A Friendly Nudge - Real But Maybe Not Always True
...because we all could use a little encouragement!
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I make a point to defer to someone’s doc or physical therapist whenever I’m asked if a particular exercise is appropriate for them or not. I’m not a doc or PT and I don’t know their medical history.
But almost without fail when I post a video where I’m kneeling I’ll have people coming out of the woodwork telling me that what I’m doing is impossible if you have had a knee replacement. I know a few folks with knee replacements and I’ve seen one of them down on the ground playing with a small child so based on that I knew that it isn’t universally impossible. But I think it might be almost universally misunderstood.
I asked my physical therapist about it and he said that he tries to have all of his TKR patients tolerating kneeling prior to discharging them.
That’s not to say that kneeling is easy or that it’s even possible or recommended for everyone, but I think it’s important that we don’t create unnecessary self-fulfilling limitations.
After talking with my physical therapist I did a quick search on PubMed and found multiple papers looking at this problem. Kneeling ability after total knee replacement was one of the first ones that I read but the others followed a similar theme. From the Kneeling ability paper: “There is currently no evidence that there is any clinical reason why patients should not kneel on their replaced knee, and reasons for not kneeling could be addressed through education and rehabilitation.”
We’ve been taught all of our lives that pain is something that we’re supposed to pay attention to and avoid. As someone who’s been babying my new shoulder for the past two months, the last thing I want to do is to screw up my surgeon’s good work and have to start all over. I also know that once the requisite amount of time has passed and my healing is at the stage that I get the green light to dial up my rehab work some of that is going to be uncomfortable at times. That’s why it’s crucial to have a physical therapist whom you trust.
I’m encouraged that there’s a growing realization within the medical provider space that patients need some help and maybe even some reassurance about the durability of their new hardware to help them confidently return to some of their previous activities.
There are a lot of myths and misconceptions around what’s possible as we age. And the dangerous part of that is if people hear them often enough they start feeling real. But that doesn’t make them universally true.
Aging comes with its own set of challenges but instead of parking us in a chair and convincing us that we’re overly fragile, let’s help people build capacity, strength and resiliency. Because aging shouldn’t suck.
One of my goals with A Friendly Nudge is to help people discover that feeling better and getting stronger is more doable than we think. Strength and resiliency don’t make the aging process stop but it makes the hurdles and obstacles become a little more manageable.
Cooking real food is a big piece of this process because it’s hard to build a healthy foundation on top of a mound of fast food wrappers.
I know that this week’s red beans and rice might not be Paul Prudhomme or Emeril Lagasse approved but I think you’ll find it will delight your taste buds.
Sausage with Red Beans and Rice
I fix beans sparingly because even though I enjoy eating them their lingering after effects diminish their appeal for both me and those around me. But I remind myself and my wife that even though beans have farts as a downside, that’s a sort of a clumsy way of the bacteria in our large intestines saying thanks for thinking of us.
I soaked these for 36 hours and then drained and rinsed them. The bacteria in my large intestines were still grateful. Next time I’m going to try adding epizote and see if that makes any difference.
I used 3 different types of sausage and loved the different flavors they added. You can use all andouille or boudin but combining those with a westphalian pork sausage worked great.
Ingredients:
1 ½ pounds dried kidney beans soaked for at least 4 hours. Since I was soaking them for over 24 hours I put them in the fridge to soak.
½ pound andouille sausage - cut in to1” pieces
½ pound boudin sausage - cut in to1” pieces
½ pound westphalian sausage - cut in to1” pieces
1 glug olive oil
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2-3 ribs of celery chopped
1 onion chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic chopped
3 bay leaves
⅛ tsp or pinch of cayenne pepper
2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp dried basil
¾ tsp or generous pinch dried sage
Cooked rice for serving
Chopped italian parsley for topping
Chopped green onions for topping - I skipped these because the ones in the store looked disappointing (play with your food)
After soaking, drain and rinse the kidney beans.
Heat a glug of olive or avocado oil in a large pot, add the sausage and cook for a couple of minutes. Then add onions and garlic and cook until the onions are translucent, taking care not to burn the garlic.
Add the celery and bell peppers and then add the beans.
Add a quart of chicken broth and then add the salt, pepper, cayenne, basil, sage and bay leaves. If you need any more liquid to cover the beans, you can add more chicken stock or add water.
Bring all of this to a boil and spoon off any excess foam and discard.
Reduce heat to a simmer and check it in an hour and half. Soak time on the beans probably influences cooking time.
I put the rice on to cook after the beans had been cooking for 1 ½ hours so everything was ready around the 2 hour mark.
Top with chopped parsley and green onions.
Enjoy!
Now that we’ve nailed down the food piece, here are some exercise snacks that will help you build strength, balance and mobility.
If any of these feel too much too soon, skip those for now. They may be doable as you get stronger.