No, really, working knees!

[ultranos]

You know, I don't usually mean to go all radio silence on this. It just kinda ends up happening. I've been fairly distracted lately by mechanics hacking for a high-action LARP universe some friends and I are spinning up. If we succeed, we'll have the new standard for a few years on how to run these. And at least one mechanic, if it's accepted, has the potential to significantly alter how we play these games tactically.

We ran a mechanics test today, and caught a lot of the bugs at low levels. So now to fix 'em. I'm also pretty pleased that I wore my Vibrams, braced both my knees (using a reinforced brace on the bad one), and was able to run around on concrete in a Nerf firefight for 2 hours with no pain. Seriously, I don't remember the last time that happened.

Downing glycosamine tonight to keep this progress up.

Speaking of "Things to Make Me Feel Less Falling-Apart", I've been contemplating the idea of trying climbing. My housemates all do it, and I've been wary because of my knees. But yesterday I was talking to another person who tried climbing for awhile, and she said that although women will use their legs more than their arms as compared to men, climbing really doesn't apply too much torque and strain to the knees. (Bouldering is a different story) I know there are some climbers around here; any advice? Now that my knees survived the stress test today, I'm seriously thinking of giving it a try.

And now to dive back into LaTeX.

Comments

[rydra_wong]

FWIW, I had bad knee pain at one point (I shifted to barefoot shoes partly because it helped fix it); when it was at a level where it hurt to walk from the Tube station to the climbing wall, it didn't hurt at all to climb.

And that was bouldering, where your knees do soak up a bit of impact when you land. Top-roping can be pretty much impact-free.

There are occasional movement techniques (e.g. drop knees/Egyptians) which can put torque through the knee joint, but they're not so indispensible you can't easily avoid them if needed.

You'd be welcome to ask in disobey_gravity, btw; I'm fairly sure there'd be people there who can provide more advice.

Also: CLIMBING IS THE BEST EVER YOU SHOULD TOTALLY GO FOR IT. *g*

[ultranos]

That's really good to know. As I said, I've been really wary, especially after I reinjured the knee a few years ago. I possibly babied it too much, but I've also not collapsed into a screaming pile, so I'm not sure I can complain.

I was definitely thinking of starting with top-roping, since it's what my housemates do and hey, climbing buddies. And if you say there's not that much impact and torque on the knees, then I think that might be the ticket.

*makes note of the comm* I might just do that! I'm guessing it's a super-beginner-friendly comm. :)

[rydra_wong]

I'm guessing it's a super-beginner-friendly comm. :)

It is indeed. *g*

[havocthecat]

Good luck with the climbing! The gaming sounds like fun, though IDK if my ankle (or my knees) would stand up to that either.

[ultranos]

The gaming is fun! I was surprised at how much my joints stood up to it, to be honest. I haven't exactly done that sort of thing in years. :) I'm irritatingly out-of-shape for it too. BUT NOW THAT IS FIXABLE. :D

(I might be stupidly happy about this.)