I went on a 103-mile bike ride yesterday -- phew! Some say it's not the heat ... but yes, it's the heat! It's hard to stay properly hydrated when the temps climb into the upper 80s. This morning I'll be in the basement, riding the stationary bike, trying to make up for the fact that yesterday's ride burned up most of my day.
Now then, here's a reader comment that put me in mind of something Dr. Scott Dye once said:
I have no idea what is the matter with my knees, have had no diagnosis and have kind of given up on that front, though I'm convinced it started mentally as i was suffering from chronic stress at the time, I also have a raised vein or nerve in leg so could be that WHO KNOWS. They do improve a lot with motion though, and lately on my walks ive just had the urge to start gently jogging, its like my body wants to take off, whats your advise on that? I havent jogged but i really want to.
Here's what Dr. Dye said that I found to be very true, though curious coming from a physician. It concerns the difficulty of finding the right program to heal a person's bad knees:
“It is not unlike trying to find the numbers to a combination lock.”
We tend to naturally attribute shaman-like qualities to our doctors, believing they have an almost magical power to heal us. How strange it is, then, to hear a doctor compare what he's doing to cracking a safe. It's perhaps a bit unsettling. Aren't doctors supposed to be supremely confident in their diagnoses?
But I think Dye's observation is quite perspicacious. He nails it. The fact is, there is no manual on healing knees that will work equally well on all knees. A certain amount of experimentation is in order.
Partly I have come to that realization from listening to all of you while writing this blog. As I've said before, I wrote my book naively assuming that what I did would be useful to the same degree for everyone. I still think the book has enormous value, and broadly the approach is the correct one, but I've also tempered my position somewhat, so that now I'm closer to Dye's thinking:
Healing your knees will involve finding a solution that will probably be, to some degree, unique to your particular knees.
So why does this reader comment put me in mind of Dr. Dye?
Because here's someone who has bad knees, it appears, but who wants to "start gently jogging." How could that be a good idea?
But suppose this person is right: that stress contributed to the knee issue in the first place. Maybe a little gentle jogging, getting the heart pumping and the body sweating, would help lower his stress levels -- and it might not be harmful to his knees too.
Maybe?
I am opposed to giving advice, but if I were this person, I might try an experiment: maybe try a short jog, very slow, maybe up a hill as that's less stress on the joints, and then monitor my knees for a couple of days. Do they feel better or worse?
If they feel better, maybe try it again, for a little longer, being careful of course and not pounding down hills.
Do I think this would have helped with my own knee pain? No, not really. But then again, if we are all trying to find the numbers to our personal combination locks, when it comes to beating knee pain, we have to be open to trying different things.
Have you ever searched for growth hormone treatment to regrow hyaline cartilage?
ReplyDeleteI have found some old studies, but nothing new.
The idea of using growth hormone to regrow something looks interesting at first sight, but I don't know if that's really plyable.
Hey Richard - Thanks for this blog. I have to say, it's given me a lot of hope. I've been suffering from intermittent pain for years after a running injury but the constant dull aching pain developed last december. I took some ibuprofen and it disappeared for awhile before roaring back again in Jan. I became pregnant in Jan, so painkillers were out of the question. I stumbled along for a few months with the pain improving some days and becoming worse some days. Aqua walking helped somewhat but i didnt do it with enough consistency. And since I live in Finland, and walking everywhere is a way of life in europe, I consistently reversed progress or made things worse through overwalking (5-6 miles a day). Around March I came across Painscience.com and bought the PPFS guide. Paul Ingraham basically prescribes your regimen of resting a lot with 10 minute walking breaks. I hate to ascribe anything positive to covid, but it really was a godsend for me, as i was able to work from home with some intermittent walking. I also started on some light quad strengthening (foot raises etc) in April. Voila - by the end of May, pain was gone and i could walk long distances. You can probably guess what comes next. I got cocky and was very active over the summer - long walks, hikes, kayaking. I had days when my leg felt fragile but taping along with physical therapy seemed to soothe twinges. However, with the pregnancy weight gain (30 pounds and counting), it all eventually became too much for my knees and in the last month or so they have slipped into the cycle of chronic inflammation and pain again. Unfortunately this time, it seems because of the extra weight (and possibly because of the hormones), even standing and walking are too much for them. I was on the verge of despair, with lots of crying jags and convinced that I had blown my shot at recovery and that my knees were ruined. But after reading the posts (and comments) on this blog over the last week and Doug Kelsey's book, i have a lot more hope. Luckily, because i 'beat' the pain once this summer, I also have a decent idea about what works and what doesnt work for my knees, and once my son is born and some of the weight has come off, i can embark on a course of action that will soothe inflammation and build up joint strength. It's also 'good' that winter is coming, and i will be less tempted to go for long walks/hikes etc. Anyway, thanks a lot for this blog - super helpful for people like me who had almost lost hope.
ReplyDeleteI think about this combination theory often. Sometimes when you find something that works, you get cocky and neglect other areas and a flare up ensues. Trying to stay positive.
ReplyDeleteQuestion... I have suspected Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (dysfunction of collagen that leads to severe hypermobility). My knees have been subluxing and dislocating since I was 9 (now 30), my ankles have rolled and sprained more times than I can remember. My hips pop and creak several times a day. The knees in particular that have had the traumatic dislocations have gotten increasingly worse; I have not been able to run, jump, squat in over two years since accidentally pushing them to further damage by running. Drs say I have a “constellation” of knee problems, I’ve been told to not get my hopes up and to anticipate a wheelchair, and also that I’m being emotional and overreacting (as women often are). Just wondering if anyone else in this community suffers from EDS or hypermobility.
From one sister to another, emotional and overreacting! Never. Women are raised to be in touch with their emotions. Men are not. We are both the product of society. Women generally don't kill, rape and beat other people. Let's not ever apologise for being in touch with our feelings. x
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