therapy
So, I hurt my knee when I was a kid, and over the years, I’ve had more and more pain. It started hurting after high school (when I wasn’t active and doing sport-style exercise regularly anymore), but was intermittent – I hurt when I did a lot of jumping and running around. Nowadays, it hurts with the weather and pretty much anytime I do any kind of extended activity – even walking.
Which is why I went to the doctor. When your knee swells just from going up and down stairs and walking the dog, there’s an issue.
Long appointment summarized: I probably have some small tears in the cartilage below my kneecap, and as I’ve gotten less active and heavier (I don’t chase kids anymore – I work at a computer), the muscles are weaker and the knee is getting more irritated. Oh yeah, and the kinds of exercise I’ve been trying to do more of (DDR – because it’s FUN – and bike riding) are going to make the pain worse.
The good news is that I’m not deformed (any more than the rest of you freaks) like my doctor told me I might be, but the bad news I’m going to have to do some physical therapy to strengthen the muscles around my knee to take some of the pressure off of the cartilage. That’s not bad, per se – just time consuming, expensive, and uncomfortable. But hey – if it’ll keep my “early onset arthritis” at bay, I’m game. =)
Oh, and check out the fancy pants I had to change into! Yeah, that’s paper:
Sorry to hear that. I should go get my knees checked, as well as get new glasses; but with money not growing on trees, it appears the rest of that stuff is gonna have to wait too : )