A Good New Year's Resolution: A Vow to Be Patient

I was out doing my twice-a-day walk recently and a thought struck me, as I kicked a rock out of the way.

If you found a rock, and put it outside, and took a close-up photo of the rock once a month for ten years, you would have 120 photos, and would probably arrive at an interesting conclusion:

Rocks don't change over time. The rock in the first photo would look identical to the rock in the last.

But we know that rocks do indeed change over time. It's just that it takes a long time, usually, for visible changes in a rock to appear. Most don't look any different after 10 years, or even 100 years.

Similarly, healing from chronic knee pain can be maddening, because it's so slow. On any given day, it can seem that there's been no progress.

In fact, in a way, it's worse than watching a rock, waiting for some change to occur. With a bad knee, you will have good days and bad days and in-between days, and you'll feel like you're going forward and then sliding back a few days later. In the end, you may feel so confused you want to give up.

That's why, as we approach the new year, I think the best thing many knee pain sufferers can do is adopt an attitude of patience. Healing is usually not quick. Go into your knee rehabilitation program with that mindset, and you can only be surprised pleasantly if healing is faster than expected.

But if you go into your program thinking, "I can fix this in a few weeks," you risk being so frustrated that you lose hope.

So, I'm wishing everyone out there with knee pain some patience in 2021. Good things can happen. Just look at the many success stories on this blog (there was just one posted in the comment section last week).

But patience is often necessary. And that patience will be tested severely, so be prepared for that too.

Open Comment Forum: How are YOU doing?

I figured I'd do an open comment forum today, hopefully to stir up some discussion.

As usual, feel free to bring up whatever you want in the comment section below: new studies, vexing knee problems, lingering frustrations, what's working, what's not working.

If you don't feel the need to say anything in particular, then if you've been a knee pain sufferer for a while (and a visitor here), it would be nice to hear an update of how you've been doing. Often, I've been happily surprised to hear from people who started leaving comments seven or eight years ago, then disappeared for a while, and later resurfaced to share their stories.

Mine is, unfortunately, a rather boring story at this point. I feel like a bit of an impostor sometimes. See, I have this blog about chronic knee pain, but I don't have chronic knee pain anymore. Now, knock on wood, I'd like to keep it that way and don't want to tempt fate. I'm aware that circumstances can change swiftly.

But it's a relief not to have to plan my life around a pair of complaining knees. Yesterday I rode hard on Zwift (virtual reality cycling!), banging out close to 3 watts per kilogram for two and a half hours. Today I meant to go easy on Zwift, then got suckered into trying to catch a large group of riders climbing a long, steep mountain road, and so I had another intense session.

And my knees are fine. No ice. No stabbing pains. Nothing. I know I'm lucky that my knee pain story has become boring.

But what about you? Anything to share? Please leave a comment below!