# Serious question..looking for reassurance.



## Accy cyclist (14 Jun 2020)

I've been doing 3 or 4 approximately 5 mile walks a week since the gyms shut. I think it's made my leg worse than it was before. I had a double leg break nearly 4 years ago. It's that bad now that i walk with a stick,most times i'm out. So bad that walking up hills is quite painful and very hard. I haven't been for a walk since last Thursday. I normally do a walk every 2 days. I've kept myself reasonably fit over the last 32 years. I've always told myself 'You're only as good as your last bike ride,walk',or whatever form of exercise you've done,meaning i think that all that fitness can't be stored in the body and if you stop exercising your years of exercising don't count for much. This is the serious question bit! If i were to stop exercising for a few days ,maybe weeks,would i become unfit and prone to serious health problems like a heart attack or a stroke,or would my decades of keeping reasonably fit keep me safe for a while? I'd like to go for a decent walk now to get the blood flowing and the heart pumping,but i'm in fear of my leg giving way and then i will be in trouble! I need my gym to re-open asap,so i can get back on the not much weight bearing cross trainer and maybe go swimming which is also non weight bearing.

To put it bluntly,i'm not going to pop off am i because i haven't been for a walk for 3 days am i ?!


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## furball (14 Jun 2020)

If you don't have pre existing conditions that indicate you could be prone to the conditions you describe then the answer would be no (or highly unlikely if you want to be cautious). 
You need to identify what's causing the pain and then make an informed decision if rest is the best thing for it. If you do rest, try doing something else to keep yourself mobile. Dare I suggest Tai Chi


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## Accy cyclist (14 Jun 2020)

furball said:


> If you don't have pre existing conditions that indicate you could be prone to the conditions you describe then the answer would be no (or highly unlikely if you want to be cautious).
> You need to identify what's causing the pain and then make an informed decision if rest is the best thing for it. If you do rest, try doing something else to keep yourself mobile. Dare I suggest Tai Chi


I keep getting a slight pain in my right leg,near to my knee. I'm thinking it could be a blood clot,but not thinking that too much,if you know what i mean. I'm 6 feet tall and weigh around 10.25 stone,so no weight issues.


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## bikingdad90 (14 Jun 2020)

You have a leg which has suffered historic trauma and you are walking 5 miles every other day. You have probably suffered what is called shin splints, a bit like a stress fracture. The repetitive motion of walking has aggravated the damage and is causing issues. Try a few days of RICE and see what happens. If all is better, maybe not walk as far, say an hour a day (3miles ish)


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## Accy cyclist (14 Jun 2020)

furball said:


> Dare I suggest Tai Chi


Yeah i know i mentioned doing Tai Chi a year or so ago,but as with other thoughts i have of doing things,i don't carry many out. Funnily enough my gym was to start Tai Chi classes,then came the lockdown. I was going to give it a go,maybe i will when it re-opens. I can't see it being very cardiovascular/aerobic though. Not mocking it,but it isn't exactly the same as doing a 30 mile bike ride by the looks of it.


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## Mrs M (14 Jun 2020)

Just do what is comfortable for you Accy, don’t push it!
xx


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## gbb (14 Jun 2020)

I was reasonably happy to be given some reassuring news after a health check.
62, arthritis that hurts every day, bike rides are consigned to 1 x 10 mile a week on an ebike, it just hurts too much. Considering I was one of the fittest 53 year olds i knew, the last 10 years have been pretty ravaging health wise but apparently my respiration test put me 15 years younger than i am, most of the individual breathing tests are over 110% of average, my blood pressure is good, just about all the tests came out ok.
So a healthy lifestyle for several decades takes some undoing. I have put on weight, I cant do a fraction of what I used to but the basics, heart, lungs, BP are all good. As long as you havnt abused yourself Accy, I suspect you're doing ok despite the setbacks.


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## Accy cyclist (14 Jun 2020)

gbb said:


> As long as you havnt abused yourself Accy, I suspect you're doing ok despite the setbacks.


I have 3 or 4 pints of beer a night,yet don't use salt,sugar or many processed foods. I also have little meat and hardly eat red meat. I think i have a decent diet..apart from the beer maybe.


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## All uphill (14 Jun 2020)

Look after yourself @Accy cyclist .

A few days rest and see how you feel.

Have you had medical advice?


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## Accy cyclist (14 Jun 2020)

Going back to the leg,when i said double leg break i should've said broken leg and a fractured hip. I've just done 200 sit ups,which i try and do every two days. I've noticed a slight pain in my hip when doing sit ups. Maybe they make it worse? I don't have a problem when using the abs crunch machine at the gym.


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## Accy cyclist (14 Jun 2020)

All uphill said:


> Look after yourself @Accy cyclist .
> 
> A few days rest and see how you feel.
> 
> Have you had medical advice?


Getting to see a doctor is a problem these days. The one i usually end up seeing isn't very friendly. I ask him questions,he just quotes stuff which i already know. if i saw him he'd probably tell me to rest up,but then i'd be worrying about something bad happening to me if i did. A nurse the other year said i had very good prominent veins which indicate a good blood flow and pressure,but that was a few years ago.


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## dodgy (14 Jun 2020)

No, you don't undo a lifetime of regular exercise by taking a rest for 3 days.

Christ.


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## Ming the Merciless (14 Jun 2020)

dodgy said:


> No, you don't undo a lifetime of regular exercise by taking a rest for 3 days.
> 
> Christ.



He took 48 hours rest and recovered from death. So a bit of a rest can’t be all that bad.


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## Cycleops (14 Jun 2020)

You really need to cut down on that beer Accy, or even try cutting it out for a while. I’ve done that for the past couple of weeks and feel much better and I was only on two bottles a day.
Regards exercising try to do something that gets you breathing hard which will hopefully keep your heart in trim, but nothing that will impact on your old injury.


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## Cycleops (14 Jun 2020)

To kick the beer you need to replace it with something. Some time ago my wife insisted on buying this superdooper blender and I thought it was a waste of money but it’s fantastic and we use it to blender fruit and ice into a drink every evening. After drinking it I don’t want beer. Fruit is not so cheap there I know but you should try it. You can use a regular blender to try it. Mango and pineapple is good but you can mix just about anything.


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## vickster (14 Jun 2020)

Broken bones often end in arthritis, see a doctor and get x-rayed.

if you want a non weight bearing exercise, why not just ride the bike If you can?


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## 12boy (15 Jun 2020)

Missing a workout for just one day is a slippery slope. Before you know it you will weigh 30 stone and be unable to get on and off the toilet without a hoist.....just kidding. In fact, if you continue exercising you may make it worse. I have found that you can do other exercises that dont have much effect on the injured area...core, upper body , stretches are few examlpes.


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## PaulSB (15 Jun 2020)

@Accy cyclist I understand your concern but truly believe you are worrying about nothing. I survived a heart attack five years ago and a brain haemorrhage in January 2019 - the consultant told my wife after 10.5 hours surgery "let's see if he wakes up." I recovered from the haemorrhage in four months, the norm for a man of 65 is eighteen months. On both occasions I returned to full fitness very quickly and the medical staff were very clear it was my underlying fitness which saved my life. After the heart attack I didn't ride for five months, the haemorrhage three months. Today I am fitter than I have been in 30 years.

My point is this. You have kept yourself fit for 32 years and a few weeks or months of little or no exercise will not have a major impact. Yes you might put on weight, yes you might lose a bit of fitness but nothing life-threatening will happen to you. Your basic fitness will look after you now and through the rest of your life. We people who exercise are in the top 17% of the population, we are a way ahead of the rest. Don't worry.

I'd stop drinking the beer though as this will give you weight gain very quickly!


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## Accy cyclist (15 Jun 2020)

PaulSB said:


> @Accy cyclist I understand your concern but truly believe you are worrying about nothing. I survived a heart attack five years ago and a brain haemorrhage in January 2019 - the consultant told my wife after 10.5 hours surgery "let's see if he wakes up." I recovered from the haemorrhage in four months, the norm for a man of 65 is eighteen months. On both occasions I returned to full fitness very quickly and the medical staff were very clear it was my underlying fitness which saved my life. After the heart attack I didn't ride for five months, the haemorrhage three months. Today I am fitter than I have been in 30 years.
> 
> My point is this. You have kept yourself fit for 32 years and a few weeks or months of little or no exercise will not have a major impact. Yes you might put on weight, yes you might lose a bit of fitness but nothing life-threatening will happen to you. Your basic fitness will look after you now and through the rest of your life. We people who exercise are in the top 17% of the population, we are a way ahead of the rest. Don't worry.
> 
> I'd stop drinking the beer though as this will give you weight gain very quickly!


Thanks for the reply. That's the kind of reassurance i was seeking. I'm going to lay off the hard walks for a while and do what i do on my days off from hard walks which is go for moderate/easy walks. By that i mean walking a couple of miles at most,taking in a few moderate short hills and stopping every now and then. As we know exercise can become obsessive to us,whether that's because we enjoy it or feel that we have to do it 'or else' (like me), As for the beer i'm not making excuses for too much beer,but i think that if i didn't get the beer carbs i'd be even slimmer than i am now and that's not what i want.


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## HMS_Dave (15 Jun 2020)

I was a 27 stone fat barsteward up until last year and I didnt get that way by walking a lot. At my latest check up I am in good health on the inside but am still classed as obese. We're all different and perfectly healthy people have suffered heart attacks and dropped dead where they fell. There are no guarantees but its overwhelmingly more likely if your of normal weight and you've kept yourself reasonable active and you eat sensibly you'll be alreet...


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## Blue Hills (30 Jun 2020)

Cycleops said:


> To kick the beer you need to replace it with something. Some time ago my wife insisted on buying this superdooper blender and I thought it was a waste of money but it’s fantastic and we use it to blender fruit and ice into a drink every evening. After drinking it I don’t want beer. Fruit is not so cheap there I know but you should try it. You can use a regular blender to try it. Mango and pineapple is good but you can mix just about anything.


Sounds good. I too am cutting down on the beer, not that i drink all that much. But doesn't all that fruit of an evening give you a late sugar rush?


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## Cycleops (30 Jun 2020)

Blue Hills said:


> Sounds good. I too am cutting down on the beer, not that i drink all that much. But doesn't all that fruit of an evening give you a late sugar rush?


It’s tue, I’ve been thinking about that. Moving it to the morning should be better and replace the fruit with a blend of vegetables with some apple added to make it more palatable.

Going back to Accy he really needs to think of his liver with all that beer. If he’s worried about losing weight a proper diet should take care of that.


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