“I’m
starting to get a nasty twinge across my kneecap.” I wrote this in a note to my podiatrist Dr.
Hoffman and taped it to my left-side orthotic. These days I rarely see Dr. Hoffman in person;
most of the time I write a note describing the pain I’m having, attach it to
the orthotic, and leave it with the receptionist. A few hours to a day later she calls me and I
come and pick it up. Usually he gets it
right the first time and there’s no pain for several months. Sometimes I have to bring it back to have it
tweaked. The average person doesn’t need
to get their orthotics adjusted that often but I exercise eight or nine hours a
week and that means that my body is constantly changing.
In “Respect the Feet,” 10/1/2011, I recounted the history of my dealings with Dr.
Hoffman. I got orthotics when I was in
my late 40’s or early 50’s and started exercising more. Dr. Hoffman would adjust my orthotics by
adding pieces of cork to the bottoms. If
I started feeling pain, I would tape pieces of cardboard on to see whether it
would go away. Sometimes I would get
such huge wads of cardboard that he would say, “I don’t see how you can walk on
those things.” Keeping the pain away,
protecting my ankles, knees, hips, and lower back from inflammation, has
allowed me to do harder and harder workouts and to get into the best shape of
my life, at the age of 66.
Sometime in
2009 I bought an agility ladder and started doing plyo or jump training. Later that year I started working my way into
P90X, which includes jumping jacks and more plyo. In April of 2012 I went to have my orthotics
adjusted and instead of adding to them, Dr. Hoffman started filing them
down. Somehow my muscles and bones were
rebuilding themselves in the direction of greater stability so that I no longer
needed as much support from the orthotics.
In “My Feet Are Changing!” 4/14/2012, I speculated about possible causes
for this improvement – the P90X Legs and Back routine? more protein in my diet?
This process has continued, the orthotics are getting thinner and thinner, but
I now think that it may be the plyo that is helping.
In the
sports medicine community plyo is attracting more attention. A number of studies have shown that
sprinting, hopping, and jumping routines can improve bone density in younger
people. Even more intriguing is a Danish study in which women ages 20-47 and men ages 20-40 played soccer two or three
times per week over a period of several months.
These individuals saw improvement not only in bone density but also in
muscle strength and balance. It would be interesting to see
research on even older adults.
I have to confess that I don’t love
doing plyo. Vigorous, explosive movement
takes a lot of energy, especially for someone like me who is better at
endurance exercise. Plyo isn’t for
everyone. People who already have knee,
hip, or back injuries should consult a doctor before trying jump training – but for those who can use it, this
seems to be a promising, low cost way to maintain bone strength in old age.
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| 4/2013 |
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| 10/2011 |
