First, an update from last time, and thanks to all those who have expressed concern:
We live on Long Island’s north shore, in Nassau County: a beautiful place, God’s own heaven on earth it sometimes seems.
But Nassau County, as of today, has almost 14,400 cases of Covid-19. That’s more than the vast majority of U.S. states. Per capita, that’s even more than New York City. All this infection has blown up in a county I can drive across in less than half an hour. It’s a bit frightening.
But I don’t feel stress. My family, for now, is healthy. My 6-year-old son, who has pronounced anti-social tendencies and sometimes lives in a box house I helped him build, is flourishing and doesn’t seem to care if he ever sees a school again. :)
My wife is Chinese, and her mother keeps calling and asking if she is okay. She said the Chinese don’t understand why America wasn’t more prepared for this. We saw the images coming out of Wuhan. But that’s a story for another day, and perhaps another blog.
Today I want to briefly address this problem: how do you move your knees enough when you’re inside most of the time?
This is the easiest question for me to answer, because early in my knee recovery, much of my self-administered treatment came in my apartment. When I realized that walking, walking, walking outside was actually making my knees worse, I realized I had to severely cut back.
So I started doing walkarounds around my apartment. I’d just walk back and forth, every 10 minutes, then rest my knees in a comfortable position (e.g., I’d lie on my back with my knees slung over the edge of a couch). I lived in a small apartment, so there wasn’t a lot of room to move. But you really don’t need a lot of room.
The thing is, it’s nice being able to walk outside. You can enjoy the sunshine, the flowering trees, the birdsong. But you can also move in a space as small as a jail cell. It just takes some imagination and persistence to find ways to move your knees.
So how about all of you? How have your activity routines changed during these unsettled times? Drop a comment below; I’d love to hear from you!
If Coronavirus didn't keep me inside, the pollen and molds would right now. I have my recumbent, my Total Gym, and a yoga mat, and on which I do strength work, so I am set for exercise. I ordered an upgraded platform to do squats on the VIP, so that's been a huge help. And yet, I managed to have a setback. Some yoga moves are not meant for me, at least for the time being. Motion is lotion, yes; but don't forget to pay attention and listen to your body. Rested and continuing forward.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I'm cooking with more veggies and beans while doing intermittent fasting. 👍 I don't want to roll out of here later on down the road.
It's not too bad for us here in regional Australia. Only about 2 cases so far in our city of 25,000. We can still get outside to ride, walk, run & fish as long as we follow the distancing rules.
ReplyDeleteBiggest downer for me is no swimming - which means I'm tending to over-do things on my knees.
Keeping my knees moving has been a big priority for me during this shelter-in-place situation. So, I've been doing walks in my neighborhood and want to get my road bike back on the road, too.
ReplyDeleteBut, given that my knees have been in a really really good place right now I had already been thinking about re-starting a strength training routine before all this corona stuff started. So, I've been following a strength training video online which includes lots of squats and lunges. I think I did it too frequently and too vigorously because I did in fact get some stabbing knee pain -- which is nowadays really rare for me.
So! What I have learned is:
1. I need to space my training days out. So, I'm aiming for 2 days per week (or 3 days per week MAX) for legs.
2. I need to do the squats and lunges at my own, slow careful place. And, not go as low as they are going. I may end up ditching lunges as those are the ones with the greatest chance for injury for me.
Maybe I will build up to where they are in the video. Or maybe not. I certainly don't want to accidentally have a knee set-back!
Please note that I would not be doing squats and lunges if my knee joint wasn't already in such a good place for a while! It's been about,,,, 2 years now that my knee joint has been this healthy, so, that is why I feel that I can safely start building muscle now in my legs by doing squats and lunges. And... even with all this knee health.... I still need to take it slow.
Swimming Pools are closed, but, we have been OK here to swim in the sea as long as we keep social distance, but, I'm going to wait until the weather warms up a bit. Although, mainly also due to not sure what to do with my stuff while it is on the beach and I'm in the water.
I have also been doing slow yoga which has been terrific!!
Here in Croatia there are around 1500 cases. Just 25 deaths so far. Public health system is doing well despite Croatia is poor country. My wife is working at hospital. She is a medical biochemistry engineer. In my town of Zadar there are 65 cases on 100.000 population. We are all working in 14 day shifts. My knees are doing well. I still walking daily. Crohn disease is my biggest problem now because it is autoimmune disease and I am on azathioprine now which is immunosuppressive drug.
ReplyDeleteHere in Portugal things are apparently stable so far. Pools are closed which is a Turn off but I kept the slow walking. As I was feeling so good I decided to do yoga,because I missed it so much...that turned out to be a mistake. I seem to have overdone some positions and now I can't bend my left knee without pain which is a new thing for me. I hope it goes away...I am back to icing and rest. Keep safe everyone.
ReplyDeleteHere in the UK it is hitting us hard, like America we are perhaps unprepared.
ReplyDeleteLatest with my knees:
Im working flexi desk hours at a desk so i can move around more. I ma doin a lot of walking, but i think ive over done that this week.
I am still trying to figure out what a sharp stabbing pain on my inside thigh above the knee is.
I will keep going with light movement, and i thank you all for such a wonderful community here.
I last checked in 2 months ago saying that I was going to get my road bike out as part of my "shelter-in-place activities" focused on knee health.
ReplyDeleteI'm checking in now to report that I DID indeed follow through on this plan!
I started with a slow, 5-mile loop. Mostly flat.
That seemed to go well, but, from LONG EXPERIENCE I knew that I need to wait a minimum of 48 hours to see if there was any delay onset pain. I waited 72 hours because I just can't have another set-back. And, I've learned patience. Patience patience patience.
There was not pain after 72 hours, so, that was very promising.
So, I repeated this procedure over the next two months, trying to go just a little further with each outing and incorporate a slightly steeper slope.
Then...wait 48-72 hours. Make sure my knees survived. No delay onset of pain.
Be patient. Be patient Be patient.
An important milestone for me was a certain hill I had tackled in Oct 2012 which caused one of my catastrophic setbacks. I was very scared to bike up that hill. But.... I felt that I have learned a LOT since then and that my knees were in a better place and I knew i would have to address it if I wanted to continue progressing. I trained for it. And...finally I did it. And... my knees were fine that day AND they were also fine 48-72 hours later, too. Wow.
So, that was the green light for me to keep cautiously and carefully working on longer routes with steeper hills... along with patience to also check-in my with knees and not rush it. Not push too hard.
Be patient. Be patient. Be patient. Be patient.
On Sunday June 14 I did 21 miles including a HUGE hill. I am so delighted!! This is the most challenging ride I've done since... I don't know. Maybe 2005?? Today is June 15 and... I'm following through with my plan of waiting 48-72 hours before doing anything strenuous, even though I'm 905 sure that this didn't trigger a setback. And yet... Patience. Patience. Patience. Patience.
What do I do during my 48-72 waiting period? I still move. I go for careful walks. Nothing too extreme. But, it's important for me to MOVE the knee joint on those "rest days." Just staying still is actually not good for my knees. "Motion is Lotion" they say, and that seems to be true for me.
Here's an Insight I've had about this shift in knee activities after Shelter-in-place started:
Before the shelter-in-place, my exercise focus had been on swing dancing and waltzing. And also swimming. So I didn't make time to also squeeze-in road biking.
But, after the "shelter in place" started then of course I cannot do social dancing. Thus, I had plenty of time for road biking.
And... I have to say that road biking has actually been a lot more helpful for my knee health than swing dancing and waltzing. My knees are feeling MUCH stronger and MUCH healthier now in June 2020 as compared to pre-shelter-in-place in February 2020.
I probably should have done road biking first to build up greater knee joint strength and stamina before doing the swing dancing and waltzing. Live and learn.
This is great, Knee Pain! I enjoy reading your updates. Onward and upward! Thanks for checking in.
DeleteThank you! I am literally considering trying backpacking, now! It's something I've always want to do, but, was completely out of my abilities due to my bad knee. However, I want to see if I can build up to it.
DeleteMy newer friends have NO IDEA that I used to have a debilitating knee problem. Whereas my family and friends I've known for a while are constantly amazed at how well I'm doing. I know they are also afraid that I'll have a relapse/set-back -- which has happened so many times. I am wary of that myself, so, I'm trying to be SUPER CAREFUL by pushing the envelope just a little bit at a time.
Onward and upward! :-)