<p>Okay, so I took a break from this thread, but not from exercise. I’ve been very disciplined about exercise for the past few months. I’ve done a lot of walking/hiking and gone to Curves. A few weeks ago, I had a twinge in my left knee. Then it moved to my right. I braced the knee when walking. All seemed okay, but I did notice that a couple of weeks ago I’d wake up during the night with a lot of pain in the side of my left calf – wasn’t sure if it was a muscle cramp or my sciatica revisiting me. This past week I took the prescription anti-inflammatory I have and the leg pain improved. Two days ago, I decided to start swimming (we have a pool and it finally warmed up.) Heeding the warning I read here about the breaststroke being hard on the knees, I decided to go for the crawl, which I think is more aerobic too. So the past two days, I swam the crawl. I also bought some resistance items and did arm exercises and walked across the pool. </p>
<p>Last night, I was in almost unbearable pain. My left knee felt tight and was very painful. I have a lot of pain in the back of my left thigh and radiating down my leg. Walking is difficult. I can’t figure out if there is a problem with my knee or not – icing seemed to help it – but the pain in my thigh feels like sciatica – tender to the touch. I can’t figure out what is going on and I can’t see my orthopedist until next Wednesday. It seems like I should give all exercise a rest for at least a couple of days and see what happens. I’m discouraged and a little concerned about the knee. I wear excellent shoes with lots of support and cushion when I walk. How could swimming trigger so much pain? I thought it was the easiest thing on the body.</p>
<p>Also, I just noticed that the left knee is definitely swollen. I can both see and feel the swelling. I’m icing it. I’m wondering if the swelling/knee issue is triggering my sciatica – bothering the nerve or something. I can hardly think I’m so miserable. Fortunately, I don’t have to work until Monday.</p>
<p>What makes the kind of pain you are describing so tough to nail down is that the pain may not be occuring at the exact spot of the injury. I’d probably force myself to take a couple days off and see if there’s any improvement before you appointment. </p>
<p>It seems unlikely that swimming would be the culprit, but then again, you probably were using muscles in different ways for the first time in months, so I guess anything is possible. I’m guessing the issue is probably hip/spine/sciatia related, particularly with the pain radiating down your leg. </p>
<p>Even knee pain can be hip related as the hamstring muscles attach to the hip at one end and the knee at the other. Mike Boyle’s analogy is that, if he ties a rope around your neck and yanks on it, you are going to scream and say that your neck hurts. In reality, there’s nothing wrong with your neck, the pain is the result of yanking on the other end of the rope. It just shows up as pain in the neck. Same thing with tight hamstrings connected to tight hips, yanking on the knee.</p>
<p>On the other hand, swollen knee tends to suggest knee injury!</p>
<p>Thanks, Idad. Yes, the swelling does indicate a knee problem. Lance Armstrong’s site says swimming can trigger a few knee problems. I’m icing now. I had terrible sciatica during my later pregnancies, and it recurs from time to time, but I never had swelling in the knee with it. Also, the knee feels “tight” and painful in a different way. Armstrong’s site says there are braces that can be worn while swimming. I may have overdone it. I think the walking/hiking has increased my stamina and I probably swam more than the knee was ready for.</p>
<p>80 minutes of singles, 90 degrees, 6-1, 6-3. I went to jump serves on my first serve today after watching Federer at the French Open. I have been able to jump serve for a long time but I stopped it many years ago. Too much weight on a jump serve can mean more injuries to the ankles and knees as you don’t really watch what’s happening with your feet when you come down.</p>
<p>I didn’t eat enough before playing and was hungry through the match. It’s a good thing that it wasn’t longer or I probably would have run out of gas. I had the food but we played early and didn’t have the time to eat two of my snacks (about 400 calories).</p>
<p>Repetitive use injuries on the knees usually come on slowly for me - they aren’t of the sudden variety - I have to accumulate damage to it over time before it gets really painful. I suppose that it’s possible to have a sharp injury do that. I’d recommend NSAIDs for some relief. I’ve found that strong arm muscles really help with knee injuries. What’s a real pain is knee injuries + an arm injury - it means that you have only one arm to compensate.</p>
<p>No gym today for me either. 14 mile bike ride, Livestrong thinks I burned 900 calories, garmin with hr monitor estimates 700, I think both are too high and won’t use those numbers for calorie allotment today. There were more than a few hills and it wad pretty windy so hr was on the 160s a good amount of the time, so overall a decent workout.</p>
<p>^ sorry about the typos. Posting via iPhone and can’t figure out how to edit. </p>
<p>As to MOWC’s yoga pose, literally lol-ed when I saw the pictures. With my hamstrings, I can’t even begin to get into that position. It looks excruciating to me.</p>
<p>So, I’d just like to add a comment here – I’d been having enough trouble keeping current on the posts in THIS thread. Now I have to keep up with the “other” thread, too? Sheesh! :)</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about the knee pain. I had my go-around with knee issues last year when I first started trying to run again. After the pain went away (I stopped running, iced it, etc.) I started in again, but with more knee support. I wasn’t crazy about wearing a brace, but have had luck with the CWX Stabilyx 3/4 Tights:</p>
<p>Pricey, but worth it to have pain-free knees.</p>
<p>And BTW, agree that taking away vision adds a whole other level of difficulty to the standing on 1 foot thing. And MOWC’s yoga pose (above)? – not happening here anytime soon.</p>
<p>As we age, injuries happen more and more. The problem is, the more injuries we have, the less we can do – and the worse shape we’ll be in! I try to back off as soon as I get a twinge, but lately I’ve been having plantar faciitis and some tendon problem in one foot. I have a doctor’s appt for a checkup this Saturday, so we’ll see what the man says.</p>
<p>90 degree sunny afternoon, so I headed out for my now-standard 5K walk/jog with five 2-minute jogging intervals. Getting just a little easier, and a little faster on the jogging intervals. I’m running out of flat/downhill terrain to get a full 2 minutes in a couple of places, so I’m having to move the start of those intervals up to include some uphill running.</p>
<p>Nice workout – mainly abs, then the elliptical. Then about 3 miles with the dogs. Went to my CT gym on a weekday in the middle of the day (very rare for me) and saw a couple of kids my S2 went to HS with. They just graduated from college. How nice to see them all grown up and super-polite. Everyone is moving on and has a plan. </p>
<p>Re plantar fasciitis – I had a terrible case that lasted a long time. What helped was that I wore inserts in all of my shoes and I bought very good athletic shoes. I wore the athletic shoes whenever I was working in the kitchen – I stopped going barefoot until I was better. That helped a lot. I occasionally get a twinge, but the problem is mostly gone.</p>
<p>I actually found it easier to run uphill as opposed to downhill. It feels far more laborious to try and walk up the hills. Something about the momentum and the arm motion really pulls you up the hill.</p>
<p>Re the yoga pose. The thing to try is just the picking up your foot and balancing with the standing leg locked.</p>
<p>Good job on the runs, iDad.</p>
<p>Here in very hot Houston fir daughter’s Ordination. Thought of WorkinProgress as I saw the Senior Games signs in the airport! Waiting for WildChild’s plane to land. Will all run the Rice Loop in the morning which is quite different from Swarthmore terrain!</p>
<p>I’m a demon walking uphill now. Lots and lots of practice plus all these damn split squats I’ve been doing.</p>
<p>I don’t need the additional challenge on the running intervals just yet. I’m still huffin’ and puffin’ by the end of two minutes. Part of it is just longer interval cardio conditioning. Part of it is adapting and figuring out how to jog more smoothly with less energy expenditure. the last time I jogged was in 1970. It’s coming along slowly but surely. I’ll just keep plugging away at it.</p>
<p>I thought I’d dip into this thread to see what was going on. My home is the “Weight loss for dummies” thread. I haven’t been exercising at all for weeks, but I do have good balance and flexibility from many years of ballet. Yoga and pilates come easily to me, and I love them (but have not managed to do either regularly). And I am older than all of you.</p>
<p>I can easily do that yoga pose, fully extend my leg (either side), get my head to within a few inches of my knee, and hold it indefinitely. I think the pose is awful and feels awful. I hate Bikram yoga - read a book on it once and decided it wasn’t for me. But I can tell you how to keep your balance in that, or any other, pose.</p>
<p>You don’t need to lock your knee (and probably shouldn’t). Your balance comes mainly from your core. To see this, stand normally and pull up through the midline of your body. If you know how to do Kegel exercises, that’s where to start. You can pull up all the way through your chest, and your head and shoulders will fall naturally in place. Think of pulling your body weight up off your legs. This feels best in an upright position, and works well for something like tree pose. Make sure your hips stay level even when one leg is raised.</p>
<p>If you focus on the Kegels, and on pulling your body weight up off the standing leg, it will help you to balance in that Bikram pose.</p>
<p>We’re back to humid weather and rain here this morning. My real challenge today will be getting H out the door for exercise. </p>
<p>For those of you trying to use flax seed in your foods, I am happy to report that Joseph’s brand whole wheat/flaxseed/oat bran pitas are actually not bad. The texture is different than a regular pita, but I am thinking I will make these into pita chips and they will not be bad. I happened upon them at my local Walmart, somewhere I do not venture frequently and did not associate with organic/healthy food.</p>
<p>Interesting: (2, 6, 8, 4) (fat, carbs, protein, fiber). I’ve seen Josephs pitas in the supermarket but I’ve never seen the wheat/flax/oat bran product on the shelves. They have an aisle stand for Josephs so I’ll take a look when we shop next.</p>