[sidebar]“I’m angry about my knee. Why did this happen to me?” Janice cried. A homemaker and writer, Janice, 44, had injured her knee skiing 5 years earlier, and after surgery, the knee became infected. She endured prolonged medical and physical therapy. And arthritis. In the end, Janice’s knee hurt if she walked too fast or used the stairs. High heels were history and so were the step aerobics classes she’d loved. Now she felt depressed and hopeless. She lacked energy, was sedentary and unfit, and at 5'4" and 180 lb, had become obese. In a word, Janice was miserable. She wanted her life back. Janice’s expectations never included a chronic physical disability. At first, she tried dieting. But, without her exercise, weight loss was slow and frustrating. She tried fitness classes at the gym, but couldn’t keep up and reinjured her knee. Meanwhile, her weight kept climbing, fueled by her decreasing physical activity, her stress-induced overeating, and her family’s history of obesity. Her heart was in the right place. Her knee wasn’t. [pagebreak]
My Prescription for Janice
Janice needed to adjust to her arthritic knee. Here’s how I helped her make that happen. Find creative new ways to move. Since she could no longer bear high-impact aerobics, I directed Janice to learn restorative yoga, a safe and gentle way to maintain strength and flexibility. I also found a physical therapy group that used the Pilates Method for physical rehabilitation. Good news! Janice now gets mental calming and a great workout. Meanwhile, she does her cardio workout via water aerobics. Gentle biking combined with moderately paced walking rounds out her fat-burning program. Get real in the face of adversity. Janice knew that losing weight and getting fit weren’t going to happen as easily as when she had a fully functioning knee. Instead, she practiced patience by self-coaching with personal affirmations such as, “This is my life, and I’m not cutting corners to achieve my goal of wellness.” Ease arthritis by writing about it. I suggested that Janice get a journal and write down her feelings about the pain and her decreased ability to move. The more she wrote, the better she felt. I told her that we already had great science from research conducted at the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Medicine showing that people with arthritis who journal their stressful emotions noted a significant decrease in symptoms. She’s now living proof that this works. Stay current on new therapies to treat chronic arthritis. Janice hopped on the Internet and started learning about developments in the field of arthritis. She read medical highlights from the websites of the American College of Rheumatology and the Arthritis Foundation. During routine checkups, she’d ask her doctor about any medications that could reduce pain and restore more function to her knee. Since Janice prefers natural remedies, she plugs into the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. When she’s convinced that there’s enough data for a new therapy, she says she may use it. Until then, she sticks with proven therapies when she needs them and discusses with her doctor the appropriate treatment plan for her situation. Janice no longer feels hopeless, helpless, and defeated by her bum knee. Instead, she realizes that her painful dilemma was actually a valuable lesson. She’s now more aware of her body and its strengths and vulnerabilities. She recognizes every physical achievement with greater appreciation of the work it took to get there. And she continues to marvel at the amazing ability of the mind and body to work together. More from Prevention: 20 Mind-Body Therapies That Actually Work Dr. Peeke is a Pew Foundation Scholar in Nutrition and Metabolism and is one of the few physicians in America formally trained in nutrition. She was also the first senior research fellow in the original NIH Office of Alternative Medicine, where she helped to lay the foundation for evidenced- based scientific studies in the field of cancer and nutrition. Dr. Peeke is a medical and science commentator for CNN Headline News as well as PBS’s Health Week. She is presently a regular expert on NBC’s Today Show and has appeared in numerous national television specials. Dr. Peeke is the author of the bestsellers, Fight Fat After Forty and The Hunger Fix: The Three-Stage Detox and Recovery Plan for Overeating and Food Addiction, (Rodale 2012).
