For Mature Exercisers Only

nancy324

nancy324

Cathlete
Should be titled "Foot Pain" but I like my title better.

I may have asked this before, but I can't remember. When the doctor told me I had arthritis in my feet, I was surprised and looked it up on the internet. I found that the feet are actually the most common place for osteo-arthritis to hit because the feet are made up of so many tiny little bones. Who knew?

The only pain I have is when my toes bend forward, as for lunges and calf raises. It doesn't hurt while I am exercising, but the next day I will get periodic sharp pains in my feet. The pain doesn't last, and I refuse to give up lunges, so I've just ignored it. However, it occurs to me that I should at least ask if any of you fellow older folks out there have experienced this and if anyone has come up with any solutions or exercise modifications?

I'm so glad we have so many "mature" exercisers on these forums!:D
Thanks guys!
-Nancy
 
Nancy:

aren't there a stack of supplements out there on the market to improve the movement at joints, like glucosamine? Have I got the right one?

My parents are in their seventies and have arthritis in many parts of their bodies but they keep active as walkers and gardeners by taking glucosamine every day and max strength ibuprofen to keep joints' swelling at bay. I asked them if they thought the glucosamine worked and they said they didn't know, but then I thought, heck! they go on walking trips every few weeks and garden every day and just keep on truckin', so the proof must be in the pudding!

That's all I have to recommend I am afraid, because I don't have this yet. What specifically did your doctor recommend?

Clare
 
Hi Nancy!

I have never been diagnosed with arthritis but I do have a joint in my left middle finger that swells and becomes quite painful. My ankles lately have been acting up as well and my right elbow acts up if I sleep on it wrong. I've been taking a combination supplement by Natrol that has Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM. I see a great improvement in the above mentioned problems after a few days. My problem is the pills are a little bigger than I like so I'm not real good at keeping up with it. Might be worth a try. Also, I have seen this combination in liquid form. Your local health food store should be able to help you out.

Take care,
 
Nancy,
I have the very same thing to happen to me too. I went to the doctor, they took x-rays of my foot. My problem was that I had no cartilage left in my toe joints, and I had bone rubbing aginst bone. I got a cortizone shot in my foot, and I couldn't believe how good my toes felt after that. I didn't realize how much pain I was putting up with, but the shots effects only lasted for about a month, and I didn't want to keep getting shots all the time, So I have learn to baby my feet and watch how much bend I put on my toes. The Dr. did say when the pain got to be to bad, that they could go in and clean the joints up with surgery, but so far I have been able to live with it, but I don't know how much longer I can do it. I just hate the thought of being laid up, I don't know how long this would take to heal, but it might be worth it. By the way I am 50 years old and I guess this body is starting to wear down some.
I too, refuse to quit working out,but I try not to bend foward to far with my toes,because I too, get sharp pains in my foot the next day.

Pat
 
Man, when I read the title "for mature exercisers only", I though I was gonna see naked pictures. What a bummer.

I have no cartilage on the inner part of the hip joint on my right side. I had one cortisone shot. The shot was EXTREMELY painful but I felt really good for about 2 months. The doc said to do no impact cardio - so I bought a recumbent bike. I have no problem pedaling away. Increasing the muscle around the joint has helped but that's not gonna work for your feet!

The doc recommended Vioxx but I ignored him. I haven't tried the glucosamine but really should. It either works or it doesn't. They say you'll know in a couple months. I'd probably go that route if I were you - glucosamine chondrotin(sp). Alexis
 
Okay, I guess my mind is even worse than my feet. I did ask this before, and people said to try the supplements. I have a bottle of Glucosamine/Chondroitin sitting right here in front of me, which I obviously got because you guys recommended it to me. Now, does anyone have a suggestion for memory loss problems??? That's probably what I really need....... oy vey :-(
 
I am turning forty-one in a couple of weeks which qualifies me, although I think of myself as more of an "immature" exerciser. LOL! Besides my feet and their myriad problems (bad, bad dogs!), I have noticed my knees getting quite a bit crankier lately and I am darned if my elbows aren't joining that club! I was doing triceps this week and noticed my elbow joints were burning, the joints, not the muscles! I have aways stayed light for triceps since my left elbow joint was injured due to a trauma many moons ago. I find it so sad that all of this joint trouble stems from diffuculty in controling my gawky limbs. Yep, I'm a klutz. I can fall downstairs or trip over nothing better than anyone. I am out of glucosamine and scared to brave Costco now that the holidays are here and this town is one bustling metropolis. Snowbirds, snowbirds everywhere!

Nancy, the reason we have memory loss is we have so much wonderful and useful information crammed into these mature heads. If you are rifling through a file cabinet that has a few files, you are going to put your finger on the file you are looking for much more quickly than if you are rifling through a file cabinet that has, heck, we must be in the millions by now! I love when some bit of information I was searching for comes to me hours or days after I first went searching for it! Usually, by the time I have found the answer, I have no memory of the question! Still, we need a better name for the phenomena than a "senior moment". I am neither a junior nor a senior. I am a "Median Matriarch". A late bloommer, baby boomer, fitness consumer.

Ah, to heck with taht, we are Goddesses in the middle stages of life and we rock!
Bobbi
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chicks rule!
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http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/person/smilejap.gif
 
While being treated for a leg injury, I found out I have arthritis in my right hip and can no longer do high impact. My symptoms were only tightness in my quad, especially when I stood up, never any pain. I e-mailed Cathe and suggested she add to the website modifications for the intervals and blasts for those of us who can no longer do high impact. Maybe you should do the same, so she knows many of us need to change our exercise routines. I'm sure there will be increasing demand for it as the baby boomers "mature." Also maybe in her future tapes, she could have one of the background exercisers do modified versions of the aerobics.
 
A brain fart, hmmm? Alexis, you've just added to the amazing number of gaseous emissions I can produce! If you are around me when I "brain fart", you'll see a little cloud of words disperse into the air. They won't be too bad as long as someone does this: http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/pftroest.gif Alexis?
Bobbi
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chicks rule!
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/nosmile/peacesign.gif
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/person/smilejap.gif
 
I keep sugessting a low impact, high intensity workout in upcoming series. There aren't any that I can love! Hint, hint, Alexis. Although Ill bet thinking of future workouts is the farthest thing from her mind! I am pretty good at modifying and I can't wait for the workout blender to see if I can mix and match a suitably modifiable workout.

I saw that you opted not to try Vioxx, was it? My podiatrist gave me samples of Vioxx, Celebrex and Beltrex. I liked the Beltrex but never got a script. I am going to get more Glucosamine but I'd be willing to try one of the above on a longer term basis if they aren't too hard on the liver or hard to take as far as side effects. I was the Queen of Intensity once and this is a sad state of affairs, let me tell you.
Bobbi
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chicks rule!
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/nosmile/peacesign.gif
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/person/smilejap.gif
 
I opted to not take the Vioxx because of my experience with my dad. He has severe rheumatoid arthritis throughout his body. For many years, he has taken NSAIDs. Now he is 83, which in my book is an accomplishment in itself, but has kidney damage from the drugs. He had to stop all meds for pain to avoid dialysis. So my thinking is: I'll wait til the pain is really severe and then start the meds. But heck, the doc says I'm looking at a new hip in about 5 years. That would put me at 59ish - and that's pretty young in the scheme of things. My goal is to strengthen the muscles to support the bad hip without pain.

I'm not sure what your little guy is doing to my head up there .....but I want him to stop!

Gonna go nite-nite. Gotta get up at 4:30 am tomorrow to be at work at 6am to take 34 kids on a bus to Wal-Mart with 300 other kids to go Christmas shopping for their families. An organization donates money to each family so they can have presents under their tree. It's truly a beautiful (and unnerving) trip. Alexis
 
Hi Nancy, I had terrible shooting pains in my foot about a year ago. It started a year before that. I stopped using my treadmill for my interval cardio training and it improved. My foot was pounding too hard when I upped my incline and speed. The doctor gave me Vioxx to try but it didn't help enough to justify using it. I worried about the kidney warning on it. As much as I hate to say it, giving my foot a rest did help and now I'm able to workout without as much pain. I know you don't want to give up your lunges but maybe you can modify them (I do mine on to the step) or possibly lower the weight your using. I hope you find a way to do them without pain since you like doing them so much. Lunges are not one of my favorites, especially static lunges.
 
Alexis, are you bald yet? I'll stop him, I promise. Have a wonderful shopping trip. What a great thing to do. I should have known you had a good reason for not using the drugs. I didn't know that about NSAIDs. I rarely use Motrin or Tylenol for the same reason, so why start anything else? My feet are the worse first thing in the morning and when I firststart working out but the human body is an amzing thing and once my endorphins kick in, I manage just fine. I am making an appointment with an orthopedist who is the bomb. I couldn't get in to see him quickly enough when my real foot problems happened so I opted for a podiatrist. I want to find out difinitively, if I can improve them or not. I definitely don't want them to get worse. Fortunately, I have a high pain threshold so as long as I listen to my bod, I am fine.

Nancy, do you have ankle weights? You can work those quads in a much foot friendlier manner by doing leg extensions than lunging. And seated calf raises are easier than standing calf raises anyday. I have two pairs of 5 pound weights and I can get up to twenty pounds on each leg if I work them separately. Also step ups, if you are careful to be light on landing, are a great leg exercise for the whole leg! Cathe always says the work is in the hamstring but I definitely feel my quads when I do them.


Bobbi
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chicks rule!
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/nosmile/peacesign.gif
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/person/smilejap.gif
 
Bobbi, Alexis and others: is it true that tylenol and ibuprofen are as hard on the kidneys as Vioxx? I will have to be more judicious in my use. Fortunately, I don't have enough pain from the arthritis to really need pain killers. I'm going to start trying the glucosamine today. Bobbi, don't seated calf raises still involve flexing the toes? Step-ups are fine for me, and I agree with you that they work similarly to the lunges. You are the queen of foot knowledge! (Though I'm sorry you have to be).
 
Nancy!

I started using Glucosamine/Chondrotin/MSM about a year or so ago and saw great improvement in my joints. It seems to be the ONE supplement that you will see doctors agree with also! Good Luck!
Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/wavey.gif[/img] If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
 
RE: Nancy!

Okay, I just took my first tablet. It's a GNC tab with 750 mg. of glucosamine and 600 mg. of chondroitin. The bottle says that 1 per day is enough. Thanks for reminding me ladies!!
 
RE: Nancy!

They affect the liver, Nancy. I think you can avoid flexing the toes if you roll up onto them although (I am trying this at the computer) it moves the work to the quad. However, once up there, peak contracting the calf puts the work there. I guess its' the quad helping to get you onto the toe but the work moves nicely into the calf and my toes are relaxed! :)
Bobbi
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chicks rule!
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/nosmile/peacesign.gif
http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/person/smilejap.gif
 
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