When we bought it we had 4 cats ranging from 5 to 15 years old. They all took to it pretty well except we have one outlier that won’t use it. She’s 6 years old and if there was ever a textbook scaredy cat it’s her. The old guy (who has since left us) didn’t have any trouble at all adjusting. I think we put a regular litter box near it at first so they’d get the hint.
I did it nine months ago. Like Neil, I tried to avoid surgery. My orthopedist suggested surgery to remove loose bodies and trim edges like three times. I asked him a really simple question. I asked “ isn’t it better to keep as much cushioning material in there as possible?“. He suggested that that may be true, but it will hurt like hell as it heals and scars, and that the scarring will hurt all the time. I asked him if it would hurt as much as bone on bone. He said “about the same“. I told him to leave it alone. Sure enough, the meniscus has scarred around the edges where there’s blood flow. In the center where there is a horizontal tear, there’s no blood flow, and it will never heal. But, all of the cushioning material is still there even if it is impacted by Scar tissue. So, I can continue to do things like run, my preferred exercise. It was a fascinating experience. I asked him about it a month ago when I was in for a check up and he said that they largely manage to pain rather than good orthopedic outcomes. What a mind numbingly idiotic way to manage medicine.
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Possibly because many patients are mind numbing idiots.
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This sounds very familiar, I hope it works out for you. I’m doomed for a knee replacement.
Getting multiple opinions is not at all a bad thing.
There’s a startlingly large number of unnecessary meniscus surgeries. You asked the right questions, most don’t. Surgeries don’t have to meet the same “safe & effective” standard as drugs.
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Keeping people needing medicine rather than healing them is a feature, not a bug.
My wife had a couple of meniscus surgeries back in high school from volleyball/soccer/basketball injuries. The surgeries probably did more harm than good, and if her tears had happened today, the treatment would likely have been different.
She started barbell training a couple years ago and it’s been enormously helpful (in fact, it’s the only thing that ever has been). She was terrified of it re-injuring her knees but she started slow and has been totally fine. Squatting in particular has built up a lot of muscle around the joint to keep it protected, all while improving flexibility. Also she deadlifted 225lb earlier this year, which is just fucking cool.
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I always suspected there was something wrong with you.
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I’d love to see what her workout routine is. Now that I am getting older, I am finding I have to vary my workouts more to stave off various aches, pains and the occasional injury.
It happened a month before the pandemic began and I couldn’t see a doctor for a while. The knee was messed up in other places too and it finally ended up in a partial knee replacement. It’s held up for three years now, knock on wood.
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She does the Starting Strength program with one of their trainers at a gym here in Houston. I’d been going there a while and finally got her into it in 2023, and she actually kept going even after I fell out of the habit.
Their standard programming is 3x/week but her schedule only allows for twice, which has been working great for her. Squats both days, alternate days benching and overhead pressing, and deadlifts both days to start out (they work in other lifts once the deadlift gets too heavy to do more than once a week—often modifications like rack pulls or Romanian deadlifts at a lighter weight). They do a relatively high weight at a low rep range (3 sets of 5 per lift expect 1 set of 5 for the deadlift), but that’s just the standard programming, modifiable based on individual need on any given day.
The guy who founded Starting Strength is a blowhard and a lunatic (and a poor author of erotic fiction; don’t look it up) but the program is very simple and it really works. There’s no magic to it or any secret sauce—it’s just a straightforward barbell program of basic compound lifts at steadily increasing weight.
All the lifts are great to do, but for the knees, it’s really all about the squats. There are lots of squat variations in the world but they preach low-bar back squats, which are a great fit for a program like this, easy to learn decent form.
Her gym-mates range from women in their seventies who’ve never trained before to dudes squatting 405+. The trainers there have seen every kind of body, every kind of malady, and they say “if you can walk through the door, we can work with you.” It’s a far cry from the intense shithead energy the program founder emits on his podcast.
Like I said, there’s really nothing special about Starting Strength to put it above any other compound lift barbell program. To start with, just start squatting under the guidance of any reputable trainer in your area, then before too long you can graduate to doing them on your own. Video coaching is also a great option once you’ve got some experience and just need the occasional check-in to keep yourself on the right track.
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I’ve never had that problem with the app.
Since we’re on health issues, does anyone have a GP in Houston that they like? Mine’s retiring, and I need to find another. I’ve gone to the same guy for 35 years, and I’m at a loss. Private message would probably be appropriate if you have one.
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Litter Robot ordered.
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My sister (mayo-clinic trained pediatric neurologist) always says if you are looking for a new doctor, pick a woman of color who is a second-generation immigrant. Most likely that will be a terrific choice.
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That sounds very DEI, you Communist! Why do you hate America?
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I like my GP. I’ve had him for 20 years. He’s younger than I am, so hopefully he doesn’t retire soon. He’s from Beaumont, so I was taking a chance, but it’s worked out.
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The accuracy of medical advice transcends identity.
I’ve had my GP, dentist, and eye doctor retire out from under me. And I’m pretty sure I’ll have to find another GP and dentist before it’s all over. Not sure about my dermatologist, who’s the guy that gets most of my business.