h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just be sure to wait an extra month or two
before playing football, D.

YAY! Healed-up feet for Dragonfly and ER! I could use a pair of those myself.

My achilles tendons are permanently F.U.B.A.R.ed, it would seem. I've gone from graceful to gimpy. I've gotta figure out how to fix this.

gies, Everyone!

Paul to the rescue.

Maybe you need to get custom-made shoes,
or at least arch supports, AW.

Does your evil of a boss make
you wear high heels?

No, I don't need to wear high heels ... and I have great arches. I overworked my heel tendons two years ago with too much exercise, far too fast. (A few months of an hour or more at a time with a strenuous rowing-type machine.) I did some fiber-tearing damage before I realized that it had been done. Now, I have a case of tendonitis that doesn't want to heal on its own. Walking hurts like h*ll ... at least, until the tendons warm up after a while.

I was stupid to have thought I was capable of such athletics, even though I've always been able to build muscle strength quickly. Evidently, this is a common injury among people my age ... we still think we're invincible.

My doctor isn't worried about it, but I am!

I don't want to be gimpy!

*s, stretches and in with a limp*

*wobbles,hobbles*

When I hit the age of thirty, I decided
to take up jogging. I did too much too
soon, and by the middle of the second
month, my legs felt like h*ll. They eventually
healed, but I never returned to running,
except when I was pursued by bears or floodwaters,
or whatever .

An hour at a time of *anything* is arguably not
necessary. Thirty or forty minutes will give you
80 or 90% of the health benefits that you would
have gotten from an hour. Plus, you have much
less danger of overuse injuries.

But even with the shorter workouts, there will still
be times when your body turns out to have been
unable to perform without injury. I've had any number
of maladies: achilles tendonitis, sprained ankle
(the same ankle twice, 35 years apart), knee pain,
leg pain, cramping in the toes, heel pain. Swimming
has given me various issues with my shoulders,
arms, and chest. I cope by using five or six very
different strokes so there is usually *some* stroke
I can do that doesn't use whichever part of me is in pain.

OUCHIE!!! Tendonitis is AWFUL!!!

I had capsulitis in both my shoulders, over a period of a year. It was agony to swing my arms or lift anything.

It all settled down eventually; there's no more pain, but the movement is slightly restricted so that I can't reach much above my waistline to scratch an itch on my back... I've developed the habit of putting up with itches till I get home, then ripping off my tee-shirt and scratching my back against the edge of the bedroom door in the manner of Baloo the Bear with a tree-trunk.

Wow! *gawps at AWs great arches*

She may be my twin, but *she* got all the arches and left me with none.

You could file a grievance with Dragonfly,
Lady Scott. She's an Arch-angel, so she's got
an extra supply.

I just received the Shea of approval.

And here I thought maybe she was just upset because she got left out of the arch distribution too...

I didn't mean to leave Shea out of it,
Lady Scott. If there are arches to be shared,
I'm sure Dragonfly's motto is Shea and Shea alike.

Of course, I really don't know. Maybe Shea's arches are just fine the way they are...

I certainly hope so.
Luckily, T.J. likes her just the way she is.