Category — Knee

photo from Sole

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The dilemma: You’re forced to use custom orthotics or else risk ruining your body mechanics by walking around on flat feet—yet you’d rather not wear closed shoes in 100-degree heat. Do you:

A. Suck it up and throw on a pair of socks and sneakers.

B. Forget the orthotics and slip on flip flops.

C. Duct tape your orthotics to the bottom of your sandals?

I vote for none of the above. Not that there’s technically anything wrong with duct-taped sandals, but it’s just not my thing.

Here’s a brief lesson for anyone who’s never had to wear orthotics (lucky you). They’re shoe inserts that help make up for a too-high arch or flat feet. Because you slip them in your shoes, you’re required to wear a pair that at least have a back and sides. So sandals are out.

For the first two years I wore orthotics I stuck to sneakers, even in summer. Which means that not only was I wearing socks and closed-toe shoes but I also could not wear skirts. (I think the skirt-sneaker look only works with fanny packs and Disney World T-shirts. Unless, of course, you have those cute sneakers which, incidentally, DO NOT FIT CUSTOM ORTHOTICS. Not that I’m bitter.)

Anyhow, then I discovered Sole flip flops, which have arch support and are designed by podiatrists. They’re not the cutest shoes, trust me, but they work well enough. And did I mention they don’t require socks? In summer. No socks. Amazing.

I’m writing about this because I was shopping for my second pair and I thought, Hm, maybe some of my flat-footed readers would be interested in these. And then I thought, Hm, maybe even people who have normal feet would want a pair because they’re really comfortable and so much better for your feet than regular flat flip-flops. (Well, as good for your feet as flip flops can be.)

But don’t think Sole is paying me to say this. Or giving me anything for free. They’re not. Sigh.

Anyhow: Bad feet + Sole flip flops = Happiness.

Anyone ever use Sole? If not, do you wear flip flops or do you heed every single podiatrists’ warning and stay far, far away from those dangerous shoes? (Me neither.)

I know you’re probably sick of my vacation talk, but I have something else to say and I’m going to say it gosh dern it. I concerns my nemeses, my knees.

(If you’re a new reader here’s a quick recap: My knees suck and have for years. If you want the gritty details, click here.)

I think the best way to get my point across is to compare this trip to Charlottesville with the last one The Man and I took—back in July 2008.

Then: The Man dropped me off outside a restaurant, and I waited on a bench as he parked the car.
Now: The Man and I parked the car and walked to a restaurant together. [Read more →]

photo by d sharon pruitt

I was just about to start a post like this: I hate my knees. I hate my life. Wah.

OK, maybe it wasn’t going to be exactly like that, but you get the idea. Sometimes having a chronic injury sucks. And when the weather gets warmer it especially sucks. In winter, I was OK staying at home and doing nothing. The weather was too cold to leave the house anyway. Come spring? I want to get outside. I want to go for a walk in the park or window shop downtown. So, yeah, the whole knee-pain thing really gets to me and I start feeling bad for myself. But just as I was about to pour out virtual tears, I started thinking about June 2008.

June 2008 was my low point. My knees were in such pain, The Man would carry me from the couch to the kitchen in our 600-square-foot apartment. When The Man wasn’t home, I’d inch my way to the bathroom on the floor. Because making the 8-foot trip was too painful. I couldn’t brush my teeth standing up (thank goodness for long countertops). I’d get dressed sitting down. As soon as I got home from work, I’d pile four pillows under my feet and ice for an hour. I had to buy bigger jeans because my regular ones were too tight around my swollen knees.

Back in June 2008, The Man picked me up outside our apartment and dropped me off before parking the car—even though the parking space was a few feet away. (Good news: I became a pro at turning just about anything into a seat. Including but not limited to curbs, fire hydrants, a newspaper bin, and the floor. No shame, people.)

Looking back just two years, I see how far my knees have come. (You can read my entire, really long story here.) [Read more →]

photo by joe thorn
That’s not our new bookcase. I wish. Ours is a sliver of an Ikea one.

Welcome back to the workweek, all.

I had one of those weekends where I simultaneously felt like I got a lot done and did nothing at all. (With a little failure and guilt thrown in for a good measure.) Don’t ask me how that works.

We got a lot done…
While I plugged away at some editing for work, The Man put together a bookcase and two nightstands from Ikea. He’s pretty awesome at deciphering those instructions, which is a talent seeing as they’re drawn by 5-year-old Swedes.

Of course, buying new furniture never stops at construction. So I took a break from work to rearrange our bedroom. Sounds easy, right? Well, it would have been except one of our walls is slanted. (Someone must have thought, “Wouldn’t it be fancy and special if the far wall was tilted?” They were wrong. It’s just annoying.) Since I like symmetry and parallel walls, it took about forever to find a setup where I didn’t feel like all my furniture was askew.

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photo by ulterior epicure
The box o’ chocolates is from Kee’s

I have a thing for chocolate. Let’s just say if you gave me a choice between never having dinner again and never having chocolate, I wouldn’t bat an eye before I grabbed a brownie and said, “I’ll never leave you.” It’s borderline sick.

I’ve dined at the chain restaurant Chili’s before and passed on a main course so I could fit more molten chocolate cake in my belly. (To be honest, it wasn’t a hard decision. If you’ve ever eaten at Chili’s you know their meals are usually too rubbery, too salty, too processed, or too stale—or all of the above.) But that microwaved mound of chocolatey sponge? The gooey chocolate insides? The giant scoop of vanilla ice cream to cool the warm cake? Heaven.

It reminds me of a Hallmark card I once read. The front had an illustration of a Cheesecake Factory-sized hunk of chocolate cake, and it said, “I ate a dessert called Death by Chocolate.” Flip to the inside, where the card continued: “But it didn’t kill me. It only made me stronger.”

That, friends, is how I feel.

Here’s where I insert news of a recent study that found an association between eating dark chocolate and having a lower risk of stroke and death after stroke. This is also the point where I tell you that the researchers only analyzed three studies, so the findings aren’t conclusive. Right here is the point where I wonder whether the researchers did this small study just so it would be published in time for Valentine’s Day?. No matter! Chocolate won’t kill you—I’ll make you stronger. And stroke-resistant. Just keep telling yourself that. I do.

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photo by 802

The first time I heard about barefoot running, I wondered what type of crazy person would trade running shoes for roughed-up heels. It wasn’t just vanity talking (though, OK, my desire for soft, smooth heels did play a role in my skepticism). It was my concern for the general well-being of these runners—especially the city folk.

Bare feet + concrete + shards of glass + a hypodermic needle here and there does not = safe running. Still, over the past year or so I’ve read a lot of firsthand stories saying barefoot running is to exercise what eating locally is to nutrition. Or something like that.

Well, today a study was published that says, “Not so fast. Running sans shoes may be better after all.” In today’s issue of the journal Nature, Harvard researchers who studied runners’ gaits report that 75 percent of people who run in shoes land on their heels first. People who run barefoot strike the ground with the balls of their feet first, which generates less force on impact. According to the researchers, all of this is important because more than 30 percent of runners are injured every year—and those injuries arise thanks to problems in the foot or lower leg.

[Read more →]

photo by hckyso

What a day. As you can tell—hello 9:30 p.m. post—it’s been a crazy day. Since I’m running on empty (and ready a clinical study right now sounds about as fun as poking my eye with toothpicks) I’ve decided to give you the speed reader version of my day. I promise I’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow, so in the mean time I hope you enjoy. And when I say that, I mean I hope you’re not wildly disappointed with me.

Without further ado, here are seven things you should know about me:

1. I still have a case of the Mondays. And it’s Tuesday. It all started yesterday when the fluctuating temperatures set off a massive headache. I felt it in my eyes some time around lunchtime and didn’t get rid of it until I fell asleep.

2. A week ago, I was the only blogger in all of the Internet that had never tried almond butter. I’m sure of it. But thanks to a giant jar from Costco I’ve not only tried it but I’ve also become addicted. I’ve yet to try it in every single meal (what do you expect, it’s only been a week!) but I’m working my way up. Your recipe suggestions are welcome. Hint. Hint.

3. I’m a biking machine. I’ve been ridiculously focused while biking lately. No TV. No distractions. I just slide in my earplugs, focus on my legs’ motion, and try to keep the pace as high as I can. What do you all do on the bike, treadmill, or elliptical—read, watch TV, or focus on your movement?

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photo from suksim

Yesterday was the most amazing day I’ve had in a while. No, I didn’t win the lottery and I’m not currently swimming Scrooge McDuck-style in a sea of money. And, nope, I didn’t win a free vacation to Bora Bora and I’m not currently sunning myself on the white sand beach. For people with chronic knee pain, there’s something even better: going to the grocery store.

You heard that right.

If you’re confused and think I’m nuts, read my full story here. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I’ve been dealing with knee pain for years. And over the past two years it’s been particularly bad. So bad that I haven’t been able do the amount of walking required of grocery shopping for quite some time. That job—along with, oh, 50 billion others—is left to The Man.

Except yesterday.

The Man and I made a trip to the gym post-work. It was a Friday night, which means the place was only a third as crowded as usual and I could complete a hard workout super efficiently. (You know, without semi stalking the people who claim certain machines for what seems like hours. For some reason, I’m always stuck staking out the leg press machine like an undercover spy since most people break for at least 10 minutes between sets. But, I digress…)

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photo by coba

Our bodies do some crazy things. Like how our eyes tear up when they’re hit with freezing wind. No sadness or loneliness there, just cold, raw air. Or how we sweat when we’re nervous. Isn’t sweat the body’s way of cooling itself? I’m never hot when I’m nervous. That brings me to the freaky if not completely annoying thing my body did this weekend. My knees—those ever-infuriating discs that continue to complicate my life—started playing games with me.

It began on Saturday when I was sitting on the couch doing some work. I was splayed out over the entire couch—legs reaching to the teensy corner The Man occupied. (Sorry, Man.) Anyhow, I spent a few hours in that position because I was on a role with an article I was writing and, frankly, it was really warm under the fuzzy blanket I draped over me. My point is, I wasn’t doing any exercise—no physical activity in any way, shape, or size. I was being a (hard-working) bum.

Then things started getting all Twilight Zone freaky on me. When I walked into the kitchen to make dinner, my knees were bright red and burning up. That’s how they get when I walk a ton a few blocks. And while I wouldn’t have been happy about it, I would have understood their flare-up had I been shopping or standing or even walking around the house. But no. No, no, no. They were inflamed by sitting! Sheesh.

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photo by deleted.scenes
What, you don’t wear this to work out??

Yesterday I gave you some tips for preventing killer knee pain. As much as I’d love to have a fellow chronic pain sufferer (it gets lonely here in Gimpville), I don’t want any of my uninjured readers to feel the crunch, crunch of cartilage damage. So I hope you really take the suggestions to heart.

As promised, I’ve listed some stretches and exercises that can combat too-tight or weak muscles. Or both. Next time you hit the gym or open road, don’t assume running or biking or ellipticalling (Is that a word? Now it is.) or doing any other cardio workout is enough. Those exercises work muscles, but not every muscle. By strength training them you can make sure you don’t miss any key muscle groups and create imbalances.

QUAD
Strengthen It: Try leg presses. Work one leg at a time to challenge each leg separately. Do three sets of 10 presses on each leg.

HAMSTRINGS
Strengthen It: Do hamstring curls. I wrote all about it here, so check it out.

Stretch It: Lie on your back with one leg stretched out in front of you and another lifted into the air. Loop a towel around the ball of your raised foot, and straighten your leg. (Men should slightly bend the leg.) Pull the towel toward you so you feel a stretch in the back of your thigh. Hold for a count of 30. Repeat three times, then switch legs.

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