Neck MRI results

[Crankin]

Duh, don't do squats if it hurts!
But permanent is a long time...
I would do exactly what you are doing.

[Pax]

I am ignoring the permenant restrictions he placed me on as he released me fromm the knee surgery, it is what it is. I will give it a year from the surgery and then determine if a second opinion is needed for that.

After my 2010 knee surgery the doc gave me a list of permanent restrictions, including no more bike riding, ever. I sold my beloved 7.5FX at a big loss and became even more sedentary... and promptly gained more weight. A couple of years later I see a different doc and he tells me I should be riding and swimming for fitness. *sigh*

[salsabike]

These days, I pick my doctors to be athletes. Both my family doc clinic--all runners, hikers, mountain climbers, riders--and the ankle surgeons I consulted when I found the tendon damage--are also very used to working with athletes, so they know how to advise us well in that context.

[Crankin]

Yup, that is exactly where I am at. I chose a much younger and active primary care doctor and my PT is a cyclist, runner, and x country skier. I was tired of being told to "ride 5 miles" by overweight men, my age, who can't comprehend my lifestyle.

[Pax]

I tried that route, chose a doctor who was team physician for the university basketball team. He treated me like a busted up old lady, no respect, no regard, no interest in my fitness. Very frustrating experience.

[Crankin]

I also eliminated any providers that seemed to treat me a certain way because of my birthdate. I tried to get my good friend's doc, who is younger, but is a runner. He was full, so the one I chose in the same group who seemed to have an emphasis on prevention... I think that a lot of providers are so used to seeing older people in really bad medical shape, that when one of us comes in with a sports/ortho injury, it doesn't register to them that what we do is extremely important for our physical and mental health in many ways. I speak up and let them know, and if they don't get it, I am done.

[OakLeaf]

I tried that route, chose a doctor who was team physician for the university basketball team. He treated me like a busted up old lady, no respect, no regard, no interest in my fitness. Very frustrating experience.

Hmm. My chiropractor "up north" treats varsity athletes at a top-ranked Div 1-A program. My "southern" chiropractor treats a handful of professional athletes (NBA and MLB) as their personal physician in their off-seasons. Never got that kind of vibe from either of them.

Back when I was younger, starting with the knee I sprained when I was 16 and up through the hand injury I had about 10 years ago, I had a whole list of injuries wind up with complications because I followed MDs' advice to rest and stay off it. I'm just pretty much done with them ...

[ny biker]

I find that it's hit or miss in terms of finding doctors who know what to do with a patient who exercises. The exception is my gynecologist, because we both work out with the same personal trainer. Otherwise there seems to be no reliable information available before making the appointment. I was just lucky to find a pulmonologist who is unphased by my activity level. When I had the paralyzed vocal cord problem last year I would have been lost without him, since the ENT I went to had no concept of how to treat an active patient and refused to believe me when I said that it was affecting my ability to breathe when I rode my bike. When I went to an orthopedic surgeon some years back for a knee problem, two days prior to a riding a very hilly century, I was relieved that he said "let's give you something to get you through this weekend" rather than "I'm sorry but you can't do that bike ride" -- when I made the appointment I had no idea how he would treat me.

Great news about the meniscus, Catrin.