Knees :-(

[Colia]

There have been a couple of posts lately on knees. Just want to give all you ladies (and intrepid gents) a word of caution. I had my knee surgery January 15, and was pretty devastated by the news. I was going in under the assumption that this patellar realignment would fix a lot of my problems - turns out, when the surgeon got in, he found a bunch of cartilage eroded with bare bone exposed in the knee joint itself. The only good news was that part of this procedure was to break a portion of the tibial bone - he had a heck of a time getting the bone broken - said I had the bones of a 20 year old (I'm 40), so I guess there are good side effects of impact sports. Bottom line though, is that my days of any high impact exercise are over. I guess I'll be trading away all my Cathe tapes, bar the weight work, and I can hardly stand it. I just can' believe it.

I guess I would just caution you ladies with knee problems. I took exquisite care of mine - I've been exercising and in good shape for most of my life, but over the past years I've had to cut way back - I even opted out of the Cathe trip because I didn't think it would be good for me to do so many high-impact workout in such a short period of time. I had lowered my step, iced faithfully, had excellent quad strength, been through PT numerous times, cut back on high impact with lots of yoga, used good shoes,etc. Sometimes I guess with a combination of years of high impact and bad genetics, the knees wear out. I sure don't want a knee replacement in my future. So as Cathe always says: Listen to your body!

Cheers folks, and enjoy your workouts!

Colia

p.s. Thanks Kimberly H. for your kind note - glad to see your recovery seems to be going well. :-D

 

[kellib]

I am so sorry to hear about your knees. I too have knee problems--I'm 24 years old and developed patella femoral pain about a year and a half ago. It's so very frustrating to me--I hate trying to take it easy because I feel like I'm not working out hardly at all. And I love step! (esp. cathe!)

Your advice is helpful; esp. as someone who has been there. Please post if you have any breakthroughs on workouts that are really tough and get your heart rate up, but are gentle on the knees/low impact.

Thanks again,
Kelli

 

[Colia]

Hi Kelli!

Thanks so much for the encouraging note. Haven't been on in a while, getting through my depression! :-tired I guess my advice to you would be to listen to your knees. What orthopedists told me for years was that patello-femoral syndrome is fairly benign to the joint, and thus whatever you could tolerate would be okay. For me, pain was just a part of life, until it got to a certain breaking point. NOw I wish I had been more wise. I enjoyed running for many years, and then really got into the aerobics things at the gym, then with the Firm, and finally with Cathe. As you probably know, any type of lunging and squatting motion, and high impact stuff is going to aggravate your PFS. On the other hand, it is imperative to have strong quads, to try and normalize patellar tracking. Physical therapists use somewhat gentler strengthening exercises, including wall squats to achieve strength. If you haven't been to PT, you might want to see if you can get a referral - just make sure with people interested in this frustrating chronic problem.

Unfortunately, the bottom line is that for those of us unlucky enough to have these problems, activities like biking, spinning, swimming, and elliptical trainers will probably prolong the life of our joints, and high impact activities will exacerbate our symptoms. You are young - take good care of yourself, and hopefully with some moderation you can enjoy some higher impact activities for years to come.

I still can't believe I have to give up all of this, and I still am utterly depressed about it, but hopefully sharing my experience may help you and/or someone else use more careful moderation so they won't end up like this. And I know that I am fortunate to still be able to participate in some form of exercise, at least when I get my leg out of this #$#@# immobilizer! ;-)

So take good care of those knees, okay?

Cheers!
Colia

 

[kellib]

Thanks Colia!

Colia,
Thanks for your reply! I actually did have PT and did the exercises for nearly a year, but gave them up partly 'cuz they took so much time each night and because they didn't seem to be improving my knees. But the pain has gotten so bad that I've started doing them again, this time just doing about 2 different exercises a night, so it doesn't take as long and hopefully so I'll stay motivated.

I made up my mind about 2 weeks ago that I was going to HAVE to cut down on the high impact. I cried so much when I had to give up running and competitive cycling (after I'd just purchased an awesome new road bike) that this time around, I just had no more tears to cry. I've decided I've got to try more stuff, so I'm looking into adding pilates into my workouts, to add more very low impact/strength training; and limit the higher impact.

I'd love to use an elliptical trainer or/and have access to a gym, but it's too $$ to purchase a membership. I spend a lot less on the videos, and I already have a basic set of equipment. So, I'm working with what I've got, and am adding brisk walking to my exercise regimen (which is so hard since I've jogged and done such high cardio workouts for the past 8 years).

but enough about me!! I am so sorry about your knees. will you still be able to swim and do other real low impact exercise? any kind of strength training with your lower body? Do you do spinning classes? I took a few of those as a student at Indiana University, and liked them (well as much as you can 'like' them! they are tough!!) Do you use an elliptical trainer at a gym or do you own one? that might be a good investment, actually.

Keep me updated on your progress, and feel free to drop me an email at [email protected]. Once again, thank you for sharing your experiences and I'm so sorry about your knees.
Most sincerely,
Kelli

 

[gvaughn]

PTS?

What exactly is PTS? I have inverted femurs that involve some knee-pain every once in a while (mostly if my quads get really tired). Is that related?

Hang in there, Colia. Recovery seems to take forever (haven't had knee surgery, but plenty of other types) but it will eventually end and hopefully, your pain will be better. At least that's what I wish for you!

Gretchen

 

[Colia]

Hello!

Kelli and Gretchen,

THanks for the encouragement. The pain has much subsided although still alot of swelling, especially after a long day at work. Three to four more weeks in a leg brace, then I get to learn to bend my knee and walk all over again. Then hopefully can move into the exercise arena - will probably work on elliptical mostly to begin with - we'll have to see, since it is a long way away yet....

Anyway, I may have made a typo Gretchen, I was writing about PFS - patellofemoral syndrome, which is an abnormal tracking pattern of the patella as it moves over the knee joint. Abnormal tracking wears on the back of the kneecap, causing chronic pain, and can even lead to dislocations of the kneecap, which I had when I was young. Most therapies target strengthening the quads, especially the medial part to try and keep it tracking as normally as possible. It is aggravated by squatting, lunging, hi-impact, running, all the fun stuff x(
Most people say going down steps and sitting for long periods of time are painful as well. It's most common in young female athletes. I'm not familiar with inverted femurs to know if this is a related thing, Gretchen, but perhaps the effects are similar. Let me know if you have any other questions I can try to answer. Hope this helps!

Cheers!
Colia