Are you ok? You look stiff today

Did you ever notice that when Tom Brady is on fire the announcers say "Wow! He is so amazing still. Can you believe he's 40?" and when he isn't connecting (and his star receiver's are out) they say "Well, you know, he needs to be cautious because ..he IS 40".

I had a quick visit to my MD office today for a Ppd check. The first thing the administrative assistant asked me was “Are you okay, Laura? You look stiff today.” My reply was "actually I am kinda stiff today.. and yes I’m okay."

I then saw a patient who was concerned over ongoing morning stiffness one year after a total knee replacement. After reassessing the ROM, strength, swelling and recent change in activity we concluded that this was normal stiffness. The question after that was do I have to do mobility work forever?

As I get older I notice that my neck, back,shoulders and hips all have their moments of stiffness. This is particularly worse in the morning. If I’m consistent with doing my mobility work I can move easier and am less stiff by the time I make the coffee. If I'm not, I walk into the doctor's office 2 hours later looking stiff.

In the case of my patient, doing a routine of easy movement helps make the first steps to the bathroom more bearable.

Sadly, being sore and stiff in the morning is normal as we get older. It is part of the normal aging process for our vertebral discs to lose height. It is normal for the water in those discs to be reabsorbed through the night and to be disbursed through the body as we move throughout the day. It is normal for joints to be stiff from being in one position for a long period, especially if we've had surgery.

I am not one who believes that our every day activities need to stop as we age. I think issues occur because we stop moving for a period and things stiffen up. Then we decide we want to pick up where we left off, we jump back to where we were and we get hurt.

I have found that doing some easy moving of the major joints in all 3 planes of motion really helps to decrease the morning stiffness quicker. If I stretch after I do some heavy work, I'm not quite as sore later. If I build up my strength gradually, and keep at it consistently, I have less tweaks through the day.

We DO have to keep up our exercises, in addition to the yard work/vacuuming/power washing/any fun sports activity that isn't housework...etc. When we take a break for a while, we need to start over and progress gradually. We DO have to put the work in to be able to continue to do the fun (and not so fun housework) in order to keep doing.

As for Tom Brady...sometimes he is on, sometimes he is not. I know for sure he is consistent with his work ethic.  I don't think being 40 is slowing him down one bit.