Getting old ?

General aches and pains are par for the course. I walk the dogs nearly every day and due to the hilly terrain, I have tendonitis in my right knee and left ankle, but it’s manageable. Thankfully, cycling doesn’t bother it. I broke my back many years ago and an op seemed to sort it. It aches occasionally, but nothing too bad. I was worried I had ruptured a disc a couple of weeks ago as I felt a pop when bending over and the pain was immense. A few days of ibuprofen seemed to sort it so I guess it was muscular.

Your situation sounds deeply unpleasant - especially at 39.  The hand thing may be arthritis. 

I used to smoke and I do love a drink. I’ve started watching what I eat and generally feel a lot better for it. Beer is my weakness.

42, tennis elbow in my right arm, drink too much but diet is good, don't smoke, could do with losing a couple of stone (alcohol related I think), excercise regularly (however I'm lying in bed as I type this, seriously considering not going to bootcamp in an hour, however the dogs will be getting a 5 mile walk later) don't think I'm doing too badly.

Some of my younger colleagues have health issues; my manager (35 years old) is a type 2 diabetic and also both his knees are shot from football.

25 year old new boy has just had 40 cm of his intestine removed after it ruptured, the previous guy was early 20's, a couple of years ago he fell 10m off a roof when drunk, broke most of his left side, he can't stand still now as it is uncomfortable for him, he knows full well he'll have awful arthritis by the time he's in his 30's.

My 38 yo sister is grossly overweight, suffers from sleep apnoea (the thing that ultimately killed my dad), you would have thought that she would keep better care of herself, since his death.

So I count myself lucky, that all I have to worry about is a bit of tennis elbow, I think I've inherited my mums healthy side and not my dad's.

Sounds similar to me chip.

Broke my ribs 6 years ago which led to a frozen shoulder ,shoulder still is not right,and I’ve got knots in my back that masseurs exlaim ‘oh my god that’s so big’ , my whole upper body left side clicks constantly
Stopped squatting years ago due to tendinitis in the knees .
A few weeks ago I decided to do some tricep dips and subsequently have tennis elbow in both arms .
Issues with left hip and groin area but these have eased since I sold the gt4.

Just turned 49 ,in the gym 5 days a week and not going too heavy anymore but I feel worn out mechanically.

I used to swim 2-3 times a week as well,but due to my left side can’t do that anymore.

I’ve seen chiros,physios,masseurs,acupuncturists,shoulder surgeons ,
And none of them has actually helped at all.

I have to keep telling myself that once you get past a certain age, the good thing about it hurting everywhere when you wake up is that you know you are still alive. 

My main issues are with my left hip, knees and lower back. Too much lifting and my lower back seizes up. I have a chipped piece of bone in my left hip that gives some stiffness and lack of some mobility at times. I had to give up jogging as that started increasing my hip pain a lot. And driving heavy clutched manuals does not help my hip or my left knee. Our Shogun hurts my knee after about 30 minutes town use. 

I'm not overweight but I need to get fitter and more supple. I think if we can keep supple and active, it will help a great deal in older life. At some point, older people seem to decide that activity is bad for them  - my parents did and stopped playing golf and never got another dog when the last one died - and to my eye they went downhill quickly after that. So even if it hurts, I think we all have to keep active. 


 

I'm glad it's not just me. I've got an appt to see the consultant at the Freeman Hospital this afternoon with a view to a total hip replacement at 52. What started as twinges in my left hip a few years ago, leading me to believe I had some sort of groin strain, was diagnosed by my physio at the gym as arthritis. Subsequent X Rays confirmed I have no cartilage left and it's bone on bone. Rather painful. It'll be interesting to see what they propose. I'm not overweight, relatively fit, and have never smoked so I'm hopeful that I'll recover quickly from any surgery.

I look on the positive side as I'm already older than my dad when he died suddenly on business in London 25 years ago so I kind of regard anything from now on as a bonus.

Oh cheers for that! 


I spoke to someone who had had it done under a local and they let him bring his MP3 player in so he could listen to music while they operated. I asked what he'd listened to; "Oh just a bit op Hip 'op" he said..

I'm 49 and 6 months.

Current pain: some shoulder pain I think caused by mattress / pillow combination but I think was a consequence of an over extension on a shoulder press; calf muscle strain last Tuesday caused by stretching for a backhand on the squash court - first time I've ever had that particular injury; my left foot occasionally aches as a result of the injury sustained when the lorry drove over it in 2015.

My stomach is too large but it is the only place I store any fat: none on arms or legs so I am a typical English spider according to W2.0.

59 shortly, too shortly but that's life. Arthritic issues back hip and knee's due to army and health service. Far too much ignorance of safe lifting and handling methods. Having worked for a lot of years in operating theatres and having a related specialty, what are called local anaesthetics for hip etc procedures are in fact more properly described as regional nerve blocks in that they are not 'local'. They are epidural or spinal anaestheseia very similar to the procedures used in some birth situations and are properly associated with some form of sedation. More often used in the very elderly where cardiac or respiratory function are compromised. Some of the best methods for treating the symptoms I have read above would be hydro therapy where the resistance is increased by repetition and the direct impact is much reduced. My right knee is most affected as the articulating surface has actually collapsed to half normal height. Total knee in the near future. A hyper sensitivity to adrenaline is a nuisance when the treatment for my recent cat bite issue would normally be, adrenaline based. Lots of iv antibiotics means I have to rebuild my immune system and am at the chewie cough stage of another virus atm. Num NOT.

Well the verdict's in, the hip is completely fucked and I'm booked in for a THR on the good old NHS. The consultant didn't even begin to suggest delaying any longer, just looked at the new X rays and winced, talked me through the various type of hip prosthesis they use and got me to sign a couple of forms. Should get a letter for pre-assessment and then the waiting list is about 12 weeks but may be sooner if I'm flexible.

I will be after...

Aches and pains and injuries are certainly a part of ageing, as well as just feeling stiffer in my experience. However, I'm a big believer in reading into things and/or seeing a good physio, sometimes it is a training imbalance and actually more exercise - but the right sort - can help.

Three examples - my brother (late 30's) cycles more than me and runs as well, he is quite quick on a bike with lots of local Strava "KOM's" on mountain bike segments. But nothing remotely approaching over-training or more than a normal person should do. He had awful hip pain for years and was convinced he had arthritis, but a visit to the physio and a lot of exercises on the under-worked parts of his hip joints and core have seen him faster and fitter than ever, pain free, approaching 40.

A close friend of my age (43) who was always somewhat overweight but one of my MTB group going back to school days started to get so much back pain be could barely exercise. He did 2 things - went on a very healthy diet to lose weight, and read this book and followed it religiously, doing weird exercises with weird things that look like sex toys at times:

www.amazon.co.uk/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Kelly-Starrett/dp/1628600837/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509470480&sr=8-1&keywords=supple+leopard+book

But he is way fitter and stronger than he has ever been, and can work out any issues.

Lastly my knees were hurting a lot partly from cycling and partly from jumping off head-high rocks a lot in Cornwall a few years back playing with Lu (the kind of thing that, like big air on an MTB, is not a great idea in middle age). I Googled it and started doing specific knee-strength type exercises, and also Pilates for that and the lower back pain I get when cycling, and over a few months the knees got much better. They and my back still twinge but its not enough to stop me doing anything. I think working on core strength, Pilates / Yoga type moves, overall fitness and working specifically at problem areas all become vital as you age.

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Hip-replacement/Pages/How-it-is-performed.aspx

The 'local' is basically an infiltration type and is for post operative pain management.  The sooner you walk about post op the sooner you will recover.

In my 30's I was rarely in bed before midnight. But as I've got older, I value early nights more and more. Any thing after 10pm and I'm grumpy (the alarm goes off at 6am everyday). 

I've got a bit of a dodgy shoulder which doesn't seem to sort itself whether I train or not. I'm certainly carrying more timber than I'd like but I do think I'm slowly turning it round by going to the gym. I'm pretty much up to body weight on my squats and got my deadlift past the 100kg mark last week so I'm slowly getting there. Like Racing though, I've got a sweet tooth and am rubbish at getting to sleep. I normally go off at midnight even if I'm up at 6. I'm trying to go to bed earlier and avoid pudding.

I'm unfortunately facing a diabetes pincer movement with my maternal grandmother and my father and uncle both having it, so it's coming at me from both sides of the family. I've also got high blood pressure and cholesterol in the family. My brother had a massive scare earlier in the year. What seemed like a bad fever and disorientation turned out to be type 1 diabetes. He somehow drove himself to hospital and rushed straight to intensive care, apparently less than an hour away from multiple organ failure. Had he stayed in bed he wouldn't of woken up. Annoying thing is he lost a lot of weight but it was the diabetes causing it. Now that's under control he's ballooned up and is now bigger than ever!