While fall in Michigan is really a thing of beauty, brilliant fired oranges, reds and yellows in the trees, a sky of blue and plaid shirts of flannel, it is also kinda a sad time, too.
At least for me.
It’s the time of the year I say, ‘Fair thee well? to my gardens of vegetables and flowers. My seasonal love affair, all but gone. Only memories of flowering buds and firm, sweet fruit remains. C’est la vie.
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Oh, and I love driving to work in the dark . . . can’t wait until it’s dark on the way home, too. Not.
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The other week I wrote about the perils of jumping off garages for fun as a youth. Namely, a few decades after said escapades your knees finally send a message, ‘Hey, Idiot! You shouldn’t have done that.? And, hurt a lot.
Well, I’d like to thank the readers who responded with some suggestions. (I am not used to getting nice e-mail, just one’s that call me a Poophead, or telling me of the mistakes they see in the paper. Nice e-mails are, well, nice to get.) One reader called and gave me two referrals to a couple of top notch doctors. Thank you. Another, Angie, from Goodrich wrote me via e-mail, which I will share with you. It might be of use to some readers. She titled her e-mail, ‘Kneeded Advice.? Clever!
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Don – You’ve probably gotten lots of kneeded advice already since your column, but here’s yet another bit you might consider. I learned how to take care of my knees while in physical therapy for a different issue.
I had off and on knee swelling and pain, sometimes one or the other knee would just ‘stop? working for a few minutes as well. I learned to do two things and they have helped me greatly.
1. I don’t do a lot of walking on paved surfaces if I can help it, and wear as cushioned a shoe as I can — whether its a flip flop, sandals or athletic shoes, they must be well cushioned.
2. Exercise those knee muscles because once our elements start breaking down in our elder years we depend more and more on our muscles to hold things together for us! My favorite and most useful knee exercise is the stair stepping one.
It’s not the typical boring one, but rather the one the physical therapist taught me, using muscle and not momentum. The steps are done with flat feet, and not on your toes as you work your knees, not so much your calves. Rotating positions and order help to strengthen knee muscle in every direction – sideways, backwards, frontwards etc.
If my knees start to hurt I can 99% of the time point to breaking one of the above two rules and I fix it within a few days — never letting it go too long without repair.
So, whether you kneed it or heed it, there it is, Angie.
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I emailed back this question: ‘When you say steps, do you mean on stairs or what??
Her reply:
‘You can use the bottom step on the stair case, or you can use a sturdy platform – anything that’s about the height of a stair step (which I think is about 7 inches). You only use the one step and you raise up and lower back down again. There is a technique . . . you might find it on-line, but it’s not the standard stair stepper exercise that people use when normally exercising.
‘Here’s a link to Mayo’s step up exercise www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/multimedia/step-up/vid-20084661
‘They give a good description, but don’t show the other forms which are basically the same except you step up sideways onto the platform just like you do front ways. Lead with your right foot 10 times, then flip around and lead with your left foot 10 times. Then do it stepping backwards up to the step? leading with each foot 10 times.
‘Its easy to do while your multi tasking (oh, men don’t do that, do they?) I hope it helps — it definitely won’t hurt you! If you think about it, you are asking your knee to work for you from multiple angles, which makes good sense to me.?
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Angie, and all readers, from the bottom of my knees, thank you!
Send comments to: Don@ShermanPublications.org