Knee pain? Just walk it off.
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Walking is OK but you're still putting weight on the joint. Ellipticals and bikes are better, plus resistance training to strengthen the supporting muscles, tendons and ligaments. My left has been bone on bone for years now with no pain. Best not to put your body weight on the joint.
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@mik I want a fresh water swimming pool.
Swim, no pressure on joints, don't take a chlorine bath.
Well, that's one of my materialistic fantasies.
As to gym-- not going to one unless someone were to physically drag me to one and even then I'd escape and make a run for it (no pun intended).
As to exercise machines-- I like this idea. I want to do it. Now however my living room is filled with indoor furniture, patio furniture, 3 coffee tables I need to get rid of, and one bedroom door. I actually slammed it permanently open and unable to open more as well as close. In short, I bent the hinges.
I had to free it and store it in the living room. It's big (tall) and solid (not technically solid wood but made with thick and heavy wood panels).
I don't remember why I lost my temper.
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You might have a salt water pool where you are. They have a lot less chemicals.
Maybe. It wouldn't be a municipal facility but you could be right. I'll check.
I meant to say something about our beaches.
Note: If a Florida vacation is somerhing you want to take or more likely take your family on then listen carefully.
The beaches here had more industrial pollution (development run off, agricultural run off, same as HI) than people wanted to think about way back when, let alone now.
There is red tide occasionally, although nothing like that one year when it made the beaches look like a hellscape.
People should also know the flesh eating bacteria found in ocean water that people might/ should associate with the Tropics is rampant up and down the west coast of Florida.
I don't know when it got this way, but the problem is pretty severe.
Yeah, and sharks.
I don't go to the beach.
Of course I did way back when, but never again.
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I do full squats. The squats relieve the pain in the knee that has had meniscus surgery.
One reason I have a dog is dogs require walking. I also do stretches for that knee. Have a recumbent trike I have not been riding much since starting prednisolone following eye surgery. -
Walking may help - but ONLY if one has the right shoes. One can really cripple one's self in the wrong shoes, especially if putting some distance on the shoes. And not all of us have the same geometry, especially for women.
in the wrong shoes
Trying to find women's shoes that work for me is one of the most frustrating things....
I need a wide toes box, most shoes taper too much.
I need either a good heel rise (but not heels! something like 15mm drop), or else a deep heel cup to accommodate a lift. Most shoes, like walking shoes, running shoes or other exercise shoes, don't have enough heel drop and the heel cup is too narrow. And stack height. I don't need extra cushion underfoot, I don't need a high stack height.
I also need a reasonably stiff sole, not one where you can easily bend the shoe in half.
These shoes do not exist.
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Back to @axtremus 's OP... I have osteoarthritis in both knees. I do (shallow) squats, a whole set of legs exercises lying down, ride the exercise bike almost every day. Take the stairs up every chance I get.
I have the ongoing problem with my foot/heel/achilles, so I can't walk long distances, I can't run or jump. And, like the findings about knee surgery, I suspect that the surgery that's being recommended for me is something to avoid at all costs. (that's a topic for another post)
But all the things I'm doing for my knees really help.
Not moving is the kiss of death.
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My best friend in college said something on this general topic that has stayed with me.
He said-
"Life was not meant for stasis".
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Re: shoes
Yeah, every foot is differ, etc. I have standardized on Skechers myself, really good cushioning and shock absorption, good arch support, very comfortable (to me at least, especially for lots of walking and lots of standing), and easy to find “wide width” sizes.
Re: @shirokuro on “Trying to find women's shoes that work for me is one of the most frustrating things.... I need a wide toes box, most shoes taper too much”
Maybe try men’s walking/running shoes? For professional settings I understand you need the shoes to look like women’s shoes. But for walking/exercising, probably no one would notice if one wears the shoes of the “wrong” gender.
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@shirokuro I admire your positive attitude!
I need to be more positive, and whatever I do, I need to develop better discipline and consistency.
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Re: shoes
Yeah, every foot is differ, etc. I have standardized on Skechers myself, really good cushioning and shock absorption, good arch support, very comfortable (to me at least, especially for lots of walking and lots of standing), and easy to find “wide width” sizes.
Re: @shirokuro on “Trying to find women's shoes that work for me is one of the most frustrating things.... I need a wide toes box, most shoes taper too much”
Maybe try men’s walking/running shoes? For professional settings I understand you need the shoes to look like women’s shoes. But for walking/exercising, probably no one would notice if one wears the shoes of the “wrong” gender.
@Axtremus Sadly, usually men's shoes don't fit me right.
The other thing that happens is I find some shoes that work for me, and they stop making them, or they change something about them so they don't work any more.
That happens a lot actually. Like when the company changes its formula for lotion or shampoo, and suddenly the product that I used to love now smells annoying....
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Sorry, late to get back to this - and Daniel's question. By way of a story, I bought a pair of Bally shoes on the recommendations of an acquaintance many, many years ago. In almost no time, I was having knee pain and thought I was about to become a cripple. Everyone's feet and gate and angles are different. it is best to get evaluated for the type of shoe that will work for you. They do that at running stores - and some stores that do hiking. AND, it sometimes takes some experimentation. For older folks, there's other issues - which is that at some point it's common for people to start to shuffle walk - and this makes a person more prone to tripping and falling. Some people develop a type of neuropathy that results in less sensation in the bottom of the foot - which also can lead to problems. It may be wise to see a podiatrist or someone who specializes - for ultimate assistance. Right now, I'm using Merrill Moab hiking shoes for much of my walking. They're heavy as hell - and probably don't give me any feedback as to what I'm walking on. On the other hand, I'm still running - and the calves, ankles and feet are doing Ok - knees are a starting to be a little more risky. I'm doing increased work to help them.
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SK, have you considered seeing a podiatrist? I finally did and he solved a lot of problems in one visit.
In my case all it took was the right pair of $65 insoles and a shoe stretcher gadget from Amazon.
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Article on a few new approaches to treating knee arthritis by some manner of "regrowing" (parts of) the knee:
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SK, have you considered seeing a podiatrist? I finally did and he solved a lot of problems in one visit.
In my case all it took was the right pair of $65 insoles and a shoe stretcher gadget from Amazon.
SK, have you considered seeing a podiatrist? I finally did and he solved a lot of problems in one visit.
I didn't mention much because I didn't want to take over @axtremus 's thread (and the problem that shapes my shoe-needs isn't knees)...
But long story short, I have ongoing problems with my knees and feet and I'm a regular at two podiatrist's offices and an orthopedist's office. And I'm a regular at PT as well.
Some of the problems, I've been able to get under control, like plantar fasciitis, which I no longer have, yay! And I had fracture in my heel bone in 2025 which has healed. But the other problems I have are intractable.
I have a bone deformity in my right heel, close to where the achilles tendon attaches to the heel bone. That has caused chronic achilles tendinopathy (and bursitis all over the area there, but the bursitis is semi under control at the moment). My last MRI showed that there's a 5 mm interstitial tear in my achilles as well, but it's vertical and interstitial, so I'm still ambulatory. The docs say the tear is most likely because I have an enthesophyte in that spot (achilles insertion point), an enthesophyte is a kind of bone spur (that pokes up vertically at the back of the heel, not underfoot) and that bone spur is like a thorn that rubs against the achilles, preventing it from healing and possibly worsening the existing damage.
All three docs have told me that I'm not going to heal without surgery, although one of them sees me walking and says at minimum, I can wait on the surgery as long as I have the mobility that I have right now. The other podiatrist (who's also a foot surgeon) is more pessimistic and sort of pushing me to do the surgery.
But this is open surgery, with a prolonged period of non-weight bearing afterward, possibly 3 months, with full recovery said to take a year.
And I am not convinced that the outcome of this surgery is guaranteed enough to make it worth the risks, and the collateral damage that the prolonged recovery entails.
So yeah, to answer your question, I do see a podiatrist
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To bring it back to the OP, and the pros and cons of surgery... I feel like this is quite similar to the knee issues. There are tendons involved, and bone, and the traditional surgery, which is open surgery, has so many possibilities for complications, while the newer, minimally invasive surgical option is controversial and has fewer skilled/experienced practitioners...
I don't know if there are longitudinal studies (like 10 years post-op) of this surgery (I have looked before and will do so again) but I wouldn't be surprised if the findings turn out to be similar to the knee surgery findings.
Tendons heal very slowly. But the standard medical guidance is surgery if conservative measures don't show results after 6 months. If tendons heal so slowly, why wouldn't it take longer than 6 months?
Right now, I can walk. If I have the surgery, I won't be able to walk for probably 6 months. So why hurry?
So my current approach is to change the angle of my heel (with footwear and heel lifts) to move the bone and enthesophyte away from the achilles tendon, while also doing specific kinds of PT, and see if I can get better without the surgery. (so as you can guess, this is why footwear is so important to me!)
My last MRI was in May, so I'm going to ask for another MRI in next spring.
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At present, these are the closest to perfect-for-me shoes that I've found (I add a heel lift) but they need a slightly larger toe box).
Made by Dansko
I have three pair, and right now, the black seems to be sold out, hopefully that doesn't mean they're going to stop making them...
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The podiatrist that comes to the next town has been well liked. Some would go to see him to look at him. He was quite attractive. When he was close enough to be working on your feet it was easy to see that he was very good with makeup.
He gave me a hard sell on some orthotics that I tossed after two days. It was an out of pocket expense. I tossed them within two days. They were destroying my knees
Also, the makeup was gone. He looked rather ordinary.
Wonder what he got caught doing?
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