Tag: Sam’s left knee

accessibility · Aikido · fitness · injury

Aikido Sundays

Sam B

I recently blogged about my inability to just walk away from Aikido. I still love it. I miss it.  I found myself back on the mat Sunday morning when the opportunity presented itself. Of course, I logged it in the 219 in 2019 group. I wrote, “Most of an Aikido class including some partner techniques, not just basic movements. Still trying to figure out what I can and can’t do with my knee in this condition.”

It’s not like running. I’ll never run again. I can’t. Even if I got new knees, I couldn’t run.

Obviously, I can’t kneel and some of the breakfalls are off limits. But I found I was able to practice some of the falls which made me happy because with the stiff, sore knee I’ve been more worried than usual about falling on the ice this winter.

And the thing is if I met someone with a knee like mine, I would tell them that Aikido is worthwhile. All the things I love about Aikido remain the same as when I wrote about it in 2012.  I love how gentle it is. I love the rhythm and ritual. I love learning to fall. I love the age range and the diversity of the participants. I wish there were a class with modified movements where I wasn’t the only person who couldn’t do all the things.

The question is, can I keep my ego on the shelf and not wish for the knee I used to have? I think maybe I can.

I think, come fall, I’ll visit the Aikido dojos here in Guelph.

#deanslife · accessibility · equality · fitness · injury · racing

Stairs are not Sam’s friends

Sam B5 Comments
Image description:
The Girona Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Girona, is a Roman Catholic church located in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Girona.
Also, it has lots and lots of steps leading up to it!

Oh, old European cities. I love you. But I hate your stairs. SO MANY STAIRS.

Why do I hate stairs? They hurt my knees. It’s seriously painful even on days when I’m walking pain free. Down is way worse than up. Handrails help. I’m now a person who notices when they’re there and when they’re at the right height. I also sometimes worry that the stairs are making my knees worse.

So I turned to the Internet with my question. Dr. Google, do stairs simply hurt my arthritic knees or do they make things worse? Here’s a good a survey of the relevant literature.

“Stair climbing increases loads on the knee joints. And if we take into consideration the mechanical factor for appearing and progression of degenerative joint disease, it is clear that damage to joint cartilage increases with stair climbing. So reduced loads are beneficial for knee arthrosis.”

“Combination of stairs and weight or better loading and repetition of it is discussed as having some effect of knee joint degeneration. It is calculated that when someone is walking on plain ground he puts about 5 times the body weight or load in every step into the joint. When stairs are used or walking up or down hill the person is loading the knee up to 7 or 10 times the body weight or load according to the speed used. So repetition (circle of loading) – weight (and load) – and inclination of the ground has possibly effect of degenerative knee disease”

“The reasons why patients are advised to avoid them when OA shows up is that stairs are stress raisers, especially descending them. The point is that OA knees regardless the severity,  are often unstable and in these conditions stairs may  induce shear stresses on the cartilage and speed up the degenerative process. “

So I guess I should try to avoid them. I raised the issue at the knee surgery clinic on Monday when I was there for my regular appointment. Their message was clear. “You need to modify your activity. Avoid stairs when you can.”

See you on the escalator/in the elevator!

Though in these old cities there isn’t much choice.

Image description: Yellow brick buildings flanking a narrow walkway of stairs, in the old city of Girona.
accessibility · aging · inclusiveness · injury · weight loss

Sam is checking in for February, #monthlycheckin, cw: mention of weight loss

Sam B4 Comments

Good news!

My knee survived a week in Europe with many days of mega steps. I paid a lot of attention to how it felt, wore the knee brace sometimes but not at others, took anti inflammatory medication regularly, and stretched lots. Sarah helped lots too.

Now that I’m back home physiotherapy continues, massage therapy continues, personal training continues, and I’m back to my bike on the trainer, bike commutes, and dog walks. All of that counts, except the massages, on my quest to workout 219 times in 2019.

I’m so happy to see all the hard work paying off.

Next up: NYC 5 Boro Bike Tour in May.

After that, lots and lots of training before our 10 day bike tour of Newfoundland in June.

Bad news!

Weight loss is hard. (We all know this.) You might think that if you had a serious medical reason to lose weight, then you’d do it. But your body doesn’t know your motives. It doesn’t care what your intentions are. It’s super hard.

Wish me luck.

walking

Sam is all sore feet and smiles in Spain

Sam B7 Comments
Image description: A photo of Sam taking a photo of a Mimosa tree. She’s wearing her “FEM-IN-IST” hoodie.

 

Image description: Sam next to a stony, scaly arch in Gaudi’s Park Güell in Barcelona, Spain.

 

Image description; Google FIT tells Sam that she has 269 move minutes and 21,608 steps in a screen capture.

I confess I was nervous visiting Europe with my less than fully functional left knee. 

I’m here partly for work and partly for a couple of days of vacation. Sarah’s along for the vacation part. We flew into Barcelona, taking the train to Perpignan for a meeting of the Crossways in Cultural Narratives program, stopping in Girona along the way. (Guelph is one of eight partner institutions that offer the program along with the University of Perpignan Via Domitia, France ; University of Bergamo, Italy;  New University of Lisbon, Portugal; Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland; University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain; University of Saint Andrews, United Kingdom; and University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.)

I love Barcelona. It’s one of my favorite cities. But what I love to do in Barcelona involves lots and lots of walking. I’ve blogged lots about European cities and walking. But this time with my sore left knee I wasn’t sure how it would go. I couldn’t imagine getting around without lots of walking.

But friends, I have terrific news. I did it! We walked all day, up hills, down hills, through streets and through shops. The main event was walking up Carmel Hill to Gaudi’s Parc Guell. There were aches and pains, sure. My knee is almost never sensation free but I enjoyed myself and it didn’t hurt too much. At the end of the day it wasn’t swollen or particularly sore. In fact, I broke into a grin late in the day when I realized my feet hurt. It’s been ages since my feet have hurt from walking too much. For the past year or so, my knee has been the limiting factor in walking. 

Thank you Barcelona for the elevators down to your subways. I know I’ve worried about cities in Europe and disability access before. See here. But Barcelona was a very pleasant surprise. 

Anyway, I don’t have a lot to say except that I’ve never smiled so much because my feet were sore. 

Image description: View of Barcelona, including Sagrada Família cathedral, from the top of Carmel Hill.

 

Image description: Sam pauses halfway up Carmel Hill in Barcelona. She’s flushed but smiling, wearing a grey t-shirt and hoodie, black yoga pants and bright orange running shoes. There are lots of Barcelona homes and apartments in the background.

cycling · monthly check in · motivation

Sam is Checking In for January (brrr….)

Sam B

January is a long month. Long, and this year, especially cold and icy. Brrrr.

I’ve had three different things going on bike wise: winter riding (see here and here), trying Zwift, and riding bikes in Florida with Sarah and Jeff. (I’ll blog about that later when I’m back. Here now basking in +12. Not warm by Florida standards but warm enough to ride a bike.)

There’s also the new year enthusiasm of the 219 workouts in 2019 group. This year there’s even two versions, the old standby that’s been going for years that Cate and I have been part of and the feminist version started by women from the Tracy/Cate/Christine fit feminist challenge group.

My knee trundles along with some aches and pains but it’s nowhere near as bad as it was a year ago. I’m still getting synvisc shots under my knee cap. I’m still trying to lose weight. I’m still considering my options in the surgery department. The unstable knee has made walking on the ice an extra big challenge. Mostly I try to avoid it. Sorry Cheddar!

 

Image of Cheddar sitting my our bike boxes, packed for flying.
fitness

Tights, leggings, and unladylike postures

Sam B1 Comment



Being “ladylike” has never been a strength of mine. Let me begin with a story from my youth.  My early years of school were spent with nuns as teachers in Newfoundland. Mostly I have fond memories of those nuns but not so much when it comes to judgements about clothing, decorum, etc.

We were in grade one and girls had to line up to get into the cloakroom to change into snow pants. “Change into” meant pulling them up over our tights and skirts. I saw no need for the cloak room. Just pull them up quickly. Zoom. But the nuns strongly disapproved. I was sent to the corner.

No modesty.

Another time I got into trouble for sitting astraddle my chair. You know, backwards with the back of the chair between my legs. Again, let me stress, I was wearing tights. Again, to the corner. This time for unladylike behavior.

I wish I could report that I’d reformed, that their lessons worked and that I was now only ever sitting in a ladylike fashion. Not so. The truth is, I’ve gotten worse.

The problem is that I’m wearing leggings a lot these days because of my knee brace. So even with skirts and dresses that would normally go with tights I’m often wearing leggings. The brace inevitably rips tights and then starts to cut my legs. So, if I’m wearing the brace, leggings it is.

When I’m wearing leggings I don’t worry about modesty. I stretch my legs a lot. I feel a bit like an injured super hero. But then these postures and positions begin to feel comfortable and I forget what I’m wearing. I’m in my fifties now, still worrying just a little bit what the nuns in my head might think.

Maybe I need to become friends with these nuns instead.

fitness · swimming

Sam is loving her swimming classes

Sam B2 Comments
This is the gold pool, at the University of Guelph. It’s the lane swimming pool to which I aspire!

They’re just two nights a week, for a half hour. But I’m loving it. Monday night I was sitting in my office reading the horrible news about the Quebec election. I could have kept reading but instead, I walked to the athletic centre and put on my new swimsuit and my new goggles and worked on my breathing while doing lengths of the pool. Swim classes start at 8 pm but there’s no one in the small pool before us so I usually get there 15 minutes early and practice. I needed that.

What do I like?

Time flies when I’m learning to swim. Right now swimming takes all my concentration so all the worries of my day disappear. There isn’t room for them. Swimming clears my mind and I don’t work again after. I’m more relaxed after and that’s a valuable thing these days.

I love the learning curve when you start something new. I’m better each week. That’ll slow down and drop off soon but it makes the first few weeks fun.

Learning to swim isn’t about fitness.. It’s technique focused. I’m learning new skills. We’re giving so much attention to skills that I sometimes forget it’s exercise at all.

For me, swimming, in particular breathing takes a lot of concentration. I have to be very deliberate in my breathing.

Also, so far while swimming, my knee doesn’t hurt. It’s nice to have exercise other than cycling that doesn’t involve pain.

I love that there’s so much body diversity in the pool. My instructor is larger than me and also obviously much faster than me. She’s a former competitive swimmer.

I love being a student. My instructor is a fourth year student. The other person in my semi private lesson is a second year student. Here I am the Dean but in the pool I’m the student. It’s fun being a beginner again!

This is the red pool. It’s smaller and warmer than the gold pool and it doesn’t have lane markers. It’s where I take swimming classes.
cycling · fitness

Uh oh, Sam is bike browsing

Sam B3 Comments


My most recent round of bike shopping is related to my knee issues. I can’t walk to work. I have to bike. And it’s best even on campus if I bike between meetings.  But there are issues of clothing and issues about bringing my big bike into meetings. Also, because I need a bike to get around I also want to take it places when I travel. So, once again, I’m looking at Bromptons and other foldable bikes. 

Here’s me on one at CSWIP a few years ago. Thanks Alexis!

Image may contain: tree, bicycle, plant, sky and outdoor
But there are decisions. Do I want a proper Brompton? They’re pricey. There are also some Canadian brands that are cheaper.

Here’s the one I like the best of the Canadian bikes:
https://www.ternbicycles.com/bikes/471/verge-s8i


Might take a trip into Toronto and do some test riding. If you’re a folding bike fan, happy to hear your thoughts.
diets · eating · monthly check in · weight loss

Sam’s monthly check-in: What’s up, what’s down, the September version (CW: some discussion of weight loss)

Sam B4 Comments

    Bright red maple leaves against a blue sky. Photo by Unsplash.

    What’s up…

    Here’s the fun, easy thing. I’ve started swimming lessons and I’m excited about that. I love learning new things though I feel like I have been learning to swim my whole life! And maybe that’s okay. We’re working (so far) on breathing and kicking. I feel like I am learning lots, I’m not hopeless, and I feel like someday I might be able swim lengths of the pool again. The lessons are semi-private and the other student is a 4th year undergrad, an international student, hoping to learn to swim strokes. The instructor is also a senior undergrad and we’re all having fun. The lessons are short–30 minutes–but twice weekly and I can come early and stick around after for extra time in the pool. This weekend I’m shopping for a second fitness-y, swimming pool type bathing suit and new goggles. Woohoo!

     

    Here’s the thing that’s hard to talk about, doctors and weight loss. I met with a family doctor with some experience/expertise in the area of weight loss. Why? Well, less knee pain is the short answer. But also better surgical outcomes and quicker recovery if I go that route. I also stand a better chance of avoiding knee surgery until the inevitable knee replacement many years down the road. I know doctors recommend weight loss for everything but in this case–I’ve read a bunch of the journal literature–I think they’re right.

    So in my case I’m not being extra active in order to lose weight. I’m trying to lose weight to preserve my level of activity. There’s nothing magical on offer. The best diet is the one you can live with. I knew that going in. Weight loss is tough. Read Everything You Know About Obesity is Wrong if you want to know how tough. But with my active lifestyle which I love up for grabs, I have to try. The odds aren’t great. I know that. Given my size and the knee problems, I qualify for weight loss surgery. I declined. I also qualify for appetite suppressing medication. Again, for now, I declined. I might try it later. Instead I’m using MyFitnessPal and tracking all the things, trying to find a lower calorie life I can live with. I like this, from Yoni Freedhoff,

    Now, you should know that I too have a weight-loss agenda. It’s fairly easy to describe. In a nutshell, I don’t believe that there’s one right diet to suit everyone. In my clinical practice, as well as in my book, I embrace the fact that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of factors that influence an individual’s chances of long-term success. Low fat, low carb, keto, paleo, intermittent fasting, vegan, Mediterranean, meal replacement, whatever – there are success stories out there with each and every diet that exists.

    While I’ve seen proof of this in my own clinical practice, you don’t have to take my word for it. Instead, look no further than the National Weight Control Registry for evidence that, when it comes to successfully keeping weight off long term, everyone’s different. The massive database established in the 1990s tracks why and how over 10,000 people have managed to keep an average loss of 67 pounds off for over five years. And there, as I’ve described, there isn’t one answer.

    The one thing successful dieters have in common is that they reduce their calories on their new diets and like their lives and diets enough while on it to sustain its adoption for good. So, while it’s true that you might be able to lose more weight, or to lose weight faster, with one diet versus another, unless you keep living with it forever, that weight’s coming back when you head back to the life and diet that you actually liked before you lost.

    To put it even more succinctly: If you promote the notion that there’s one right way to lose weight or live healthfully, you’re part of the problem. The more weight you’d like to permanently lose, the more of your life you’ll need to permanently change. And, when it comes to something as pleasurable as food, merely tolerable lives just aren’t good enough. What’s best for you is undoubtedly worst for someone else.

    I reviewed his book, The Diet Fix, here. I’m seeing a family doctor, who as part of his training did a placement with Yoni Freedhoff.

    At no point have I felt like I’m not believed about what I eat and my current level of activity.

    Where am I? I started at 240 lbs for my all time winter high and I’m down to 225. I’d like to get down to 175, which is still solidly in the ‘overweight’ category for my height. But I’m pretty muscular and the normal range 121-158 lbs are weights I haven’t seen since elementary school me! I’ve been keeping my weight loss updates to the monthly check-ins, complete with content warnings. Tracy and I are pretty committed to keeping weight loss talk to a minimum. But I’ve been writing about it at all because it’s very closely tied to my desire to stay active.

    Two different knee surgeons say that no matter what I’ll never run again and though weight didn’t cause that (lots of skinny people have osteoarthritis–it’s not caused by my size) if I want to keep walking, hiking etc I need to lose weight. You can read about my left knee here. You can read more about it here.

    Given that it’s tied to me having an active future, I feel like I want to write about it. The content warnings should help people avoid it, I hope.

    Why is it so hard to write about weight loss? Why?

    I know what’s hard about it for me. For years I’ve been happy and active at a larger size, sharing the message that you don’t need to be thin to be fit. I’m not throwing that message out now this larger body isn’t serving me so well.  There are so many imperatives to lose weight. See Wishing for weight loss. Looks, caring about pay and teaching evaluations even, and so many medical arguments that aren’t true. So many reasons I reject. But then there is this one, pain. It’s awful and urgent and I want it to stop.

    Wish me luck. 

    monthly check in

    Sam’s monthly check-in: What’s up, what’s down, the August version (CW: some discussion of weight loss)

    Sam B4 Comments

    Sam’s bitmoji (a white woman with blond short hair and glasses and lipstick) wearing a purple sleeveless tank top, with arms spread wide saying, “I got this.”

    What’s up: I feel like I’m making progress with my knee. In a way I’m not sure why. Sometimes I think I might just be getting used to the new limits on my life but I don’t think that’s it. I think it actually hurts less. And that’s good news. I’m still working on it lots (physio!) but I’m also getting outside, riding my bike, going on long hikes and feeling okay about things.

    I’m following the very strong recommendation of several knee surgeons that I lose weight and I’m actually seeing a doctor for an evidence based approach to weight loss. He’s a young guy, from a fitness background first before medical school, and he follows the approach of Yoni Freedhoff whose book I reviewed here. There’s no magic to it. I’m using My Fitness Pal and tracking all the things. I’ve lost some weight. Lots more to go. I know the real trick will be keeping it off if I want to be a weight loss unicorn. I’m going to see if I rebrand, in my own mind at least, constant vigilance as paying attention. And it’s good that I don’t mind tracking things.

    Since I posted in July, I’ve completed the 1 day version of the Friends for Life Bike Rally. See Sam and Sarah’s first metric century of the summer. That was a huge mood boost. I was so happy to be on my bike again. And Sarah and I visited Jeff on the boat for our 2nd biking and boating adventure. It was fun on the boat, but the biking not so much. See Biking and boating round two: Sam has a great day on the boat.

    Other than that I’m lifting weights at the gym, sometimes alone, sometimes with a personal trainer who is helping with knee rehab (hi Meg!) and sometimes with my son Miles who is going to university here this year. I’m also going on longer, hillier dog hikes being careful to remember my knee brace.

    Also, on the upside of life, Sarah and I have been Snipe racing. We didn’t capsize, drown, or crash into any other boats. Yes, we were last but we kept the other boats in sight and stayed a safe distance behind as we learn to sail. Learning through racing. It’s a thing. See Sam and Sarah’s first night of snipe racing!

    What’s down: I want to ride my bike! But when? Where? With whom? ARGH! I hate riding on my own but I have a horrible schedule. And now with losing the evening light opportunities are pretty much limited to weekends. I think I’ll plan a birthday bike ride for Saturday, September 1st. (My birthday is actually the day before but that’ll be a night for a family BBQ in the backyard and cake.) 54 km for 54 years?