it all started falling apart at 40...

Generally, I consider myself to be in ‘ok’ shape for my age, sans the drama of a stress test, timed run (timed anything, for that matter), or BFI reading.

You’re probably thinking that there is a ‘BUT’ in here somewhere…here it comes…

But every once and awhile…some odd little bodily anomaly that I happen to be experiencing really makes me stop and think about how we’re all put together, and why it all starts heading south at 40!

I had lunch yesterday with a physician friend of mine, and in passing asked her about an orthopedic issue I’ve been experiencing for awhile. I was certainly not expecting the response I received!

On and off for the past few years ~ and very ON since the past weekend ~ I’ve been experiencing some left knee pain…sometimes when going up stairs, but always when going down stairs. Sitting, standing, walking…all fine…just the stairs issue…I get a very sharp pain directly behind my left patella when going up or down stairs.

I had barely gotten this much of the description out of my mouth when she asked a few questions and said, “Oh…that sounds like Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome” (PFPS) and began to describe to me what I’ve been feeling as though I’m a textbook case! She was dead on. The good news is that PFPS is very common. The bad news is that its me…and it hurts.

Long story short…it seems that I need to do some strengthening of the medial muscles of my left leg to correct the angle of the patella…a simple case of physics. I’m certain that behind it all is that the hundreds of miles of hard core biking I’ve been doing this summer have given me massive quads to the neglect of my under-utilized medial muscles. Haha! And so it goes…what next?