Inevitable Pain

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It's almost a year ago now, last Spring, since I terribly exacerbated my existing but previously dormant knee injury. I was coerced into a game of 2-a-side footie with some young, healthy and very fit people. I knew it was a bad idea, hence having to be coerced, but I didn't know just how much of a bad idea it was. To make matters worse, I hadn't warmed up in any way - I went from zero to sixty. Even a fit person who does regular exercise could get injured that way. It happened when I tried to prevent a goal by chasing the ball down and performing a sliding block. I missed the ball, of corse, and it scored. To add insult to injury, I ended up adding an injury to the insult :)

What's more poignant though, is the fact that it took me this long to recover from it. I'm not fully recovered - I don't think I will ever. It's the same sporting injury I incurred as a teenager. I think you can only manage those by ensuring your muscles are strong and mobile. I am carrying another joint injury that is taking way too long to heal for my liking. It happened on Gran Canaria this past Autumn. I was swept by a giant wave which caused me to land on one hand, thereby causing a compression injury to my wrist. I've had this same injury in the past on the other wrist, but it took a lot less time to go away. As it is now, there's still a slight weakness in my left hand most noticeable when I have to twist something. I can cary heavy objects easily, but I can't open a water bottle with it. There are no noticeable fractures or anything, but *they* couldn't rule out a hairline compression fracture in one of the wrist bones. It will go away one day, I just have to be careful not to keep hurting it. Those are my only two bits of chronic pain that I carry. They are both mild and sometimes non-existent till I do something that reminds me that they're there. I don't have to take any pain killers, or anything like that, so I consider myself lucky. I have friends and family that deal with chronic pain, really painful ones, on an ongoing basis. My mother has very serious arthritis in both knees. I don't know how she takes the pain. She doesn't take pain killers, she just zones the pain out. From the amount of sports I did as a young lad, plus the common occurrence of arthritis in my immediate family, I'm a strong candidate for chronic joint pain in my old age. It may be inevitable, but there are also things I can do to reduce the likelihood, or at least the severity, in later life. A lot of it is common sense to be honest. Keeping a reasonable body weight is one. Taking regular exercise that is low impact on the joints, but involves a lot of their mobility is another. There's also keeping them well *"oiled"* through nutrition. All I can do is give my body a fighting chance. The rest is up to genetics and circumstances. One can only also hope that by the time one gets to that age, technology would have come through with some badass exoskeletal suits that make this whole conversation irrelevant anyway. The technology is closer than you may think. ___

Peace and Love ✌🏿 Adé All copy and photos are original content by me. © [adetorrent.com](http://www.adetorrent.com)
Originally posted here: https://steemit.com/health/@adetorrent/inevitable-pain