I Feel Like An Aspercreme Factory!

[Lissa 2,631]

Every joint in my body is achy, especially my knees and shoulders. I've been working out pretty hard, so I know what's causing it. How do I treat it without totally stopping my workouts?

Typical day for exercise:

7 am - hit the gym for cardio/weights. 4 days I do cardio, 3 days I do weights

7pm - hit the gym for more cardio. I do half an hour on the recumbent bike and I'm working on adding in the helliptical, between 5 and 12 minutes, depending on how well I do on it.

The last three days, my knees have been aching. Aspercreme has been helping with the ache, but I pressure washed my house yesterday and I assume that the unaccustomed activity left me hurting in places that I don't work out. My shoulders, knees and elbows are all protesting today. The aspercreme helps for a little bit, but then they are all back to aching.

I'm looking for the best way to treat it. I have access to a hot tub and I'm seriously considering hitting it now and again this evening, but I don't want to aggravate anything either.

Help?

[Webchickadee 716]

Sounds like you body is trying to tell you to slow it down a bit. Maybe try to find a low-joint stress form of exercise for a while to help your joints heal a bit, and then work it into your exercise rotation to allow healing throughout your regular routine.

I don't know if you have a pool (either at the gym or a public pool) nearby. Consider using it for some water-based activities (like pool aerobics....it's a great cardio workout) or even just swimming some laps.

Your joints are complaining because you're pushing them too far. Your muscles are adapting to the current routine much faster than the tendsons and ligaments in your joints!

[Formerly Fluffy 5]

When I saw the title I had to read the post. My Mom is an Aspercream junkie! lol

[Giselle3264 175]

You can buy supports/braces for your knees and I find BioFreeze to be VERY effective for all aches and pains. But I think Webchickadee has the right idea. You may need to slow down a bit to give your joints some healing time. You've lost considerable weight but still may have a bit more than the joints can handle right now. I wish I lived in Florida. You could pressure wash MY house and then we could sit in the hot tub together!

G.

[Lissa 2,631]

LOL, Giselle! I may pay to have the house pressure washed next time! That was quite a project!

I think WebChickadee may be right. My muscles are handling the workouts fine, but my joints are very painful right now. I do have access to both a pool and a hot tub, so I may have to spend more time in them and less time doing the killer cardio. As long as I get my 30 minutes a day of cardio, my doc doesn't care how I do it.

I'm still putting aspercreme on my shoulder and my knees and downing Water like crazy. Hopefully it will help quickly. I hurt! LOL

[Webchickadee 716]

Hot tub might not be the best approach at the moment. If your tendons and ligaments are inflamed, adding heat might exacerbate the problem! It will feel good at the time you're in the tub, but probably worse later on. You can give it a try though, if you want. Just be aware that it may not help!

Usually cooling helps more, so ice packs (no more than 20 min on at a time) can help. And keep moving, so the joints don't "freeze" up! The stiffness is even worse than radiating pain! Moving means keeping limber.........NOT working out!

You'll feel better in a couple of days Lissa. Just hang in there!

[Lissa 2,631]

Thanks again! I'm keeping my feet up today, watching some stuff on Netflix, and walking around every 15-20 minutes, so I should feel better soon. It's raining, so no pool or hot tub for me unless it stops. I'll report in later or tomorrow and let you know how it's feeling then.

It's too funny, though. *I* have pain from exercise! LOL I'd have never thought this could happen to me since I was so sedentary. And, I'm itching to get back to my workouts, even though I know it's not a good idea right now.

[BlackBerryJuice 349]

Don't work out twice a day, there's really no need to unless you are a serious competitive athlete. It just stresses your body out.

[TheNewSusie 471]

You can soak in some Epsom salt in ur hot tub. It really helps your aches and pains. You can get some lavender scented salts at Walmart. I like it because it soothes as well as relieves stress.

[Butterthebean 8,146]

+1 on the Biofreeze. That stuff is awesome. But it's really meant to be put on before you workout, not after. After workouts you should use ice. Utilize the R.I.C.E. method.

Also, what kind of cardio are you doing besides the recumbent bike? I design and build bikes as a hobby and I see alot of folks who set their seat too low, or in the case of a recumbent, too close to the pedals. This will absolutely kill your knees. You should just barely be able to lock your knee with the end of your HEEL on the pedal. Then pedal with the balls of your feet and not your toes or arches. This is the general rule of thumb but not absolute law, but it works for most.

But you do get an A+ for motivation. I wish I had your energy.

[Lissa 2,631]

Butter, I just added elliptical to my routine, but I think I overdid it on the weights the day before I originally posted. I lived with chronic RA pain in my knees pre-surgery, which was pretty intense. This pain (from working out) was/is more of an ache, so I suspect that I have worked the muscle too much. I've also backed off to one cardio session per day, although I'm going a little longer than I did for one session before. So far, it's helping with the pain. I'm still a little achy, but nothing like I was over the weekend...and none of this recent stuff touches the pain I had from the RA before surgery! thank goodness!!

Thanks for the A+! You'll hit your stride on working out and then nothing will stop you either!