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Stairs are evil, for Sam anyway

Sam B

So I’ve gone from being a “always take the stairs” person even with heavy backpack and shoulder bag in airports to being a person who thinks stairs are evil.

Past me used to like to run up stairs in the airports, whizzing by the people on the escalators. No more. Hello knee injury. I even bought my first carry on wheelie suitcase.

With my knee brace I’m happy walking right now but stairs are another matter, especially downstairs. Why?

See Gretchen Reynolds’ Ask Well: Stairs and Knee Pain.

“Most people with knee arthritis — meaning some degeneration of the cushioning cartilage in the joint — experience pain when they go down stairs, even if their arthritis is otherwise mild, said Dr. Kevin J. Bozic, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of California, San Francisco. More so than climbing stairs, descending them places great force on the knee and, in particular, the patello-femoral joint, the portion of the knee beneath the kneecap, he said.”

Like the no more running ever thing, see Sam struggles not to run, ever it’s the change in my self image that’s hard. I don’t know how long it will take for that to catch up with my condition.

I have to remind myself that I have had bouts of “evil stairs” before. Last time I could ride my bikes 100s of kms but then had to take the elevator at work after! It was then that I started to get annoyed by the “get more movement in your day–take the stairs” messages. I’ve had plenty of movement in my day thank you very much!

It helps knowing I’m not alone. Google image search for “evil stairs” and you gets lots of choice.

Hello. I wanna play a game. #stairs #staircase #lookup #lookingup #saw #thesaw #horror #doll #creepy #scary #dark #morbid #darkart #evil #evilness #igdungeon #bw #bnw #blackandwhite #rsa_bnw #rsa_decay #igerspoland #igerspoznan #mobilephototrip_poznan #mo

Published by Sam B

Philosopher, feminist, parent, and cyclist! Co-founder of Fit Is a Feminist Issue, co-author of Fit at Mid-Life: A Feminist Fitness Journey, published by Greystone Books.

3 thoughts on “Stairs are evil, for Sam anyway”

  1. If it’s safe for you to do so, I recommend going down stairs backward. I’ve found that it helps with the pain in my right knee from a torn meniscus.

  2. I feel so vindicated! I had been thinking maybe my finding going down stairs harder than up was a figment of my imagination. Yesterday the elevators were out in my church building and it was no fun at all, especially on the descent. Ouch!

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