aging: leg pain

[bloke]

I believe this belongs in the "music" forum, because sitting and playing with leg/hip pain is terribly distracting.

Suspecting that nothing (all that bad, YET) is all that wrong with either my hips or my knees, I began sitting on the floor (right after a very hot bath) with my legs crossed, and bending forward...left/center/right...several times. After just a week, I can nearly touch my forehead to my knees. At first, I could barely bend forward (I have not been an "exercises" nor "stretches" person, and - QUITE OBVIOUSLY - I SHOULD HAVE been.)

Also, I'm doing something to myself that chiropractors do, which is to lay on my back, keep my shoulders pinned down, cross one leg high across the other upper leg (as the other leg remains straight) and twist as far as I can ("crack/crack/crack/crack"...etc.) Of course, I do this BOTH directions with both legs.

I'm also back on glucosamine/chondroitin (which always SEEMED to help - before I did any of these stretches - stretches that - obviously - I SHOULD HAVE been doing).

I'm pretty sure that the large/primary (or whatever the medical/biological proper names for them are) nerves coming out of my spine must now be less pinched, because I'm able to sleep through the night (maybe waking up one time c. 4 A.M. - rather than friggin' hourly, due to pain) and I'm able to sit and play without my hip and knee reminding me that they're there.

...A few days, ago, I had to stop trimming those big trees (on either side of the road into here), because I was hurting too much. I'm ready to go back and do the last few of them, and help (my son and Mrs. bloke) trailer and toss the HUNDREDS of cut limbs into one of the deep ravines.

I know I'm STATING THE OBVIOUS to many, but I also have to believe that if I was dumb enough to not do these stretches, there might (??) be others just as dumb as me.

(Also - gaining some of my weight back - due to inactivity before/after all of that epic hernia surgery - I'm sure I'll feel EVEN BETTER when I RE-LOSE that weight.)

[Mary Ann]

(General, untargeted information)
People who have joint pain may find that stopping two rather large food categories can make it go completely away. Unfortunately most are not willing to do this, and would rather take drugs, and doctors are extremely unlikely to mention this.
For osteoarthritis pain, giving up the nightshade family of fruits (things with seeds IN them) can 100% get rid of it.
For rheumatoid joint pain, giving up both nightshades and gluten can be extremely helpful. There is also some recent research indicating a pathogenic implication in rheumatoid arthritis, that would be worthwhile to do some research on if you have that problem.
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I can't crack my own back like that, but I don't have any pain, largely due to the rather extreme dietary exclusions I make (the whole class of lectin-containing foods.) I'd rather be limited in what I ingest than be dependent on drugs, but that's me. I've always figured that most symptoms are not due to a deficiency of a pharmaceutical drug. In fact, some of my worst problems have been caused by pharmaceuticals. (e.g., FQAD)

Edit: for the extreme few who might be interested in the arthritis stuff, there is a book now out of print but probably available somewhere, called Arthritis: Don't Learn to Live with it. I read that in around 1990 when I had reached a point where I couldn't turn over in bed because of pain in my spine. Osteoarthritis runs in my family; I gave up nightshades, it took a while to see the results, and I have had zero joint pain since. My mother was on drugs for decades and wouldn't even consider doing this because she "loved tomatoes." I still remember her saying as she limped across the room, "Oh, I couldn't possibly do THAT." About the only nightshade I really like is potatoes, and, well, I can trade potatoes for lack of pain pretty easily.

[bloke]

OK...an even more general suggestion is this:

When someone claims to be doing something that works - and common sense dictates that it can't possibly be harmful, it may well be worth a try - and a real "try" (for more than a week or two).

bloke "I've been sitting in this chair typing up a bunch of stuff for customers for quite a long time, and doing so pain-free...at least, for now."

[JESimmons]

You might want to look up dynamic stretching as opposed to static stretching. Dynamic is stretching with movement. As with most things there are enthusiasts, so take internet claims with a grain of salt. I do find they help me.

[hrender]

These are all good, and I use some combo of each on a weekly basis:


https://www.healthline.com/health/back- ... -stretches

[bloke]

Not that there's no more tree-trimming nor out-in-the-woods fallen-tree-cutting-up left to do (If I could stop time, magically rehab myself to my physical condition at age 23, and cut out there for "stopped-time" two years, it still wouldn't all get done), but - for now - the two rows of trees (on the road into this place) are all trimmed, look good, and are plenty high for delivery trucks to get in here without rubbing limbs.

I have no idea how many cuts (a couple thousand...??...probably MORE subsequent cuts - so that some of the limbs are made easier to manhandle), and we still have NOT trailered the piles of limbs, carried them off to the twenty-feet-deep ravine, and tossed them in...

...but (having finished up TRIMMING the last of those particular trees), I had a bit of a rough night...BUT !!!...when I would wake up, I would (though sleepy, and not wishing to do anything-in-particular) go through some of those stretches, was able to get some relief, and was able to get back to sleep. I got ENOUGH sleep, and feel "OK" today (rather than "just horrible"). Oh yeah (per usual) I was also awakened once or twice by Covid-the-Cat, who insisted on his nightly wee-hours petting sessions. purrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Compared to climbing up-and-down ladders endless times, constantly holding onto a running chainsaw, and holding it out in front of myself (without falling off ladders), and then cutting the firewood-size stuff off all of those branches...
...holding sousaphone bells out in front of myself and ironing them out on a Ferree's dent machine is child's play.

We should be completely in awe of people who do REALLY hard physical work day-in/day-out.
I'm not sure that I could have done that forty years ago, and know that I can't now.
Further, we should understand that any work that requires remarkable physical exertion OR that requires remarkable skill and concentration is NOT stuff that can bought on Amazon or pulled off a hook at Walmart, and "Why won't they show up and get this done for me...?? I HAVE the money to pay them what they quoted...???" might possibly demonstrate a lack of understanding of what is involved. (It well could be that they're trying to physically RECOVER from their last job, OR it could well be that the last DIFFICULT job they had hoped to finish is still in progress...because it's difficult.)