Re: Sport in the TKR afterlife
Surfsister, do you paddle out on your knees or belly? Then when you catch a wave are you on your knees or go straight from your belly to standing? I live in Socal but I race MX and haven't surfed in about 40 years just no extra time raising the family.
When you say you run, how far or how long do you run?
Cool pics.
I paddle out on my belly. I've had limited motion in my TKR knee since the massive knee injury, at 17, that led to my TKR almost 30 years later. When I pop-up, I go from my belly to standing. I've worked hard to develop the upper body strength to needed to surf without struggling. When I was recovering from my TKR surgery, I stayed in the pool (with a pull buoy) as a way to maintain my fitness and strength. I also lifted weights on my upper body only until I could start using my lower body again.
Prior to the TKR, I hadn't run in about seven years. Since the surgery, I've done a few runs in the soft sand at the beach. They were runs of about 30 minutes. I would prefer not to run on hard pavement. There are people out there who do run seriously with knee replacements. I've also done a little running with the dog (on pavement). Running makes the knee a bit uncomfortable later in the day, but it's nothing serious. Cycling, which I used to do competitively, does the same thing.
Seriously, the knee does not hold me back. If I want to do something, I do it. There is a tall hill in my neighborhood that the city put stairs up. It's a great workout, but it is nasty. Some of the stairs are just too steep for me and my short legs. Nevertheless, there are days when I walk up those stairs going up that hill and then run back down on the hiking trails. That is a tough workout. My knee handles it well. I only do this workout every once in awhile because, frankly, it's boring. I'd do it more often if I didn't have surfing.
The reason I posted this picture is to show my limitations. I cannot get much lower, when crouching, than I am in this shot because my knee won't allow me to. I just don't have the range of motion for it. So while this was a tiny little barrel I could have potentially tucked into with complete range of motion, all I could do was look at it. Nevertheless, it's rare that I need to bend myself into a tight little ball when I'm surfing and I just work around my limitations. My knee does not hold me back.