On the limits of self-deception

[fivemack]

To convince myself that there was nothing wrong with my left knee, and because the sky was blue and the sun warm, and to try to blow away the mathmo's-block that's been afflicting me at work for the last two weeks, I decided to walk to Ely.

This raised five issues:

• The walk to Ely is essentially twenty-five kilometres along a meandering raised flood-defence bank


• Except that it's been rerouted and five kilometres of it are now a straight line through a series of uninteresting fields, so there isn't even the hope of herons


• The last place you can get a drink is Cleyhithe, about six kilometres in, and I hadn't brought a water-bottle


• A strong and other-than-warming wind blew essentially from the direction of Ely for the entire day, though this did mean there were some kids in sailing dinghies clearly having enormous boom-swinging fun practicing tacking just downstream of Bottisham Lock


• My left knee is not in fact as excellent as could be hoped for, and after 25km I found it was quite painful to walk up Castle Hill to go home; more specifically it's quite painful to bend the knee for the first few degrees from straight if I've put any weight on it. Does anyone know a good Cambridge physio who takes non-sporting patients?
  

I got to Ely, trains to get back existed (their absence has been an annoying common factor of many of my trips to interesting places too far to round-trip on foot or by bike), I'm back home now; it was a rather pointless trip to Ely since I got there at seven, well after the cathedral closed to visitors.

I weigh about ten kilos more than I'd like to, which cannot be good for my knees, but know of no calorie-burning exercises which don't significantly involve the knees; can any of my readers help me on that?

I think I'll have a nice hot bath now.

Comments

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

I can tolerate my weight - after all I got to Ely - but somehow feel that exercises that put uncomfortable weight on a known-defective bit of me are other than wise unless I've got a professional opinion that that's the right way to make the knee better. Biking even quite long distances has in the past not been too bad for the knee, I'd probably have biked today except that my bike needs servicing - it used to be unable to get into top gear, I forced it and now it can't get out of top gear and makes a weird squeaking-metal noise when I turn the pedals.

Swimming definitely leaves my knee feeling as if I've used it, though that may be a good sign.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

"Tolerate" in this context is a term of art; it means able to use without further injury. First aid in this case is anti-inflammatory treatment, either with medication (if you tolerate it--the current US recommendation is a low dose of aspirin to kill pain and a high dose of naproxen sodium to reduce inflammation any abdominal pain or low blood pressure symptoms, stop it) or with ice packs (apply for 15 minutes three times a day). And, as you say, get it examined; there are different treatments depending on the nature of the injury or illness.