# 50s and constantly stiff ....



## Fab Foodie (4 Oct 2014)

Paging @Fnaar 

No seriously, me and the fragrant (and long suffering) Mrs FF are both *ahem* physically active and generally healthy 50 y/olds, but notice that we also getting increasingly stiff in our bones ... actually, it's muscle stiffness more than anything else. Not just stiff in an non-mobile way, but painfully stiff, sit down or lie down for say 30 mins and it hurts to get going again. 
Mrs FF stretches after every class, so she should be OK (stretching post exercise is not one of my strong points).

Is this normal for our advancing middle age?
Do supplements help (we have a very good diet)?


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## Crackle (4 Oct 2014)

Yes! 

Basically you lose elasticity which is a completely non-medical description but covers the thrust of it. Stuff wears out too, cartilage thins, tendons become more brittle seemingly and stuff which once you took for granted, lets you down.

Been going through this the last few years and my refusal to acknowledge it has probably led to my first ever long term injury. It took that and an increasing back ache to make me realize that I need to make stretching part of my life now. I even bought a book on stretching and invested in a foam roller, christ they hurt. The good news is; it all works.

I don't think any supplements really help suppleness or joints. Glucosamine is trendy but much of the evidence is anecdotal. Then again, there's no harm in taking them.


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## cyberknight (4 Oct 2014)

I have just started doing tai chi again after a 15 (?) year lay off as i read it was good for my trapped nerves in my neck , it certainly has worked and my neck is not creaking and cracking like it used to.


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## ScotiaLass (4 Oct 2014)

cyberknight said:


> I have just started doing tai chi again after a 15 (?) year lay off as i read it was good for my trapped nerves in my neck , it certainly has worked and my neck is not creaking and cracking like it used to.


I always wanted to take a Tai Chi class. 
I must say that since I've been cycling (and shoulder checking) my neck has loosened considerably (arthritis in neck and spine).
For the OP...glucosamine is only helpful before degeneration of joints, which occurs much earlier than people think!
It's just one of these things that happens but by doing gentle, frequent exercise, you can keep on top of it!


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## Joshua Plumtree (4 Oct 2014)

Know that feeling. Takes 30 mins to warm up by which time you're worn out anyway! 

Seriously - and this is my default answer to any health problem! - try a little weightlifting, which is really just another way of stretching the muscles, but with heavy objects on the end of yer arms. 

I've worked the upper body with weights for years and, at 54, I don't suffer any aches and pains in this area! Different story below the waist, it has to be said.


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## welsh dragon (4 Oct 2014)

Hasn't happened to me. Im not stiff in the joints and im 58. I don't think it is Inevitable that this will happen when you get to a certain age. Keep going. Keep mobile, and keep warm In the winter. Have a word with your Dr about whether or not suplements will do you any good. Personally I don't take any.


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## Diggs (4 Oct 2014)

+1 on stretching (and properly! Not the half hearted wam up of a Sunday footballer) I was always bad at doing this until I went to more (mainly Spin) classes where it was built into the session


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## vickster (4 Oct 2014)

I'm 42 and feel your pain. I only need to think about exercise and I seem to end up with some overuse injury, often ending up chronic! 
I am waiting to see if my knee surgeon (a knee injury 5 years ago seems to have been the beginning of the end, having survived a quite major back op at 20) thinks I should see a rheumatologist. It's all affecting mood and sleep and is pi**ing me off!  I'm still bruised and battered and sore after the RTA in mid Feb and I keep whacking the bruised and battered and sore bit which doesn't help!


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## ScotiaLass (4 Oct 2014)

vickster said:


> I'm 42 and feel your pain. I only need to think about exercise and I seem to end up with some overuse injury, often ending up chronic!
> I am waiting to see if my knee surgeon (a knee injury 5 years ago seems to have been the beginning of the end, having survived a quite major back op at 20) thinks I should see a rheumatologist. It's all affecting mood and sleep and is pi**ing me off!  I'm still bruised and battered and sore after the RTA in mid Feb and I keep whacking the bruised and battered and sore bit which doesn't help!


 I know your pain!


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## Peteaud (4 Oct 2014)

Wear a Livestrong jacket and take loads of drugs. 

Seriously, i am middle aged now and get the odd stiff limb or 3 when standing, i put it down to age and can,t do a lot about it.


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## summerdays (4 Oct 2014)

I have found it creeping up on me, and that sound you seem to need to make to bend or sit down! I guess it came as a surprise as I remember my grandparents making those noises and I I associate them with old age and I'm definitely not prepared to label myself that way (nearly 48). I accept I may be middle aged but not in the way I thought of middle aged people when I was younger.

I'm doing pilates which seems to help. Every session we always bend over and touch our toes near the beginning and end of the session. I can always see a difference in how flexiable I am just after 40 mins of stretching. Or this week, when I went in feeling very stiff, it was noticeable that I couldn't reach my toes at all at the start of the session.


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## fossyant (4 Oct 2014)

I just need to stop falling off my bike. Simples.


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## Shut Up Legs (4 Oct 2014)

The day I stop falling off my bike will be the day I die.


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## vickster (4 Oct 2014)

fossyant said:


> I just need to stop falling off my bike. Simples.


+1 (or being knocked off)


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## compo (4 Oct 2014)

I just stopped using Viagra.


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## TissoT (4 Oct 2014)

Been using a blended nut oil called "Undo"s Choice" for a couple of years
It helps me for this Reason + ..http://www.detoxyourworld.com/udo-s-choice-ultimate-oil-blend


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## Fab Foodie (4 Oct 2014)

summerdays said:


> ,... and that sound you seem to need to make to bend or sit down!
> .



I've caught myself doing that too ....


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## ayceejay (4 Oct 2014)

victor said:


> The day I stop falling off my bike will be the day I die.


I'm trying to get my head around this. Do you mean you will die because you have fallen off your bike? Or do you enjoy falling off so much that without it you would rather be dead?
As for the OP's problem I would recommend yoga, not the contort yourself into pretzel type but something simple. It is important to find a good teacher as stretching incorrectly can do more harm than good. A lot of yoga is oriented towards the spiritual and you may not want this so have a read of this website http://www.bandhayoga.com that gives an excellent explanation of postures and how to do them properly.


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## uphillstruggler (4 Oct 2014)

At least you made it to 50.

I have to stretch before and after exercise, and even if I'm not doing exercise.


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## cyberknight (4 Oct 2014)

Im dgetting not as flexibleas i used to be , i could do this 15 years ago 





Kill me if i tried now !


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## dave r (4 Oct 2014)

Fab Foodie said:


> Paging @Fnaar
> 
> No seriously, me and the fragrant (and long suffering) Mrs FF are both *ahem* physically active and generally healthy 50 y/olds, but notice that we also getting increasingly stiff in our bones ... actually, it's muscle stiffness more than anything else. Not just stiff in an non-mobile way, but painfully stiff, sit down or lie down for say 30 mins and it hurts to get going again.
> Mrs FF stretches after every class, so she should be OK (stretching post exercise is not one of my strong points).
> ...


Seems a bit early for that, but we're all different, I'll be 63 in a couple of months and though I'm not as free moving as I used to be I'm still moving OK, my main problem is my back, I've done a lifetimes manual labour and I suspect I've worn it out. Have you thought about Yoga? I did it for several years and found it to be very good, I had a good Yoga teacher who actually taught Yoga rather than used Yoga poses as an exercise class.


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## Katherine (4 Oct 2014)

+1 for Pilates. I think it should be on the NHS. After 4 years of Pilates, I'm more agile and less stiff at 51 than I was 10 years ago.


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## deptfordmarmoset (4 Oct 2014)

I'm relatively lucky on the stiffness front for 60. I do find that if I've done a bit of cycling that the next day or so it becomes unpleasant to have to walk. It feels like a constant grumble from my leg muscles at being asked to work without really warming up. I think that it's a stage I go through on the bike but quickly get past it as I warm up. Walking doesn't do anything other than to get my muscles into the grumble zone where they stay complaining. Oh, and it's a ridiculously slow way of getting anywhere anyway.


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## dave r (5 Oct 2014)

deptfordmarmoset said:


> I'm relatively lucky on the stiffness front for 60. I do find that if I've done a bit of cycling that the next day or so it becomes unpleasant to have to walk. It feels like a constant grumble from my leg muscles at being asked to work without really warming up. I think that it's a stage I go through on the bike but quickly get past it as I warm up. Walking doesn't do anything other than to get my muscles into the grumble zone where they stay complaining. Oh, and it's a ridiculously slow way of getting anywhere anyway.



I've been out for an enjoyable 53 miles in the sunshine this morning, I'll probably find that my thighs wont like me walking downstairs later, apart from that and a little backache I should be fine.


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## G3CWI (5 Oct 2014)

cyberknight said:


> i could do this 15 years ago
> 
> 
> 
> ...



A few years ago on a walk with friends I demonstrated a "gate vault". The only slight problem was, I am in my 50s and the last time I did this was at school. To say that I regretted it was an understatement...


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_c0-4pC57E


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## swansonj (5 Oct 2014)

"Now I got mortgages on homes
I got stiffness in my bones...."


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## snorri (5 Oct 2014)

Try going alcohol free for a time.
www.livestrong.com/article/546230-muscle-soreness-the-day-after-drinking-liquor/


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## Low Roller (5 Oct 2014)

Try cross-training - not jumping about whilst angry - swimming and walking , I meant. ( Or whatever)

I remember cycling-touring Ireland for a fortnight, feeling fit as a lop and then running to the top of Helvelyn. Going up was a doddle, probably using the same muscles as cycling. Coming back down was absolute purgatory. Similarly, half-way through a 4 month cycle touring trip, having gone over the Pyrenees, I went swimming at a municipal pool in northern Spain and was amazed to find I was weak as a kitten. 

So, getting your other non cycling muscles working might be helpful to you.


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## bowtomephil (6 Oct 2014)

I wish I was stiff where I want to be stiff.

50 and ache everywhere, slipped disc in back doesn't help but doesn't stop me doing anything. It does now take all night to do what I used to do all night.


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## Dayvo (7 Oct 2014)

+1 for the swimming and maybe water aerobics.http://www.aerobics-online.co.uk/water_aerobics.html

And as Crax said, try and incorporate stretching into your daily life (maybe 5 mins every morning when you get up).


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## Cycleops (11 Oct 2014)

You know you're really in trouble when you bend down and think, what else can I do while I'm down here?


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## brand (11 Oct 2014)

snorri said:


> Try going alcohol free for a time.
> www.livestrong.com/article/546230-muscle-soreness-the-day-after-drinking-liquor/


Before cycling? It would reduce the likelihood of you come into contact with the ground.


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## brand (11 Oct 2014)

Cycleops said:


> You know you're really in trouble when you bend down and think, what else can I do while I'm down here?


Put your socks on?


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## brand (11 Oct 2014)

JC4LAB said:


> Had a problem of bad stiffness once...Was told it was lumbago like...The cause was that sweat when it cools your body can make your muscle spasm espec in your lower back and go stiff so the remdey is to release that spasm..Simple hot showers followed by a agressive rub down of your calves thighs with the towe letc help .. (to get at your lower back use a twisted towel )....and do it soon after your bike ride or whatever so the sweat goes before it spasms the muscle...Physios use a varity of ways to release spasm..but the hot showerrubdown may just work


Suspect the landlord would tell me to f**k off if I asked to use the shower and his towels when I got to the pub! Might ask him just to see his face


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## The Jogger (11 Oct 2014)

@Fab Foodie are you still doing the lchf diet?


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## Fab Foodie (11 Oct 2014)

The Jogger said:


> @Fab Foodie are you still doing the lchf diet?



Mostly, though I wouldn't call it high fat, just low carb.
I'm still mostly stopped Bread, Pasta, Rice, Spuds and trying to keep to Meat, Veg, Fruit, Dairy. I've had no free sugar ... well apart from beer/wine. 
It's been harder in some places than others, in Russia for example, it's pizza mostly for dinner. Ho hum.
Still feeling good on it and riding well. I've not been weighing myself but am nearly 2 belt holes thinner and I can tell from the way my clothes fit I'm getting thinner. People who don't know I'm doing this mention that I've lost weight unprompted.
I'm keeping it up thanks!


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