How to Save Your Joints: Use Them or Lose Them
Load-Bearing Activities and Natural Movement Are Key
I have a great sports doctor whom I see whenever I have a joint or tendon problem that doesn’t seem to heal on its own. I wrote about Dr. Masci in my book when I thought my right hip and knee were “getting old” a few years ago. At the time I thought the pain and discomfort in those joints, which was so bad it caused problems with my walking, would completely ruin my later-life plan of staying fit and healthy. After an MRI and some ultrasound diagnostics, he found a torn meniscus in my right knee and nothing but inflammation in my hip. His prescription was physiotherapy to make sure I was moving those joints properly, and increased load-bearing exercise. Eventually I supplemented his advice with an even more comprehensive program that my yoga friend Nikki Costello taught me. The condition healed over time, in about 3 to 6 months, and I have continued (and enhanced) that exercise program to keep those joints healthy and strong ever since.
Before seeing Dr. Masci back then, I had numerous people, including other doctors, tell me I was on my way to needing a new hip or knee or both. That wasn’t the advice I wanted to hear, so I kept looking for a doctor to prescribe a more natural cure. This is not easy territory to navigate given the outsize influence the medical community has on our collective consciousness regarding “standard” or “appropriate” treatments and cures. If you want to try to cure these conditions without dramatic medical or surgical intervention, the resources are there, and they are increasing. But they are far from “mainstream,” as many doctors want to provide a solution that not only benefits them but offers their patients a cure that requires less effort than, god-forbid, having to exercise and do the work themselves.
I recently saw Dr. Masci again, this time for a groin discomfort that has since gone away. I was afraid it was a hernia; he confirmed with an ultrasound that it was not. As we talked and caught up after many years, he said something that caused me to write this article. He said that 90 percent of the people who come to him with sport injuries need physiotherapy or another specific type of exercise treatment—not “medical” treatment like surgery or drugs. He explained that weak joints and tendons were caused by lack of use, misuse, and not enough strength, and the cure for these conditions is almost always more movement and increased load, not less. He added that his use of drugs like cortisone, as well as surgical procedures, has decreased sharply since he last saw me. All the new evidence about sports injuries points to weight and load bearing to heal and strengthen joints.
My Own Experience Supports Strengthening and Physio
This advice certainly dovetails with my own experience. As I’ve written about, my preparation for a winter ski trip with my daughters was all about weight-bearing exercise for my legs and knees, as well as supplementing the weight bearing with balancing, like doing lunges and squats with extra stretch cords. The result was a stress-free week (for me and my legs) of skiing, even though I used knee braces for insurance against twisting. My legs were rock, or tree trunk, solid. I learned this particular training program from a physio/trainer, John Green, at my local gym. Before the trip I spoke to him at length about what I was trying to achieve and, after assessing that there was no physical damage anywhere, he crafted a targeted exercise program that worked ultra-well. I had a great time skiing with my daughters that week, even though they often left me in the dust (or powder), since they are much more advanced skiers.
As M. Scott Peck writes in his great book, this is The Road Less Traveled on the frontiers of health. Modern medicine has brought us many wonders and is still the bedrock of urgent and acute care. But it does not always serve us well on the preventive front or even the healing-from-injury front. Being aware of the alternatives, avoiding surgical intervention when possible, and not being afraid of the effort it takes to do the work has so far served me much better in my quest for later-life joint health.
