The Blog-Files

My Warranty Has Expired...

Well...that's it. I'm just over one month into my 36th year on this planet and my 35 year warranty on my body has expired. "Expired?", you ask, "what do you mean by that?" Let me explain.

I've been a fairly active individual in my younger years. I played hockey up until the age of 12 or 13, I played badminton at quite a high level for many years, I played racquetball, squash, a little tennis, I jogged and did 8 and 10K races. I most recently have been playing floor hockey, which I do once a week and have been for a couple of years now. I also have a 2 year old boy, which means I have to do repetitive, 30 pound lifting throughout the day. Through all these activities I have had my share of injuries, mostly bruises or blisters, but nothing very serious (this is the point where I would "touch wood", if I was at all superstiticious, which I'm not). However, now that I have reached the magical age of 35, I have notice a few "nagging injuries" or "aches and pains", which, although not serious, I find quite annoying.

Here's a brief rundown (pun, totally intended) of my symptoms.

1. A sore knee. Now, unfortunately, in two separate places. I have a slight pain and a little swelling on the front, right hand side of my knee. This injury has happened in the past while jogging and only went away when I stopped jogging. I probably have to do some strengthening of my knee to reduce further injury. This will be difficult because I also have a light pain in behind my knee that only hurts when I do any sort of deep knee bend. It doesn't hurt all the time and actually just feels "weak" when I bend it and try to stand up.
2. A wonky neck. I have noticed some stiffness in my neck area. Occasionally, coupled with minor jolts intense pain that quickly subside.
3. A sore middle back. This is undoubtedly bed related as it usually only occurs after sleeping on the bed in Alexei's room. It is far to soft for me. Sometimes when I wake up after sleeping there, I have a very sore right shoulder as well.

I do spend a good portion (about 85%) of my day at work on my feet walking on hard-tiled flooring. I have some fairly good shoes but I'm thinking about getting orthotic inserts. I also am due for some long awaited vacation time. I will have about a month off of work starting around mid December, which I will use to R&R all my injuries. Floor hockey is also ending for the holidays as well, which should help the process. Perhaps, if I slept a little more, that would allow my body to heal itself, but I get so little time to myself these days that I kind of treasure the quite moments. The moments I can sit here and be conscious of my aging body and post to my blog.