I have a bad left knee. It’s “classic” osteoarthritis says my Doctor. Great, another classic. I’ve had a couple of cortisone shots for it, and while I’ve complained that they weren’t effective, they did relieve some of the symptoms. Problem was, my knee was getting worse – walking up and down stairs got to be an absolute killer for me. In January I went to the Doctor’s to see about the next step, hyaluronic acid shots, but he also suggested that maybe I could try some physical therapy. So I hied myself on over to PT and got some exercises to strengthen the area, and voila, the pain has been disappearing.
I think that losing weight has also helped (it’s something the Doctor suggested). But the pain has been reduced remarkably, so that I feel some twinge when walking up stairs with a heavy load (laundry, say), but nothing like before. I know that this is not a permanent solution, but anything to slow the next steps, leading to the final solution – knee replacement – is appreciated. Good, old fashioned easy exercises – who knew it could work so well?
Let’s exercise to this week’s podcast, which features birds. Spring means birds, which means the Beatles, Joe Cocker, Neil Young, Galley Beggar, Richie Havens, the Guess Who, Joni Mitchell, R.E.M., Taj Mahal, Archie Bronson, the Cardigans, the Buffalo Springfield, Paul McCartney & Wings, and the Flat Five.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer – iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too – leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
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