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Middle aged tendons
Apr. 6th, 2015 07:58 amI don't know if I have mentioned my Achilles tendon traumas? Back two years ago, when Boss and I went to working from home, my Achilles tendon hated it. I became much more sedentary, and the lack of use had a huge impact. Then, about 18 months ago, knowing that I had pain in that area, I attempted couch to 5k and practically crippled myself.
I took myself to physical therapy last summer and learned a little bit about how to treat it. I got a lot better, and in December, I took a dare from my fitness website. I have a Fitbit that is hooked up to an incentive site that gives me points. Yes, I'm sure I mentioned this in the context of killing aliens to earn Amazon gift cards! Anyway, I took a dare from the website to up my exercise to 5 workouts in a week. At the time the only way I had to do a "verified" workout was going 10k on my Fitbit. So I did 5 10k days, and BUSTED my Achilles again. I was limping for about two weeks, and in pain for longer. After that, I was VERY careful, really trying not to walk much more than absolutely needed (which for me is still over 5000 steps almost every day, but still).
But now... Last week, Monday-Saturday, I did 10k steps per day, and I was fine. Six days in a row! Some not only 10,000 but actually (accidentally) well over 10k (It was a weird week. Lamp repairs and a college fair were involved). A couple of really minor twinges from the bursitis, But that was it. I think I was actually LESS stiff in the mornings, rather than more. I took a rest day yesterday, and today I didn't even notice any pain or stiffness when I woke up. That doesn't mean there wasn't any, as I'm pretty used to it by now, but I know getting down the stairs was no problem. Even on my good days, if I trundle down the stairs prior to my shower, I will be in a fair amount of pain and relying heavily on the hand rail, and today I just zipped on downstairs to kill the aliens, no fuss.
Maybe I'm finally healing.
I took myself to physical therapy last summer and learned a little bit about how to treat it. I got a lot better, and in December, I took a dare from my fitness website. I have a Fitbit that is hooked up to an incentive site that gives me points. Yes, I'm sure I mentioned this in the context of killing aliens to earn Amazon gift cards! Anyway, I took a dare from the website to up my exercise to 5 workouts in a week. At the time the only way I had to do a "verified" workout was going 10k on my Fitbit. So I did 5 10k days, and BUSTED my Achilles again. I was limping for about two weeks, and in pain for longer. After that, I was VERY careful, really trying not to walk much more than absolutely needed (which for me is still over 5000 steps almost every day, but still).
But now... Last week, Monday-Saturday, I did 10k steps per day, and I was fine. Six days in a row! Some not only 10,000 but actually (accidentally) well over 10k (It was a weird week. Lamp repairs and a college fair were involved). A couple of really minor twinges from the bursitis, But that was it. I think I was actually LESS stiff in the mornings, rather than more. I took a rest day yesterday, and today I didn't even notice any pain or stiffness when I woke up. That doesn't mean there wasn't any, as I'm pretty used to it by now, but I know getting down the stairs was no problem. Even on my good days, if I trundle down the stairs prior to my shower, I will be in a fair amount of pain and relying heavily on the hand rail, and today I just zipped on downstairs to kill the aliens, no fuss.
Maybe I'm finally healing.
