40 & hobbling

I recently had my 5th knee surgery on my left knee. It has been a long road since first injuring playing basketball in 1992. An ACL reconstruction in 1998 was the big fix, also induced by basketball. Since then I've had a few cleanups/cleanouts for various "minor" injuries. Of all the things you don't know when you are young, the impact of this injury was nothing I would have understood at the tender age of 16.

The punchline is pretty simple: when you have a big joint injury such as an ACL, it forever accelerates the joint deterioration even if the fix is successful (which mine was very successful). Despite the strength or my repaired ACL my knee has been progressively deteriorating. This has certainly been a factor in my need for further intervention to be able to stay active. As impactful as this progression is at 40, I'm very anxious about what it will mean at 60.

So what do I do about it now? That's the struggle I'm navigating. Solutions:

1. I gave up basketball 5+ years ago which was a great decision. I miss it a little, but there is no way to justify the risk. Similar cutting, twisting, change of direction sports are a seldom to never.

2. After my surgery in December I was told it would be a bad idea for me to continue to run. That was really difficult to hear. In the past 10 years I've typically run 15-20 miles per week, 30+ per week when I'm training. But with a lower margin of error and an already deteriorating knee I just can't pound my joints like I have in the past. I'm thankful that my physical therapist is a bit more realistic about telling a runner to stop running. We settled on not exceeding 10 miles per week. Still enough to run a bit, but not the frequency of the past.

3. Considering my activity restriction this solution will be the hardest: I've got to manage my weight more carefully. Over the last year since I hurt my knee (playing in the snow with my girls BTW) I haven't been able to do cardio exercise consistently. The result: As of 1/1/15 I was 15 pounds heavier than a year prior. Running has always been my weight management solution, but I can't "outrun a fork" going 10 miles a week. I've got to buckle down on my diet while diversifying my cardio exercise to keep my weight in a reasonable range. 5,10,20,30 extra pounds on every single step is absolutely horrible for joints. I've got to keep my weight down and lessen the impact of gravity on my knee.

Its frustrating to try to maintain my activity and level of adventure when faced with increasing restrictions on what I can do. I think that's aging. I'd love to be able to behave as carefree (or careless) as I could and have in my 20's and 30's, but if I continue that path my 60's and 70's aren't looking the way I want. Had I needed to make these changes at 25 it would have been really tough. The good news is at 40 I'm smarter. I know how to listen to my body, I know how to diversify my activity and enjoy it, and I know how to eat to fuel my body and not eat stupidly. Now if I can exercise the discipline and execute on what I know I'll be fine. And that's the challenge.