Rosalie Richards
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Joint Pain, or How to Survive a 24 Hour Plane Ride

5/22/2016

2 Comments

 
Joint Pain

Stiff, sore muscles can hurt.  I know from experience.
 
Once I had a job that included standing on concrete for hours at a time (one of those jobs!  I found that after work, when I went to visit someone and sat for a few minutes, it hurt to stand up and move around. 
 
Going to a movie was excruciating, because sitting for a long time in one position meant that my knees were going to complain loudly (only I could hear, of course) when I stood up to move again.
 
More recently, my DC trip showed me the limits of what my body wants me to put it through.  I got painfully stiff and sore knees and legs when I went for leisurely long walks with my niece.
 
Ironically, studies suggest that walking (along with other things like diet and other exercises) help MS symptoms and pain (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC3874223/). 
But—walking caused the problem!  How would walking possibly get rid of the pain that walking brings on!
 
Solutions for joint pain
I tried things.
  1. I learned to insert a few minutes of rest on walks.  Do it all, suggested the Olympiad Jimmie Huega, after he was diagnosed with MS, just take breaks when needed!  That was my new plan.  It helped.  It didn’t do it all.
  2. I got highly recommended walking shoes.
That helped a great deal.  But, though the pain was gone, I still was stiff when I got home from walks and when I got up in the mornings. 
 
I needed to do more.
 
What finally helped was something very simple.
 
I created oil for my sore joints, in a minute of doing range-of-motion stretching.
 
Two years ago a yoga instructor, Mara Gallagher, gave me simple range-of-motion joint movements for my hips and ankles. Ever since, my had begun with them. 
 
The goal?  To increase something called synovial fluid.
 
It turns out that moving our joints increases an oil that lubricates them!  This is why when we have sore and stiff muscles it really won’t fix things to sit still for a long time.  We need to move, to create synovial fluid.
 
About Synovial Fluid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synovial_fluid)
What does it do that helps sore joints? 
It absorbs shock.
It reduces friction.
Is there a limited amount available?
No, we can create it just by moving our joints!  That’s all we need to do. 
Synovial fluid is called weeping lubrication, because when we move, the synovial fluid that is held in the cartilage seeps out.  We only need to move our joints!
 
After the joint stress I had in DC, I wondered:  “Why won’t this synovial fluid help with this huge knee joint pain?
 
I tried a rendition of Myra’s method, a 60-second workout.  This is what I did:  I lifted my sore knees up and down, then lifted my knee up, slowly kicking my foot forward, then moving my foot behind me, as though I were trying out for a ballerina position.  I repeated this up-and-down, front-and-back motion until a minute passed, and my knees felt great.
 
I didn’t know about synovial fluid before.  Now I do and I use it.
 
Surviving 24-hour plane rides with synovial fluid
I just completed a 24-hour flight to Australia, and I’m about to do the same trip, in reverse, to get back home.  I decided to create synovial fluid to make the trip more comfy.    
 
I know how to let my knees lubricate themselves on 19 hour plane rides. 
 
No, I don’t do the ballerina position in the aisles.  What I do is this:  I move my hips and knees around while in my seat.  I walk up and down the aisles every single hour that I am awake. 
 
Maybe the people on the flight wonder what is calling me to the back of the plane every hour, or what makes me squirm in my seat, but, as my mom used to say, “Those people will never see you again anyway!”
 
Synovial fluid is easy to create.  It is always available.  It helps!
2 Comments
Mary Jane Berry
5/19/2016 08:11:07 pm

You inspire me to go and do likewise!❤️

Reply
Rosalie Richards
5/20/2016 12:16:13 am

Now I'm energized, your inspiration is spreading!

Reply



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    Author--
    ​Rosalie Richards

    MS keeps coming in stages.  The first 'maybe' diagnosis was in 2004, the next 'for sure' one came in 2011.

    I thought that was the end of the story, but life with MS keeps unfolding.  

    I'd enjoy reading your posts.

    If you like this blog, check out my books--
    Beyond MS  Your Best Life and 
    Beyond MS--Get Moving!

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