual. I base this partly on my own experience – my knees that a doctor told me sternly would never get better (what I’m sure he thought was a necessary bit of truth-telling) did in fact improve – so much so that today they feel normal or even better than normal, considering my age.
I also base my optimism on much research that I did, which I detail in Saving My Knees.
But to offer blanket reassurance that anyone can heal within a tight time frame by doing a fixed amount of walking and cycling? You may get better in 12 months on that regimen. Or it may take nine or 10 years. Or you may never get better, because that program is too much for your particular knees.
The time frame for healing is not a really knowable thing at the beginning. I know: more fear, more uncertainty, more doubt. Not what anyone wants. But the alternative is dishonesty.
I think the best thing is to think of this as a purposeful journey. You are not wandering, lost, in the desert. You have an objective. You are experimenting. Your aim is, at the end of each year, to have knees that are at least a little improved from where they were at the year’s beginning.
And think about it: if your knees never get back to 100%, but they get a little better each year, and you have a positive outlook, because you’re actually executing a plan, and you have some control over your future, isn’t that something good? Isn’t that a victory of sorts?
Part of the reason my initial experience with bad knees was so miserable was the helplessness, the belief that nothing could be done. There is at least a solution to that. Keep in mind that others have healed, that all is not lost, and push forward with purpose. There’s an excellent chance that good things will happen.
So if we continue to walk for 2-3 miles a day and bicycle 20-30 minutes every day, are we going to heal in 2-3 years?
First of all, if I could answer this question, I would not be wasting my time with a blog. I would be making billions of dollars trading stocks and futures contracts.
The truth is, I can’t answer this question. Neither can anyone else.
If you are in the presence of someone who tells you, with great conviction and vehemence, that he can answer this question, I would advise you (and God knows, I try not to give advice) to check to make sure that your wallet is still on your person, and intact, then to make your way quickly toward the closest exit.
Knee pain can be a terrible place of fear and uncertainty. And part of that uncertainty, sadly, revolves around how long it will take to get better. Honestly, I can’t even tell you for sure that if you do all the right things, you will emerge from this nightmare with pain-free knees.
I have a large, abiding faith that many bad knees can be healed, over a time period that can vary greatly by individual. I base this partly on my own experience – my knees that a doctor told me sternly would never get better (what I’m sure he thought was a necessary bit of truth-telling) did in fact improve – so much so that today they feel normal or even better than normal, considering my age.
I also base my optimism on much research that I did, which I detail in Saving My Knees.
But to offer blanket reassurance that anyone can heal within a tight time frame by doing a fixed amount of walking and cycling? You may get better in 12 months on that regimen. Or it may take nine or 10 years. Or you may never get better, because that program is too much for your particular knees.
The time frame for healing is not a really knowable thing at the beginning. I know: more fear, more uncertainty, more doubt. Not what anyone wants. But the alternative is dishonesty.
I think the best thing is to think of this as a purposeful journey. You are not wandering, lost, in the desert. You have an objective. You are experimenting. Your aim is, at the end of each year, to have knees that are at least a little improved from where they were at the year’s beginning.
And think about it: if your knees never get back to 100%, but they get a little better each year, and you have a positive outlook, because you’re actually executing a plan, and you have some control over your future, isn’t that something good? Isn’t that a victory of sorts?
Part of the reason my initial experience with bad knees was so miserable was the helplessness, the belief that nothing could be done. There is at least a solution to that. Keep in mind that others have healed, that all is not lost, and push forward with purpose. There’s an excellent chance that good things will happen.
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