Today is my brother’s birthday, so here’s a shout out to Dave – “Happy Birthday Bro!”
So I’m down about a half pound since Tuesday. I finally spoke with the Orthopedic Surgeon’s ARNP about my knee damage. The good news is that are no tears. No meniscus tear, no ACL tear, no MCL tear…. The bad news is I have Stage 4 Cartilage damage and osteoarthristis in there. What’s that mean? It means my knee is pretty much screwed and there’s not too much anyone can do about it. Fortunately for me, my knee doesn’t hurt too bad currently. When I turn or twist a certain way, I do get a little jolt of pain. It’s a little painful to bend down as well. The ARNP found it odd and surprising that I have as much arthritis in that knee as I do for only being 40 years old. She thinks that there was some sort of traumatic event that damaged it years ago and it has finally progressed to this stage. Although I cannot recall any traumatic events leading up to when I hurt it playing basketball a few weeks ago.
So what are my options? As far as treatment, if it starts hurting, they suggested possibly doing cortisone shots. If it finally gets to a point where that no longer helps, they suggested having the doc scope it and see if he can “clean it up a little” which may give some temporary relief. Ultimately I have arthritis and it will continue to be a problem until a knee replacement (way down the road) ever happens.
So now the question is … What can I still do physically? For starters and priority #1, lose weight. ARNP says for every 1 lb of body weight I have is equivalent to 4 lbs of pressure on each knee. So I’m about 50 lbs overweight. That’s 200 lbs of pressure crushing on my knees. Lose the weight, extend the life and comfort of my remaining knee cartilage. How can I lose weight? Besides diet, what exercises can I still do that won’t damage the knees any more than I need to. The ARNP says they are giving me no restrictions. And to let pain be my guide. If I want to run (a great way to lose weight as I’ve seen) go for it. But I tried running down my driveway a couple of days ago and it was a little uncomfortable. In fact, I haven’t really gone for a run since August 27th according to my Map My Run app. Wow. Rach thinks I should stick to low impact cardio exercise (swimming, biking, elliptical) until I get he weight below 190. Then ease back into running and see how it goes. Rick suggests taking Glucosamine to help with the cartilage damage. Both of which are good advice that I think I’ll heed.
Can’t wait to begin exercising again though. Feels like it’s been forever.
fit gator 