The beginning of spring is my favorite time of year for different reasons. The arrival of spring is nice but the change of seasons also heralds hockey and basketball playoffs- as well as the beginning of baseball season. It also means that when driving in my car I switch from the usual NPR to sportstalk on WFAN.
I am willing to learn anywhere and any way that I can. Today on Mike Fransesca’s show a lot of time was spent talking about Mariano Rivera of the Yankees who tore the anterior cruciate ligament of his knee. I learned how our body weight translates into pressure on the knees. According to Fransesca, it is common knowledge in the sporting world, that every ten pounds of weight on the body translates into 40 pounds of additional pressure on the knee. That can have a big impact on knee pain.
I had never heard this before but it makes intuitive sense. It is definitely something to think about if you have knee pain or are rehabbing an injury to any joint.
Also people carry excess weight in different ways. A person who is proportionally overweight will have an easier time supporting weight than someone who is predominately bearing weight in he belly. I had three knee surgeries and at the time I was doing ashtanga and had zero body fat. And I had very little trouble with rehab. My knee pain seemed very happy to heal. While i am not all that interested in being skinny- it is just not my normal body type and mammals need some blubber- I have to think that if i were confronted with a rehabbing situation i would probably take some weight off.