I’m old, broken, and not happy

[Instructor]

I have experimented with diet to assist with joints and whatnot. Pineapple has a lot of things the joints need in it. I like to mix pineapple, banana and strawberries into a smoothie. Kind of a muscle-joint cocktail. Somewhere along the way the term Super Foods came into being and it's apt.

A couple of years ago my knees were killing me going up and down ladders. As my full time job was on a ship you can imagine ladders were part of my reality every day. My pineapples really turned it around. In fact I haven't had knee pain in over a year.

Also I don't know your beliefs and by all means follow the advice of your doctor of course, but I have found prayer to be of help in these situations.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Have you seen an acupuncturist?

I see one every day

 

[Xue Sheng]

Xue,
I noticed that you say you're old alot. Out of curiousity, what is old?

Standard answer to that question in 2012 is 5286.... which freaks a lot of people out because last year I was sayin 5285 and the year before was 5284 :EG:

 

[elder999]

I've never heard of anyone needing to lose muscle? Are you serious?

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More like lose "mass," which, in my case, boiled down to losing muscle. Gotta get from 250 down to about 185-190, and I'm a little less than halfway there.

By way of explanation, have a look at this thread. The idea is that less mass will mean less of an oxygen debt, and what lung I have will fulfill its function a little better. So, yes, lose muscle mass. With the weights, rather than training like a powerlifter now, I do high reps with lower weights. I do a lot more cardio, but I've always done a lot of cardio. I eat less.

My trainer's reaction was a lot like yours, though....:lol:

 

[Steve]

I feel you guys. I went to the doctor yesterday and the results are that I have degenerative arthritis in my right shoulder. Good news is that the joint is strong. Bad news is that the pain is affecting my sleep. I'm going to go in for a follow up appointment to talk about treatment, but that was a bummer.

 

[seasoned]

Xue,
I noticed that you say you're old alot. Out of curiousity, what is old?

Good question.

Standard answer to that question in 2012 is 5286.... which freaks a lot of people out because last year I was sayin 5285 and the year before was 5284 :EG:

Ok now I see the problem. You have to STOP these numbers from going UP. It's called reverse pycology, you have to start thinking, "young"...............

 

[Xue Sheng]

The overall feeling I am getting here is "old" is bad...or at least that is what people feel I am saying… and it isn't. It is reality that is all.... as long as you're standing upright and not taking a dirt nap it is all good.

However there comes a time in one’s life, and it is inevitable, that you are in fact thought of as old by the society in which you live. I use it more as a qualifier or an attention getter or simply as a level of achievement. As my mother said when she hit 60, "Finally, I can say whatever I want and people and not get in as much trouble for it because I’m old now and it is expected of me" She also had a conversation (a couple years ago) with 2 other women complaining about being old and how bad it was and telling her that she would understand when she was there age...they were 75 and 76..... They then asked my mother how old she was...she said 80...and she was 80 at the time. This is my view of "old", basically it is just a number and it means little, you can be a healthy 80 or an unhealthy 20. However you do get some limitations at 80 you may not have had at 20 but you have had 60 years to get use to that so it is all good

However the fact is I do not heal like I did when I was in my 20s or 30s and that says I am getting older. I will admit with my knees I am at times walking like I am much older and I don't much like that. That is why I stopped being stubborn and started listening to what my body was telling me, or trying to tell me, with the pain. Surprisingly one of the things (and there were several) I discovered was that when I walk I was tensing my upper back and that effected the way I walk and caused me more knee pain. Loosen the upper back, less pain. The whole make a friend of pain thing actually works…who knew. It was after this I came to the conclusion that I need to strengthen the knees. There was some lateral movement going on in the left and the right that was not helping at all. And then I came to the conclusion that I was out of my league as to what to do to strengthen them properly, what I was using was not working, even with my past history of PT for my knees. So I thought maybe a personal trainer and found one in my area that seemed to be good. Based on some answers in this thread I have done a bit more research and the guy they want me to see is well qualified to deal with this as it applies to sports, sports injuries and recovery.

I have answered some questions already but to answer a few more answers

I see an acupuncturist every day; I am married to a TCM doctor from China who was the acting head of the acupuncture department in the TCM department of her hospital before she came here. I get acupuncture quite often and it helps. However it does not strengthen and that is what I need because without that my office will cripple me and I really don’t want that to happen.

Age…. Right around 1/20th of a millennium

Diet… Thank you and I am happy it works for you but the Paleo diet for me…no. I know there are those that swear by it. Tell you it is great and how awesome they feel but it is, IMO, not balanced and therefore not for me. I tend to do my best at following the TCM approach to food (reason see answer about acupuncturist). She is already convinced I eat too much meat (too much heat in my body per the TCM view) and I did cut way back for a while and was darn close to a vegan at one point, which my acupuncturist did not agree with either. I returned to eating more meat (balanced diet thing) and I felt better. Nothing wrong with vegetarian or vegan either it is just way to complicated for me to keep things in balance.

At this point I am waiting for the trainer to get back to me to set up a time to meet

Thanks all for the responses and help.

 

[pgsmith]

I noticed that you say you're old alot. Out of curiousity, what is old?

As my aged mother used to say (back when she was still among the living) "You're only as old as you feel, and that all depends on who's doing the feeling!"

 

[crushing]

Yeah, I was REALLY trying to avoid the historical controversy but its certainly a fair point to bring up. I don't care for the name either.

Is there an internet law, similar to Godwins, where any discussion of diet will eventually lead to a "Paleo Diet" person chiming in and then the obligatory response stating that's now people really ate back then?

 

[Xue Sheng]

Weeeeeell I never made it to the trainer.... I got sick.... spent Friday morning in the Emergency room while many, including myself, were wondering if I was having a heart attack.... Never thought I would be happy being diagnosed with Pleurisy... but it was a relief.

Funny thing though, after spending a weekend basically doing nothing my knees to not feel all that bad. I looked up some injury specific exercises and I think I will give then a try... and I found out in the Er that my wife is dead set against a trainer so...she wins

So now, back to being old :s472:

 

[Carol]

Oh my goodness that must have been very scary!

I am glad you are OK and that the docs know what the issue is.

Sending lots of healing vibes your way


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[Xue Sheng]

Oh my goodness that must have been very scary!

I am glad you are OK and that the docs know what the issue is.

Sending lots of healing vibes your way


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Actually I was pretty relaxed, but my wife was trying to take me to the ER at 5:00 am and once she got a hold of my mother I was dragged to the ER at 7:00 AM. I was planning on going but I did not want to disrupt my youngest’s day and she had to get the but to go to school. However I was dragged out 30 minutes prior to the bus getting there.

I had been having chest pains since the Thursday before at around lunch time (told no one until my wife found me in the living room at 5:00) and I figured I got this far so 7:30am should be OK

But I was relieved with the diagnosis I was given

Yup, I was stupid

 

[James Kovacich]

Xue,

There's a ton of info on the net regarding how you can "experiment" and figure out a rehab program that works. But take it from someone with many surgeries and "thinking" I could rehab myself at home with my dumbells. I know you will get better results in a gym where you can actually figure out what works for you. When I finally went back to the gym I realized I was at about 40% my regular strength. Now I'm about 80% because I have more options and can work out without getting hurt.

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[oaktree]

Sorry to hear of your ill fortune xue.
I wonder if there is something you are over doing or
Under doing. a good time to contemplate.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Xue,

There's a ton of info on the net regarding how you can "experiment" and figure out a rehab program that works. But take it from someone with many surgeries and "thinking" I could rehab myself at home with my dumbells. I know you will get better results in a gym where you can actually figure out what works for you. When I finally went back to the gym I realized I was at about 40% my regular strength. Now I'm about 80% because I have more options and can work out without getting hurt.

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Already been told that if I want surgery I could have it but the MD (Osteopath) did not think it was necessary nor di he recommend it, also been to PT for knee rehab, many years ago.

Going to a doctor today about the mess from last Friday and to complain about the state of medicine today that makes it so incredibly hard to get to PT, basically I am going to be argumentative and demanding since being nice and listening to the doctor is getting me nowhere

 

[Xue Sheng]

Sorry to hear of your ill fortune xue.
I wonder if there is something you are over doing or
Under doing. a good time to contemplate.

Could be under doing since I have not been able to do much because my office tried really hard to cripple me for a few weeks and my knees hate them and me for that. But they are doing ok today and yesterday. Could do the first 3rd of the Yang long form, did Wuxingquan (not the linking form) slowly, even did a little mud walking last night and 10 minutes on a stationary and 10 minutes on a stationary bike and my knees felt better afterwards than they did before.

 

[punisher73]

Actually my question was "Anyone ever higher a personal trainer, was it succesful, was it worth it?"

Basically I have not gone that route before, but I just got an e-mail from the guy and the first visit it free so I shall go give it a try I guess and see what I think.

Unfortunately, it really is a "it depends" kind of question. Many of the personal trainers at large commerical gyms have no formalized education in treating or rehabbing injuries. Most of them use cookie cutter programs with a "one size fits all" type approach. If you are a member of a gym, talk with them on the education that their trainers get and make sure that the trainers aren't just "sales people" to get you to upgrade your membership.

Here is another good clue to look for. Look at all the latest muscle mags and see what programs or exercises are popular. If all the beginning people are doing those things, chances are very good that the trainer really has no clue about the human body or creating a training program. And, yes, these are all things I have seen at a VERY large commercial chain gym.

Get a trainer who really understand where your needs are at and knows how to work around a limitation without adding to it. If you can, I walk talk with an occupational therapist or a sports med doctor on exercises to build it up slowly.