Hiking

[Catrin]

Whooohooo - 6 mile trail hike today and it feels like I could have gone further with no issues. One of my hiking friends has invited me to hike a certain 10 mile trail this fall in southern Indiana (it's in a national forest) and I don't think it's an unreasonable goal. If I can hike 6 miles on trails in 1:58 without even trying I think that 10 miles on a hillier trail in 4 months will be fine.

[emily_in_nc]

You can definitely do that, Catrin! We went from nothing but flat "hiking" in Mexico and Florida to that crazy 15-mile hilly hike in Hot Springs in just a matter of a couple of months (with several moderate-length hilly hikes before that, of course). Ten miles is very doable, especially if you take your time and go at your own comfortable pace!

[Pax]

I know it's not real hiking but gotta chime in... I walked miles today at the ALA convention and while my new knee swelled a little, it still worked and I did great. Yay me!

[Catrin]

Pax - that sounds like hiking to me! I don't know about you, but MY knee is far more cranky on pavement so I think you did great.

I think my recent vacation really helped in that I was so active that my knee/leg HAD to strengthen. Perhaps due to my age it took far longer to regain my strength no matter what I did. Is it perfect? Far from it, but it's improved and I know my current limitations. There was a little pain today on the medial side - but I expect SOMETHING, I know when to stop. It's always swollen, but it's been like that for a very long time, even before the injury last year. I'm unsure with all of my cartilage loss (unrelated to the injury/surgery) that even a replacement would fix things. DOES knee replacement address missing cartilage? I've not been able to find definitive information on that - not that I am anywhere close to considering a replacement.

I will need to do some research to make certain that trail my hiking partner has in mind isn't the kind I need to avoid (vertical step-downs), but it sounds more like mountain bike trails which I can do!

[Pax]

My legs are tired from three days of walking, but they definitely feel stronger.

Knee replacement surgery definitely addresses cartilage loss because they actually remove the bone heads where your cartilage used to be. You end up with the metal inserts in place of where your cartilage used to wrap over the top of your bones, they also insert a plastic spacer that takes the place of your meniscus so it's all replaced in there, everything is new except your muscles, ligaments and tendons.

[Catrin]

My legs are tired from three days of walking, but they definitely feel stronger.

Knee replacement surgery definitely addresses cartilage loss because they actually remove the bone heads where your cartilage used to be. You end up with the metal inserts in place of where your cartilage used to wrap over the top of your bones, they also insert a plastic spacer that takes the place of your meniscus so it's all replaced in there, everything is new except your muscles, ligaments and tendons.

The more active the better! I think my slowness in gaining strength was due to my job - lots of sitting. I mitigate that as much as I can but I have to work. Hopefully I can prevent it from weakening now I'm back in the office. I know there is permanent impairment but I'm a lot better off than many.

As far as what the replacement entails - wow Hopefully I won't ever need to go there but your description provided what I wanted to learn. It's good to know that if it ever does reach that point there are things that can be done. Thankfully I am decidedly not a candidate and hopefully can avoid that. VERY glad to hear that YOUR improvement continues!

[Pax]

So glad you're not there, knee replacement is, by far, the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I'm glad I could walk the convention center now, but if I could still go back and undo the surgery I would.