I have lower back issues that come with aging...."
Amy, we are about the same age and have been fans of Cathe workouts about as long. You always seem so sweet & positive in your comments & I feel for your pain. I used to have bad knee pain and gave up on step workouts and anything high impact. But let me share my experience in the hope it might be helpful. About two years ago ( I think now) I went lower carb at the recommendation of my doc. So I eliminated pretty much all grains and sugars, and then all processed vegetable oils as they supposedly cause inflammation. Any "itis" such as arthritis, bursitis, etc is an inflammation. After a few months of this I had many positive effects, one of which was decreased knee pain, so that I could go up and down stairs like a regular person. At last year's physical, the doc thought maybe my remaining knee pain was osteoarthritis due to excess wear/tear from sports/exercise. But last year I restarted doing some step workouts once a week or so, and could do them without much discomfort as long as I did them lower impact. This year I'm doing StepBoss on a 6" platform with no issues. And it feels great to be able to enjoy step workouts again. My previous doc and I attributed the joint pain to the aging process. My new doc and I attribute it to inflammation caused by diet. I highly recommend this way of eating, & encourage you to give a try, with the caveat that it may take some time to notice improvements as the body heals from chronic inflammation. SSL & HTH