On Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:11:52 -0700, Jim Janney
wrote:

Vic Smith writes:



Speed isn't the only concern with weight.
After some miles of walking in comfortable but heavy boots, a knee
became painful and slightly swollen. I didn't connect it with the
boots at first, but when I doffed the boots the knee problem very
quickly disappeared.
It's possible my gait in the above ankle boots was a factor, but I'm
guessing it was mostly the swinging weight of the boots.

The knee is basically a hinge. It can move through nearly 180
degrees, but only in a single plane. The ankle has a more limited
range of motion but is also more tolerant of movement in different
planes, especially in combination with the feet -- there's a whole
collection of joints down there. What sometimes happens when you
restrict the mobility of the ankles and feet is that any sort of
lateral or twisting movements that these would normally handle are
transferred to the knees, which don't appreciate them. For an
excruciatingly detailed discussion of this, see

http://www.tmuscle.com/portal_includ...-training.html

Then again, it could just be the swinging weight.

It's very complicated. I attributed the pain to the weight because it
was most painful at the top of the swing. As if my gait and muscles
propelling the boot weight upward were more than my knee joint liked
in reversing that momentum. Perhaps hyper-extending the joint.
I don't reject the other suggestions here about the boots changing my
gait, though my gait seemed entirely natural and fluid to me.
It does make sense that the boot binding of the ankles and their
weight did adjust my gait.
Some years later I had pain in both knees, and had x-rays, then a cat
scan, then a session of physical therapy. The x-ray guy suggested
possible arthritis, the cat scan analyst found nothing wrong.
Mind you, the pain wasn't debilitating until I walked a bit, but
painful enough at other times that I wanted to address it and remove
it
I did the therapy exercises at home for a week or so with no result.
Then my wife came home from the rummage store with an ottoman, and
said, "Get your damn legs off that table, and use this."
Some months earlier I set up my computer paraphernalia on a large,
sturdy table, and began working from a reclining easy chair with the
keyboard on my lap, and my feet extended to the table, heels or heel,
depending if my legs were crossed, carrying the weight of my legs.
This was the most comfortable work position I've ever found, giving
total back support, and I never suffered any knee pain sitting like
this.
But my knees were suspended in mid-air, and were hyper-extending.
I did as my wife demanded, and all knee pain was gone in a few days.
No doctor has asked about this seating position, and I never thought
to mention it.
Just one of the countless ways a wife is handy.

--Vic